I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH-“Dumb” (1988).

About five years ago I mentioned all of The Beautiful South records in one post.  But I didn’t really talk about them all that much.

This comes from one of my favorite Beautiful South records–I like all the songs equally, but I often have this song in my head.  And the reason I picked it right now is because Paul Heaton sings about a bunch of things each one ending with “either you are simply beautiful or I am simply dumb.”

And these are: “It doesn’t take a mathematician to add a simple sum”; “It doesn’t take a labrador to show a blind man sun”; and this one: “It doesn’t take Robert The Bruce to see the web you’ve spun.”

I had no idea who Robert the Bruce was and I never bothered to look it up.  And yet, as you will see below in the post, Robert the Bruce is mentioned in JR!  I was flabbergasted.  And this song immediately popped into my head.

And that’s not a bad thing.  It’s a pretty piano ballad with a seemingly negative chorus (dumb, dumb, dumb) despite its positive message.  There’s also a beautiful ending: “The sun, the sky, the moon, the stars/Jupiter, Neptune and Mars/All these things I clearly see/It don’t take a telescope for you to love me.”  The songs ends with Jacqui Abbot’s lovely echo of this stanza.

The Beautiful South were a great band, they broke up a few years ago.  Paul Heaton has a number of solo albums out but they’re not available in the states, so…

[READ: Week of August 6, 2012] JR Week 8

This week’s read finds us primarily in the apartment.  We see bast return home and fool around with Rhoda before he goes off on his trip to the funeral.  We see Gibbs come in and try (in vain) to get work done.  We actually get to see Gibbs’ magnum opus (or parts of it), and we see him fall off the high that he felt with Emily.

There’s a lot of funny stuff in this week’s read.  It seems like the darker the story gets, the more childish jokes Gaddis throws in there.  Seeing Gibbs unable to work on his manuscript because of all of the (real and fake) distractions is simultaneously hilarious and spot on.  And also, the plotlines are really revving up now.  JR Corp is starting to see some pushback on their deals, and a number of outsiders are starting to get angry.  There’s bound to be a collapse of some sort soon.  I’m also starting to think that with all of the ellipses in the book that it will end with a dot dot dot.

As we resume, Davidoff and Bast are still talking.  Davidoff tells Bast “Don’t worry about” something [Thanks to Simon for pointing out this expression–I recognized that Davidoff always says “brush fires,” but not the don’t worry about it].  He is concerned that Bast’s hearing aid isn’t turned up (ha), but that the Boss [JR] wants Bast’s signature on any expenditures over $2,000 (It was originally $200, but Davidoff said Bast would get writer’s cramp).  He explains the title change in the magazine from Her to She–passive to active readership–will cost $14,000.  There’s also $27,000 for a new logo.  And the logos are awesomely cheesy–hard to believe they paid $27,000 for them.  They revolve around the dollar sign, with the least offensive one making a J and R out of the top and bottom of the S–the others have a snake, or breasts or thumbing your nose or even someone behind bars.  They pick the least offensive one that says Just Rite in a dollar sign (“something patriotic about the dollar sign”).  They’re going to put them on half a million matchbooks.

Davidoff says that the Boss wants the logo on the company plane before Bast takes off out of LaGuardia to go to the funeral. Bast argues that he has the recording…but Davidoff says he’s already taken care of it for him.  Bast is also given a box with an Indian suit in it ($300 rental).  He’ll be meeting Milliken too, who has his hand on a lot of bills–eldercare, the Health Package, the free milk program, the pull out tobacco and grow pot program.  This last bit is most important because the company wants to jump on brand names for their weed.  JR thinks “Ace” but Davidoff wants to incorporate the name Mary Jane somehow.  Bast says there’s no way the government will vote that.  Davidoff suggests that it doesn’t matter, it’s what the companies want that matters:

big market waiting out there all your big interests having a hemorrhage watching kids and amateurs pocket the profits government missing tax source like letting your moonshiners work in the sunshine (538).

