ATDTDA (9): Cute-meet, 260-262

[Paul Nightingale]

The Deuce-Sloat team is split by the appearance of Lake. Sloat thinks their
"quarters at Curly Dee's spread down the valley" are suitable for women;
Deuce thinks they'd "best go into town". When Deuce rejects the suitability
of their present surroundings, Sloat says he "wouldn't want to think you's
going domestic or nothin'". After Sloat's "sly reference to Deuce's
off-and-on romance with Hsiang-Chiao" we're told "[t]his was an old routine
between the partners". The style is that of playful banter; the setting,
however, undermines that. They are staying at "a sort of road ranch" for
those on the margins of society, and "going domestic" implies a loss of
commitment to their chosen lifestyle.

Introduced, leading up to the abduction/murder of Webb, Deuce-Sloat have
"picked up a reputation for being steady, for not talking to people they
didn't know" (195). In particular, Sloat's "career as a wanted man" depends
on his mobility, a refusal to stay too long in one place. He has a routine
that requires little thought or contemplation; his MO here is repetitive and
thoughtless. Subsequently: "It was to be a trail of pain, Deuce trying to
draw it out, Sloat closer to the realities of pain, trying to move it
along." (197)

In the current chapter, Sloat has focused on "pussy", ie sexual
gratification; whereas Deuce ("it wrecks their mood") seems interested in
something else (260). Sloat's query ("You don't like this room?") is perhaps
ambiguous: he could be genuinely uncomprehending, or it could be a jibe.
Either way Deuce's decision to go into town leads to the cute-meet with
Lake. He is attracted by the "fire in her eye, rare in a biscuit-shooter,
that no long shift was about to put out" (261). She is, therefore, more than
her occupation. Her sarcasm ("Don't be in a rush, boys .") and the exchange
with "suave Deuce" might recall Chick and Giuseppina (246-247).

Mayva seems to know of Deuce ("he's dangerous goods", 261) while remaining
ignorant of his part in Webb's murder. At the burial she speaks of "them
that did it" (216); and when Reef subsequently says "the less you all know,
the better" he includes the identities of the men involved. Hence, Reef's
insistence on the patriarchal division of labour (women "do the mourning"
while men "organise") is what makes the Deuce-Lake relationship possible.