SLPAD - 90 - “Low-Lands” - 4

[Michael Bailey]

One could get into a thing about how the definition of “lowlands”
https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/lowland#:~:text=%2F
ˈlo%CA%8Al%C9%99nd%2F-,plural%20lowlands,a%20village%20in%20the%20lowlands

includes “at, near, or below sea level” and since there is some upcoming
textual evidence that Flange’s attracted to the sea in general, and his
progress thru the story is generally downwards - starting early as his
compliance with Rocco’s invitation to “come on down” from the upper story
of his house to the lower level - the tension between land & sea, between
the intimacy of shipboard companions and the intimacy of married life, and
the loosening & even breaching (if not even “breakdown” though that seems
too extreme - or does it?) of metaphorical dikes responsible for keeping
his lowlands dry may be one of the determining conflicts found in most
worthwhile fiction.


“Cindy was Mrs. Flange and needless to say she did not dig this muscatel
business. She did not dig Rocco Squarcione either. Or as a matter of fact
any of her husband’s friends. “You keep that weird crew down in the rumpus
room,” she would yell, brandishing a cocktail shaker. “You are a damned
ASPCA, is what you are. I doubt if even they would take some of the animals
you bring home.”


“she would yell” indicating a compaction of multiple instances. It seems
likely that Mrs Flange is a full-time homemaker & hostess (hors d’oeuvre
dishes and cocktail trays) and would be happier with guests such as the
lawyers Flange works with and/or their clients, and with gatherings focused
on conversation  rather than music which would downplay the role of the
stereo, making it more of an accessory and conversation piece.

Which is totally legit; a full-service aspiring attorney & mover/shaker can
use - needs, really - a panoply of hostessing & “homekeeping” a la Martha
Stewart - but Flange has decided to color outside the lines of the
partnership.

What possible social or business advancement - or, for that matter,
contribution to the commonwealth - can come of listening to Vivaldi with
Rocco et al? It’s a legitimate question.

Also, who are the “et al” she refers to as animals in need so dire that
their plight would daunt even the rescue efforts of the ASPCA?

Do we meet any of the others?
I can’t remember. We can imagine others - the newspaper delivery person,
town drunks, the mailman, snow plow drivers, beachcombers, off-duty
policemen, panhandlers and buskers if any dared set out their hats on Long
Island’s North Shore?

Pig Bodine of course transcends even the “mangy animal” category. But we’ll
get to him.