Bast should also try to work the Just Rite line in the jingle he is creating for Wonder Beer.

There’s also this important information–the $15,000 check (mispayment) that bast received from the school has a stop payment on it and it was apparently used as the basis for a lot of these investments.

The JR Corp went public at 14 and Bast’s shares are being used to cover costs.  He’s also created Alsaka Development Corp

Bast is overwhelmed at all of this but Davidoff says there’s a bad miscommunication between Bast and the Boss and that Davidoff is trying to help but that Bast doesn’t make it easier.  The idea that everyone is trying to help Bast but that he’s not helping them is a common one.  Davidoff feels that Bast’s grip on the corporate side of things is beginning to slip–he’s worried too much on the music.

Bast says he’s thinking of leaving the company [I suspect this will come into play soon].  Davidoff says headhunters know it before you do–that’s how they got Mr Ten-forty.  Davidoff just hopes Bast’s not planning to sell his holdings which will leave them in lurch (like Davidoff did to the company he just left: “little weasel named Beaton father was a law partner of Senator Broos’ brother and their Washington lobbyist Frank Black only reason they kept him” (541).  Davidoff wants to sit with the Boss and Bast to discuss Bast’s leaving, especially now that the board of directors is filling out (with Urquhart and Teets–whom Bast recruited–we later learn he gave them each $10 to be on the Board).  Davidoff says he wants to go uptown with Bast–he’s never met the Boss.  Bast says the boss is not uptown, and Davidoff tries to foist Virginia on the uptown office.

And holy, there’s been an X-L pollution mess that a Boy Scout found–and naturally there’s a law suit as well.  Davidoff says Mooneyham would get them screwed about this but if Bast or JR took the stand, it would be deemed accidental spillage and they’d get a slap on the wrist and the Boy Scout would get a few dollars for his good deed.

But then Mr Brisboy shows up and more chaos ensues–Skinner’s gal Flesch put her “contack” lenses in a glass of water that they think Mooneyham drank; Mister Ten-forty has shown up and Mister Skinner has been mugged up by the mop closet.  This reminds Davidoff of a limerick about Skinner which Davidoff sort of gets right.  The real joke is

An Englishman traveling in the U.S. hears a limerick that strikes him as very funny, and he resolves to remember it so as to tell it to his friends when he gets back to England. It goes:
There was a young fellow named Skinner
Who invited a lady to dinner.
At a quarter to nine
They sat down to dine—
At a quarter to ten it was in ‘er—
Not Skinner—
The dinner!
The Englishman did his best to memorize this, and when he was back in England at a dinner party, spoke up:
“I must tell you a truly amusing limerick which I heard while I was traveling in America. If I remember it correctly, it goes like this:
There was a young fellow named Tuppah
Who invited a lady to suppah.
At a quarter to nine
They sat down to dine—
At a quarter to ten it was up ‘uh—
Not Tuppah,
Not the suppah,
But some fellow named Skinnah who got in there somehow!”

At the same time, Mr Ten-forty [who we know is Mr diCephalis–who we will remember was doing “acting” in front of the mirror] is trying to get them to act out a scene to understand “our real life roles and aggressive feelings in a merger situation” (543).  Mooneyham is a mouse, Mr Hopper is a cat and Mr ten-forty is a clown.

Bast starts to head out but Mr Brisboy catches up to him and they share a cab.  Brisboy speaks of his mother and his analyst.  He is quite precious: “I’d tried to call your office but a girl answered with the most indecent and quite impractical suggestion I’d quite despaired of ever…” and “aren’t [taxis] just obscenely rude with their little Off Duty signs is that the word your mother used too?”  (544).  He’s also possibly gay (from gestures he makes and from a comment Gibbs makes later).  As with all the other name mismatches, Bast calls him Bisboy,

Brisboy is pleased that they have a Senator working for them on the Eldercare bill.  (Man, Milliken has his hands in everything).  But when he sees Bast’s musical score he gets very excited and stars humming the music “I feel prickly all over now what’s this oh how ominous” (547).  And he’s even more impressed that Bast can write music while he has a hearing aid (and compares him to Beethoven being deaf).

