Zoyd

[John Carvill]

> Back in the first sequence it's Van Meter who calls Zoyd to say that the
> window-jump has been "rescheduled" to the Cucumber Lounge (Note VM's
> omission of detail: "Somebody said it got rescheduled.")

Zoyd doesn't need a call from Van Meter to know his jump has been
'rescheduled': when Zoyd calls the local TV station, they tell him,
"You'd better check again, Mr. Wheeler. Word we have is that you've
been rescheduled." (Page 1)

The question of who is responsible for the 'rescheduling' is never
answered, but it's not Van Meter. Side note: 'reschedule' is normally
a temporal term, so it's a little out of context here. Zoyd's jump has
been relocated, not rescheduled.

> The Cucumber Lounge
> is where VM lives (Mob-owned).

Y'see? The guy's obviously a wrong 'un. Anyway, doesn't he live
'behind' the Cucumber? O-or, since Van Meter is apparently Prairie's
'godfather', maybe he's, like, deeper into that Cosa Nostra shit than
we thought?

> When Zoyd arrives, VM nags Zoyd to hurry up

"...his trademark face, Wounded Righteousness."  Fingering Van Meter
as the co-ordinator of Zoyd's jump is a bit of a stretch. Would he
really appear so openly anxious if he was lying to Zoyd? Only if he
was a very bad liar. Sounds more like he is *helping* Zoyd, and his
wounded feeling is due to Zoyd not telling him that he had decided to
forego window jumping and take up the chainsaw instead.

> because "We're losin' the light".

What he actually says is, "We'll be losin' the light, fog's gonna come
in any minute, what were you doin' all the hell the way up to the Log
Jam?"

The 'we' he refers to is, surely, him and Zoyd. He is Zoyd's
'partner', his friend, he is helping Zoyd with the jump which, Zoyd
has been informed, again on Page 1, that he must do within a week, to
keep receiving his benefit payments.

If the 'we' Van Meter refers to is some other 'we', either the TV
people, or whoever is orchestrating the whole thing - presumably on
behalf of Brock Vond - then, again, this makes Van Meter a pretty
transparent liar. Zoyd is dozy and dopey, but he is not stupid. Would
Van Meter be able to carry on openly selling Zoyd out like that? Nope.

> He changes the subject when Zoyd asks him
> "why is everybody here instead?"

Not quite. The action skips from Zoyd's question to: "They went in the
back way, Van Meter furrowing and unfurrowing his forhead." Saying
that Van Meter 'changes the subject' is supposition, at best.

> and frames the revelation of Hector's
> arrival awkwardly as a question: "Guess I can tell you now you're here, is
> there's this old buddy of yours, just showed up?"  (pp. 8-10)
>

A question? Only in the sense that some people's speech patterns,
like, go up at the end? Kind like they would if they were asking a
question? But really they're not?

> VM's words, actions and facial expressions all through this scene indicate
> that he is lying,

His anxious behaviour could be read any number of ways. Nothing
conclusively points to Van Meter being involved in selling Zoyd out.

> hiding from Zoyd his own role in orchestrating the
> rendezvous with Hector, and turning the window-jump into a media circus.

This suggests a dual role for Van Meter - orchestrating the jump, plus
arranging the meeting with Hector? Yet Hector isn't involved in the
jump arrangements.

> The
> way VM is described by Pynchon here is designed to show him betraying his
> guilty conscience.

A remarkable insight into Pynchon's 'purpose'. How can we be so sure?
NOte also that Ralph Wayvone, Jr. is also unusually anxious. He in on
it too? Or just worried about his sister's wedding? Significantly,
it's Ralph, not Van Meter, who reintroduces Zoyd to Hector.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that Van Meter, seeing Hector bite
into a shard of glass from Zoyd's window, runs for teh paramedics,
whereas Zoyd "had tumbled, he was no media innocent". Zoyd knows that
Ralph has had the glass replaced with 'clear sheet candy'. Again,
Ralph, not Van Meter.

 It's clear that VM is still on Hector's payroll (as well
> as ... ) even in 1984.

Not clear at all. Speculation.

Next time we meet Van Meter, is in a flashback, when Zoyd opens the
door to hector:

Van Meter, back in those days sporting a profile that mandated at
least a stop-and-frisk, ran in frowning. "What's wrong with Scott? he
just split out the back."
"What I'm really here about," Hector had been explaining, "is the
matter of drugs."
"Thank God!" screamed Van Meter, "it's been weeks, we thought we'd
never score again! oh yes, it's a miracle—" Zoyd kicking him
frantically — "who sent you, are you the dude that knows Leon?"
The federale showed his teeth, amused. "Subject you refer to is
temporarily in custody, though sure to be back before very long in his
accustomed spot beneath the Gordita Pier."
"Aaaaaa ...," went Van Meter.
"No, no my man but that is precisely the sort of corroborating detail
that we value so highly," snapping, like a magician, a crisp
five-dollar bill, half a lid of Mexican commercial in those days, from
behind Van Meter's ear. Zoyd rolled his eyes as the bass player
grabbed at the money. "And there's always plenty more in our imprest
fund for good-quality product. For make-believe bullshit, of course,
we pay nothing, and in time we grow annoyed."

So, Hector may have given Van Meter money, and teh latter was a fool
to accept it. But that's no clear-cut 'Purchase of Information'. The
information, such as it is, was accidentally given, and the money came
later. Van Meter just comes across as silly in that scene.

If we accept that Van Meter is fatally compromised, based on the
evidence of the Cucumber scene, we would have to trace every
appearance and reference to Van Meter through the book, to see if
anything added to or detracted from such a supposition. But there
seems very little evidence indeed, in that scene, that Van Meter has
sold Zoyd out. And from memory, Van Meter is Zoyd's most trusted
friend (even if he does sell him a dodgy mantra), always being there
for Zoyd, feeling spooked when Zoyd gets arrested, and, crucially,
provinding a shoulder for Zoyd to cry his women troubles out onto.

Worst thing you could say about ol' Van Meter is that he's a bit of a
flake. But ultimately his heart is in the right place.