VLVL2 (15): Summary

[Dave Monroe]

CHAPTER 15

A long, complicated, final chapter. 

Morning breaks in a pasture, as everyone gets ready
for the annual Traverse-Becker Family Picnic, the big
get-together of Frenesi's folks (i.e., The Left).
Morning cracks also in Shade Creek. Flashback to
Prairie and her hard-core sexpot pal Che, prototypical
teenage mall rats in Southern California. A nested
flashback to the Great South Coast Plaza Eyeshadow
Raid. Flashforward to the original flashback, in which
the girls raid Macy's, stealing sexy lingerie (easy
there, Pynchon). 

We flashforward again, but not all the way--only far
enough to witness Vond's raid on Ditzah's house. All
the 24fps footage is burned. Back in the present
Prairie, DL and Takeshi head for Shade Creek. CAMP
anti-marijuana raids (courtesy of Vond and his army,
now bivouacked at the Vineland airport) are coming on
a daily basis. 

Unlikely as it seems, Zuniga's anti-drug film is
actually in production! A crew is on location in
Vineland, preparing to film Frenesi's biopic as an
exploitation feature. Flashback to Zuniga's Tubal
Detox treatment, which seems woefully ineffective.
There's a funny song about TV: "The Tube."
Flashforward (or sideways) to a meeting in which
Zuniga cuts the film deal with two Hollywood
producers; the ways are greased by the fact that he
has them at his mercy on drug charges, not to mention
the fact that the film community is in terror of a
threatened Drug Use Investigation reminiscent of the
HUAC hearings. 

Zuniga finds out that Frenesi and Flash have surfaced
in Las Vegas; he flies there to meet her, in hopes of
convincing her to appear in (and maybe even direct)
the film. They meet at the Club La Habenera, an
evocation of pre-Castro Cuba. There's a funny song
("Es Posible.") Frenesi is less than enthusiastic
until Zuniga shows her a photo of Prairie; if she
returns to Vineland to make the film she can see her
daughter. Zuniga reveals that Vond's funding has been
cut -- not that this seems to have slowed his
big-budget anti-drug campaign in Vineland. Flashback
to the breakup of Zuniga's marriage. Returning to
Vegas, Frenesi and Zuniga dance. She agrees to fly to
Vineland, bringing Flash and their son Justin. There's
a slight problem at the Vegas airport when Frenesi
refuses to cross a picket line, but the picketers
overhear her pro-union rap as she argues with Flash,
and invite her to pass through.

Flashback to an encounter between Flash and his
handler, Roy Ibble. Flash terrorizes Ibble, somehow,
and Ibble shows Flash some official paper on Vond, and
the "readiness" exercise now running in Vineland, REX
84. Ibble even gives Flash some money. 

We return to the airplane on its way to Vineland.
Flash and Frenesi land, to be met with full film crew.
Zuniga installs Frenesi and Flash in a hotel. Cut to
the Cucumber Lounge, where Wayvone is doing a horrible
stand-up comedy routine. Billy Barf and the Vomitones
step on stage to perform "I'm a Cop." Even Zoyd is
there; we learn that the feds are about to snatch his
house under Reagan's Comprehensive Forfeiture Act.
Worse yet, his dog Desmond is missing. 

The War on Drugs is getting out of hand. Zoyd
considers torching his house to keep the Feds from
getting it. At the same time, he cuts a deal with
Isaiah and The Harleyite Order (a bunch of
bikers-turned-nuns, what else?) to score assault
weapons and attack the CAMPers. This looks like Zoyd's
best shot; his lawyer reminds him that under current
drug laws he's guilty until proven innocent.

Zoyd runs into Zuniga, who tells him that Frenesi is
in town. Shortly thereafter, Sasha herself rolls in
for the Traverse-Becker get-together. Sasha runs into
Frenesi. Suddenly the POV switches: The two slimeball
film producers are telling Zuniga about the meeting
between Frenesi and Sasha -- raising the possibility
that the entire novel has been subsumed by the movie,
which we have been watching, unawares, all along. This
might even explain the otherwise-improbable Hollywood
Happy Ending. In any case, Frenesi and Sasha make up,
and dance the jitterbug together.

Meanwhile, Prairie and DL find themselves at a
surprisingly lively Thanatoid dance. The Holocaust
Pixels play their big hit, "Like a Meat Loaf." Weed
and Prairie discuss his Thanatoid condition (which
seems to be improving), and grow lovey-dovey.

Prairie heads for the Traverse-Becker get-together,
where she meets Frenesi at last. Suddenly we find
ourselves in full Hollywood Happy Ending Mode. The
meeting between Prairie and Frenesi (which is reported
only briefly) seems cordial and somewhat
anti-climatic. The picnic roars on. Hubbell Gates
shows up with his arc lights and fires up the sky. He
and Frenesi make up too. Zoyd and Flash discover much
in common (such as Frenesi), and forge the beginnings
of an only-moderately-uneasy peace. Prairie and Justin
become pals. Zoyd plans to go on 60 Minutes with his
story, hoping that TV exposure will work better than
armed rebellion to get his house back. (Given the main
theme of the novel, he's probably right.)

Prairie goes to sleep in a bag in the woods. Suddenly
Vond appears, hanging in the air above her, winched
down from a helicopter. Prairie insults him and
recites the sacred words of exorcism ("Get the fuck
out of here!") Vond withdraws, his budget line
suddenly canceled. 

The picnic roars on. Vato and Blood drive Vond to
Hell. Takeshi and DL dance at the Thanatoid Ball; in a
brief set of nested flashbacks we learn that they have
agreed to cancel the dreaded no-sex clause. Several
unresolved plot ends are hastily tied off by the
invention of certain, um, unrelenting forces and
faceless predators who, we now discover, hijacked that
Kahuna airplane and monster-stomped the Chipco
factory. 

In the woods, Prairie finds herself (inexplicably)
begging Vond to come back and take her away, but
fortunately Vond has gone to Hell. She is visited,
instead, by the missing dog Desmond, who wakes her up
by licking her face.

http://www.mindspring.com/~shadow88/chapter15.htm


	
		
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