Brisboy says that JR plans to stack people 6 to 8 deep in a plot to maximize space–“vertical integration” which Brisboy’s mother was afraid meant “darkies and whites stacked in layers like a giant Dubos torta.”

Brisboy gets out of the cab, Bast takes it to the uptown apartment where there’s a limo with ZS on the plate (remember Zona?) and a reporter looking for the offices of J R Corporation to interview a Mister Bast.  Bast tells him to talk to Julio Rodriguez up on the fifth floor.

Bast finally makes it up to the room and Rhoda is still there, once agin in the bathtub, this time with massive suds from sample cups that were on everyone’s doors.  Al took them from all the doors (and pops up from between her legs in the tub.  Al just got a postman job and drops off even more mail in the room.

Since we were last there, a lamp that’s made from a parking meter, a golf practice mat, deluxe barbeque tools and a Telecopier have arrived.  As well as a spade who came in to tap their phone.

BF Leva of Erebus Productions calls (while Al and Rhoda are still in the tub talking during the call: “Man like how come you never got circumcised” (550), but Bast doesn’t have much for him.  The place is amazingly even more of a disaster.  There’s chicken Kiev on the stock certificates, the pencils have been sharpened in a coffee grinder.  And all Bast wants to do is write down the score in his head.  And we learn that Al brought his guitar up–he starts playing while Bast is composing.  Al won’t stop but he also can’t read music, “Man like I play what I feel I mean not what some other cat writes for me to feel” (551).  His band Gravestone is coming over later to practice.  There is also some concern for Al’s cat Chairman Meow (my favorite name thus far).  And Al is collecting welfare checks in New Jersey and Connecticut.

Rhoda is mad that Bast won’t talk to Al about music and then reiterates “everyone’s like trying to help you out.”  The helping usually involves breaking things–the coffee grinder, the tape machine for the phone.  But Rhoda continues, ” I mean like I’m taking in all these packages and like answering the door to thee cops and Indians and every…” (553).  The cops are Treasury Department looking fro Grynzspan.  I’m fairly certain that Rhoda also received a call from General Roll and the consul general from Malwi.  Beaton called (“he sounds like a real fag”).  A Senators office called for a contribution.  She offers $20, they mean $20,000.  And Stamper called too.  Rhoda says, “I never heard such a filthy mouth on anybody, I mean like he’s in some fucking barnyard.”  JR called too and “man like he can’t stop talking.”  He told her that Erebus lost $28 million on a movie and he sounded real happy about that.

More boxes are opened–electric tie rack and Steakwatcher and then she takes out the Indian headdress (bast is quiet concerned about it).  She tells him they’re bringing 1000 gross of plastic flowers from Hong Kong.  There’s a phone bill for some $2000.  And a headhunter offering several exciting jobs at the “executive vice president level in a major corporate” (557).  They even seem to have gotten a spam “My husband is very sick, death sick, without hope of guerishing.  I beg you to send for him some cloth and underwear pijame, all very very used, or second hand which you could wear and would cast away” (557).

There’s a very funny section in which Rhoda reads him curses in Danish, which had me laughing (because I’m immature too).

Like do you want to know how to say scrotum in Danish?
–Well, well no I…
-Bolcheposen.

This funny section is actually somewhat useful for business–“does your company do business in these foreign countries so you won’t name some product you’re selling there some dirty word by mistake” (only $300/yr).

But Rhoda has other motives, “you can make out anyplace, I mean you go up to this Danish chick and say you brought your humørkaep would she like to kusse so she says okay if you use a dråbefanger [drop catcher], so you get this dråbefanger and like go someplace and få et rap.”  Then she asks if Bast ever watched her and Schramm have sex.  He says happened to see them once.  She says what do you mean happened you’d have to climb over….  He says that he just wanted to see if Schramm was home.  She looks back at the naked picture on the wall and asks if he likes her dippeldutters [nipples].  And this awkward seduction (in which Bast is still more concerned about the state of the room and his work) leads to a noisy, painful copulation “–I mean my poor fisse man.”

