VL-IV Who was saved?

[bandwraith at aol.com]

Just (especially after several glasses of merlot} pointing
out the obvious here. This turn is a setup, surely, for
the coming idyllic hippie union of Zoyd and Frenesi, where
Zoyd will ask that very same question being posed by
Hector, here, in the Vineland Lanes (which is, actually,
pretty idyllic itself, what with "intricately mortised master-
piece alleys," and the Saturday kids running all
over. It has to be Saturday, no?) but from the opposite
direction.

Besides "Fortuna," I think this question is what the book
is all about.

This lunch scene is probably taking place after a lunch
Hector has already had with Frenesi- described later in
the book- where he again uses Prairie as a means to
advance his "oily schemes." If that lunch has not already
taken place by the time of this meeting with Zoyd, I'm
sure he has at least planned it- Frenesi being one of the
others he's "trying to coordinate."

Point being, Hector is mediating between Zoyd and
Frenesi for what he thinks will be his own purposes,
using parental love, or what passes for it, as the
the bargaining chip.