Infinite Summer

This is one of my favorite sections..pg. 57..have you ever had a really bad cold and couldn't breathe out of your nose? And here is this poor schmuck tied up and gagged.. trying to tell Gately and his "associate" IN FRENCH that he can't breathe... and my all time FAVORITE line I've stolen a number of times.. "the associate takes a quick peek at the safe behind the seascape and reports " the safe behind is to laugh at, it can be opened with HARSH LANGAUGE, almost.
And.. "addicts tend to operate on anextremely rigid physical schedule of need and satisfaction Gately at that moment firmly in the need part of the schedule."

This has been one of my worst fears for most of my life. I am not kidding. Only this scene is much better realized that the similar scene in The Da Vinci Code, but we don't talk about that book here. Lesson: Always carry Afrin nasal spray on your person. Year of the Afrin Pump Mist Nasal Spray.

Parallel: Rhinovirally Afflicted Man died in a manner very much like Orin's Morbid Menagerie of Cockroaches. Only the cockroaches couldn't beg for mercy, even though Orin could grant it. What does this possibly say about the good and evil tendencies we may have yet to find out about the Rhinovirally Afflicted Man and his filthy Canadian politics, Orin, Goon & Associate, and cockroaches?

I have had the same, what I thought was a personal, fear of being bound and gagged while having a cold so bad that I couldn't breathe out of my nose... I guess that's the collective unconscious working.

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"What a lark! What a plunge!"
- Virginia Woolf,

This section affected me almost physically, to the point where I think I was breathing deeper than normal to compensate. Reminded me of waking up at night all stuffed up and trying so hard to breathe through my nose and being unable to. How amazing is this man's writing, to elicit such a response? And so much more to come....

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"The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you." DFW

This reminded me of a scene in "A fish called Wanda"

That's another chip up the nose I'm afraid, Ken.

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First read.
Reading on Kindle and iPhone.

This was the first section that I completely forgot was part of the larger text. When I read the weekly review of the book on the main IS page I couldn't recall it at all, and then realized I had compartmentalized this chapter in my brain into it's own standalone short story.