She asks what he wants to do now and he says nothing, get back to work, and she gets mad that he never talks and is not very interesting.  He says he wants his work to be interesting not him.  The phone rings (Brisboy) but nothing much comes of that and then Rhoda complains about the radio, but says that Al put some gum on a mop handle so they can change the stations at least.  Rhoda falls asleep (and gets a bloody nose–more on that below).

JR calls (take a deep breath).  He wants to make sure Bast is going to the funeral, to say that Davidoff is a really neat guy, to ask if he met the guy from Malwi (Bast hadn’t and has no idea what Malwi is).  We learn that Bast paid Urquhart and Teets $10 each to be on the board of directors and he doesn’t like either man (JR is mad Bast didn’t get names out of the Directory of Dir…).  JR asks for the Erebus stock value (168).  Bast answers that Rhoda is dependable (but not company loyal as she doesn’t even…) and no don’t send Virginia up there.   No he hasn’t given an interview to anyone.   And he mentions Alsaka Development.  Who changed the name?  “You spelled it that way in these memos you send out hat nobody dares…” (563).  And then: “Look I know how to spell Alaska but you spelled it a l s a…  Because I know you did!  Piscator sent me your memo when he registered the…  Yes you did…you did so… you look goodbye”  (564).  JR wants him to take the bus to the funeral now because the general took the plane.  And because Charlie Yellow Brook and his brother are waiting at a bus station…it’s a twenty-four hour trip.  He hangs up.

And Gibbs comes in.  He’s looking for his blue folder, but he is appalled at the state of the place and at the state of Bast.  Then he sees Rhoda (naked, obviously)…thought you were writing music up here.  This little exchange is wonderful:

–Man like what are you staring at..knees came up with the welter of blanket  –I mean you never saw one before?
–Why, why yes quite recently in fact Miss… (566).

Bast tries to fill Gibbs in (briefly) on what’s happening in the house, but doesn’t give any foundation about what is going on at all.  Gibbs sees the score and is happy for Bast.  He believes that Bast wrote an oratorio, but it’s just something for small orchestra (Rhoda: “don’t get him started”), and that maybe Bast has a hearing aid…  Finally Bast leaves and Gibbs says he just came up there to work.

She explains the hearing aid as the ASCAP job he’s doing on the side.  Gibbs want to know on the side of what.  Bast couldn’t work in the apartment–he couldn’t find the piano.  She starts to explain a bit more.  But he says he shouldn’t have asked and then in what will be one of two refrains for this lengthy section, he says “came up here to do some work.”  Rhoda: who’s stopping you?”

She gets dressed (sort of, there’s no pants involved, but there is a raincoat), so she can go shoplift at Macy’s (there’s a big sales and the crowds make it easier.  She asks Gibbs to endorse the stock certificates (all of them for under a dollar) and tells him where his blue folder is on the refrigerator–under the formerly frozen pizza.

Then the phone rings.  And Gibbs speaks French (mostly) about Ray-X (we later earn that these are the Malwi people).  And he says his name is Grynzspan.

And then he begins working on his book.  I’m not really able to parse Gibb’s book (I suspect it is intentionally impenetrable, but we do get a kind of gist).  He complains that people said it was very hard, which he disagrees with, but I found it hard to know even what the point was.  The cast is extensive: Frank Woolworth and his ten cent stores, Aristotle, Jack London, Spencer’s immutable law “Give me the facts man, the irrefragable fact!”  Later, he worries that it reads like “Give me the facts man” is Spencer’s law (and it does read like that)..

He keeps falling asleep, waking up to the telephone or a visitor and saying this section’s major refrain “get anything done in this place.”

