IV Chapter 17--Summary

[rich]

Howdy foax--here's the summary for Chapter 17. I'll be throwing out
impressions and such over the next few days

Rich

Summary:

Part 1
Doc returns to his apartment to find Scott Oof and Denis looking
through his icebox where he finds out that Denis in his stoned out
indifference fell asleep with a joint in his mouth which caught fire
and caused the collapse of the floor above, which luckily for Denis,
contained a waterbed, which then put out the fire. Denis, thinking the
Boards are still after him, leaves and is hanging with Scott at Docs.
They all get stoned.
Scott tells Doc he's seen Coy at the Lighthouse which triggers some of
Doc's memories of the place, studio musician jam sessions, and more
shit about car culture, and the ever changing fates of said musicians.
Doc feels bad he hasn't made much headway in helping Coy break free
from the snitch ride he's on (and helping Hope as well).
Doc meets Coy at the Lighthouse. Coy says that everything is now cool
with the Boards--the girls hired a exorcist (a Buddhist) who
dezombified the place. Coy said one of the attractions of working for
the Viggies was that they seemed to notice him and saw something in
him he had never guessed at.
Coy then describes in detail the deal he made with them, including his
fake death.
Doc and Coy wonder about the fate of El Drano, Coy's connection for
the heroin he was purported to OD on (which he almost did anyway). Was
El Drano killed or did his junkie luck just run out.
Coy notes how remorseful and desperate he is to adjust his karmic
error as he calls it.
Doc asks him how he found about the Viggies. Coy says he should ask
Shasta about that.

Part 2
Doc returns home, fixes his doo, and is off to see Shasta who is
staying at St Flip's pad.
They discuss the return of Mickey to Sloane and his old ways.
Shasta notes that Doc has a Manson girl fetish; Doc thinks she's been
talking to Penny who may have shared the same hair salon. She begins
to act like the submissive brainwashed teen, while noting why many
women like herself, Sloane, and Luz were attracted to a man like
Mickey, someone who made them feel invisible, he was that powerful.
Doc and Shasta commence a impromptu S&M session, a quite weird
encounter if I may say so.
During this endeavor, Shasta notes how she came to be on the Golden
Fang, being abducted, put on the ship. She "hustled" her way off the
ship in Maui.
Doc notes how he saw her on the boat while he was on one of Vehi's
acid trips; She felt haunted by Doc at the time, too
The description of Shasta's apparent defilement on the ship (ropes,
chains, etc) brings these two to actual fucking, again Shasta playing
up the submissive role while controlling the action.
They watch basketball on the TV (silent) afterwards and Doc asks her about Coy.
Shasta admits she introduced him to the Viggies via the actor Burke
Stodger who made his mark making anti-commie movies, but she explains
she was only trying to help him. She tells Doc how she met Coy, Hope,
and the baby and how messed up they were. She liked him but they were
never an item; Shasta resents that Doc thinks she was fooling around
with both Coy and Mickey at the same time.
Shasta gets even angrier when Doc implies that she was working for
'them' in getting Coy on board even if her intentions were good.
Doc wonders how Coy thought he could get away with the flimsy cover
story he concocted while working for the Viggies. Shasta says in
response that Doc and Coy are actually quite alike, liking the idea of
playing cops without being cops but in the end working for criminals
instead of catching them.
Doc thinks about this and is bummed to think the folks he was working
for like Crocker Fenway weren't all that different from those
interests Coy was working for, too.
He thinks that may explain why he wants to help Coy break loose, as he
can't himself.