The phone rings, it is Piscator looking for Grynszpan.  Wants to ask about the phone call from Malwi.  Gibbs says they didn’t mention rhodium, they wanted to buy the whole Ray-X catalog, seemed like all they could read was the prices.  Didn’t ask for a discount.  Gibbs/Grynzspan sold them everything.

Then they talk about BF Leva “Worst god damned moviemaker in…” (572)  The loss in the films is a threat to the loss in the textiles.  Gibbs tries to get out of it saying he can’t help, but then he starts giving advice (which may or may not be sound, but it certainly sounds good).

take on the whole thing get rid of that two and a half million cash outlay in carrying charges by dumping these four smaller studios well under book value, say you sell them off at two million one bring your tax credits up around forty million just hang onto the big studio (573).

He tries to work again mentions Madame Bernhardt, Wilde.  Then he gets distracted and strums Al’s guitar.  He falls asleep only to be woken by the door (and the radio).  Erebus productions has bought Mister bass a fuck and here she is.  But Bast’s not here so she’ll come back.  The phone rings, more French.  Then back to his book:

Horatio Alger, Ragged Dicks, Reverened Newell Dwight Mills, Mark Twain.  Then Gibbs notices the slides of zebras and “antelope looks like eland” (577).  {Is there anything that Gibbs doesn’t know about?].

Then Gibbs calls back Piscator says to drop the bottom out of the Erebus shares from 186 to 85 or 90, the shareholders will all drop the share low right in Piscator’s lap.  Pisctaor asks more question but Gibbs begs off saying he has work to do.  But he manages to solve another crisis about sweaters from Hong Kong (by having a girl fly over with them).

Then he starts looking for a dictionary.  The phone rings, no he doesn’t want free dance lessons.  Then Eigen calls.

Gibbs tells him it sounds like Bast has 20 part time jobs.  But when Eigen asks about Jack’s own writing Gibbs has a million excuses–no typewriter, can’t find his notes, etc.  We learn that Tom’s wife is filing and that he may have to pay her lawyer’s fees.  Gibbs is sympathetic but not terribly pleasant about it, saying he has to go get some food.

The radio plays an ad for Alsaka Developemnt (“a proud member of the J R Family of Companies.  If its JR.  It’s just right.  J R. An American family of American”) (578).  The goofy radio on all the time serves as more than a distraction!

Gibbs gets back to work, but this time the light goes out.  He shakes it and it comes back on.  Then he gets a collect call from Bast in Akron.  Bast wants the tape sent down to Crawley when it is finished.  Then Gibbs tells Bast that Piscator says his company stock is being hurt by pressure on some big loan they’ve got out against some government R and D contract with this Ray-X.  Then Gibbs says Grynzspan stopped by and sold all of the Ray-X inventory.  Bast tells Gibbs to just use his best judgment but Gibbs retorts how can I use my own judgment if I don’t even know the…  But Bast has to go, his bus is leaving.

Gibbs tries to settle down, falls asleep again, when a knock on the door wakes him up, it s a delivery of 100,000 flowers.  Gibbs tells the driver to go back around the block, which should take him two hours.  Then he buckles down for his new day of work.  The pizza cheese is sticking things together–he got cut off in the middle of a Dewey quote and didn’t realize it.  Then comes William James, E.L. Thorndike (modern school testing based on the intelligent behavior of chickens), back to Woolworth and on to Mary Baker Eddy.  But again, “how can I leave out a whole page never miss it  probably ought to take it right out speed up the Christ…start thinking that way be nothing left of it but the God damned title” (582).

Then B F Leva calls back and Gibbs has some fun with him “quite an honor.”  Leva says there’s an ad offering $60 a share for Erebus, Gibbs mutters he’d said $85/90.  Leva has a picture phone too, sees Gibbs’ tub and Gibbs says he’s making a film about an Estonian refugee family.  Gibbs says it was a compliment to Leva to sell the stock cheaper…”confident you’ll always find the sleaziest best seller pay the highest price for it and keep on turning out big budget money losing flops consistent tasteless stupidity God damned valuable asset B F”  (He tells him that BF stands for bloody fucker).

B F says no one ever talked to him like that and offers him a job.

Gibbs hangs up and starts looking at the mail…Miss Olga Krupskaya what the hell they delivering this here for?  Eigen also gets a letter from a girl who dots her eyes with a circle and Gibbs wonders if there’s a nude photo inside. Then he finds another manuscript of his–How Rose is Read.  It’s a convoluted paragraph, holy.

Then Crawley calls, he seems very upset about the state of Bast’s affairs, but Gibbs gives him nothing, But Crawley says he did get the tape and he loves it (a gloaming review indeed), but he’s had trouble with the film.  He will still send Bast money though.

Gibbs settles back to his book: the statue of Daedalus, or the tripods of Hephaestus.  But he’s distracted by the guys moving their car around outside and by a clothespin that falls onto the window sill.  Then there’s a very funny sequence where he plays with the radio:

–really time to do something nice for your mouth…
–Do something nice for your mouth God damn you, you…
–like sending your mouth on a vacation…
–Send your mouth on a vacation you son of a bitch there…
–actually helps shrink painful hemorrhoidal…
–Bastard!
–prompt temporary relief by reducing painful swelling…
–Oh you bastard you bastard he plunged the mop handle, pounded it up and down.
—what America is today, so look for volume one of this exciting new childrens’ encyclopedia at your neighborhood supermarket [this turns out the be a JR product–I love this sequence, childish humor, cursing and plot advancement!].

Gibbs is pissed and starts pulling on boxes and papers go everywhere.  Then we see a typewritten (and handwritten) sheet of notes from his work.  It is dense and hard to follow.

Gibbs sits on the windowsill for light and a string with a wad of gum comes down to try and retrieve the clothespin.

Brisboy calls very upset about what he has read in the paper.  He wants to talk to Bast or JR.  Gibbs can’t do anything for him.  Brisboy still thinks it seems like a fun company to work for and asks about the Indian costume.  “I’m sure he’ll bring his Indian costume back yes never mentioned playing dress up but of course Mister Bast seems to have a number of talents I nev…” (588).  Gibbs tells Brisboy not to come up there.

The gum keep bouncing off the clothespin.  Gibbs says “–Like Robert the Bruce, Christ!”  He runs over, opens the window, puts the gum on the clothespin and shuts the window.  He gets (more) aggravated and storms out to buy cigarettes and food (and booze).

While he’s out Rhoda and Al return with Chairman Meow who has so many stitches he looks like a football.  The phone rings.  Bast’s stock has dropped to 12 1/8 and they expect Bast to pay up $5,280.  Rhoda says nobody gives money to banks–if they want money go in the vault.  Then she gets a call from Mr Wiles secretary: “so like what’s the matter with this Mister Wiles can’t he dial the” (590) [HA!].  Another call from the newspaper talking about releasing natural gas  “rushed AEC approval through to beat these “envirementalist’s” injunction.”  Rhoda (who proves to be quite sage) says not to ask her for news, if he’s at a newspaper, why doesn’t he just look in the paper for the news.

Gibbs comes back and is outraged to see Al’s band all over the place.  Al says everyone is doing their own thing. Gibbs says, “if I did what I want to do right now you’d go out of here in a God damned sack” (591).

Rhoda says a friend told her about a job, so she calls the number calls the number and asks if she has to screw a horse.  The guy tells her to come down right now and to ask for Mister c h …i?  c i…?  She also explains why she steals from Macy’s she bought a rug from them and returned it but is still getting billed.  Gibbs says Grynzspan has a similar arrangement with Edison.

Gibbs takes off his shirt and she sees the scratches on his back from Emily.  Rhoda asks if it was the black haired chick from the other night.  Gibbs is confused and concerned by this comment.  He gets a call from Mrs Eigen but doesn’t accept it. Then the gum comes back down, trying to get a curler on the sill. Then there’s a call about frigicom and the effect on marine life of disposing sound shards at sea.  Crawley calls to say the stock is down four points.  And then Gibbs finds the typewriter!  He hit R.

Then Tom calls again. Last time he talked of tooth pain now he’s talking of a detached retina, (what the hell is going on with him?).  Gibbs gives him suggestions for each and tells Eigen that he found Schramm’s typewriter.  Tom wants to know if they found Schramm’s manuscript. No.  Then Gibbs has to ask Tom what day it is.  Tuesday.  Christ, he calls his ex wife again with more excuses.

There’s a radio ad from Nobili…  It’s green!

Rhoda comes home and says she’s expecting an important call from her job (and Gibbs is drunk).  The job is a political one (no horses involved) and its for Mister Cibo–he’s back!  She’s in a commercial where she has personal problems and is going to jump out a window but the politician saves her.

She asks about the parking meter lamp and says it needs change. Gibbs reveals that he had found a bug in the phone but she says that once they realize it’s out a black guy will just come back to put it in again.

She reads out loud a letter addressed to Eigen, the Admission Committee of the PEN voted at its last meeting to ask you to become a … (600).  Gibbs gets excited about this, but it too gets lost in the shuffle.  There’s also a petition to support Senator Broos’ backing of non-intervention in Gandia.

Charmian Meow who has been hiding, come out after the gum bouncing on the window sill.  Rhoda sees what the gum is after–a quarter that Gibbs glued down (ha!), she can’t pry it up, and gets the gum and cat tangled in her hair and she is pissed.

Then the door opens and an encyclopedia salesman comes in selling the J R company’s books.  He is trying valiantly to follow his script with Rhoda and Gibbs fucking with him.

Gibbs settles down to talk about his book again and how it is like raising a child for sixteen years.  Rhoda reads a line and says she doesn’t understand it.  “Shoot the God damned pianist what it’s about…player piano play by itself get to shoot the pianist…invention was eliminating the very possibility of failure as a condition for success.”  Rhoda doesn’t get it and “this is the name of the book agape agape?  thats the name of it? (604).  He explains agapē.  “Who wants your fucking title if nobody even knows what it means?” (696).

They get into a discussion of books.  She says look how many books are in here, who asked you to write another?  But then she talks about her own life and how she should be the one writing the book. “I could write this book people would read, man…like without all these phony big words you use” (606).  Gibbs suggests she should be a teacher too.  She says she’s not kidding, she wouldn’t give the kids any bullshit either.

Finally she asks if Gibbs wants to ball.  He asks why and she says there’s nothing else to do.  He says some obnoxious things and then she tells him to forget it.  Then she snorts something and Gibbs warns that she’ll wake up with a bloody nose.  She says he’s going to wake up like Schramm coming up the…  but she won’t finish the sentence no matter how much Gibbs pleads.

Then he hears music from the radio.  It’s selections from Bruckner’s eight symphony. This sets Gibbs off again–can’t play the whole symphony can’t even play the whole God damned Scherzo bastar….! (608).

Rhoda tells him that Bast’s boss is on the phone and he’s freaking out.  He’s heard that Grynzspan was here he wants to talk to him or to anybody.

But Gibbs is reading the encyclopedia (That he stole from the salesman) and Rhoda is talking about her life…going to charm school and beauty school with hopes of becoming a model.  And she realizes that “I really hate this fucking model I always said I’d be, you know?”  And even better” “Like I mean you forget how you know?  I mean like hating all these wise-ass generals and fucked up presidents we get and like these banks and faceless reverend garbage peels and asshole politicians I mean it’s just this big drag and like you forget, you know? I mean like really how to hate?” (609).

And then everything falls over.

$$$$$

There’s just over 100 pages left to go.  JR’s company feels like the piles in Grynszpan’s apartment–built on an unstable principle and bound to come crashing down any second.  I can’t wait to see how Gaddis wraps this up!