Against the Day, Chapter Three: When Assassination Attempts Go Bad!

Scarsdale and Foley in Venice. They "had agreed to delude themselves that in this sun-spattered atrium they had found temporary refuge from the murderous fields of capitalist endeavor." Oddly similar to what the anarchists in this book end up doing: in the absence of non-evil governments, creating the worlds they would like to see in miniature. The difference, of course, is that these guys here are just deluding themselves: they like capitalism. Well, in theory they do. But apparently, there's also a level on which they're willing to implicitly admit it sucks. Very suspicious!

Foley reports that Kit had disappeared from Göttingen. "What does he know, Foley?" Scarsdale asks. "Likely that you paid to have his Pappy put out of the way," Foley reasonably responds. "Of course, but what happened to 'we,' Foley?" (724). We can see fissures in their relationship here. This may be because "Scarsdale had never been reluctant to hand out tasks to Foley that were embarrassing at best and often competitive with some of Foley's old Civil War nightmares" (725). I would like it if Foley's differences with the boss were purely ideological, but it's obvious that there has to be a personal element in there.

So Scarsdale is diving, inspecting underwater murals of apocalyptic, end-of-the-world stuff, and Foley is sort of, well: "Now and then, fitfully, his hands would begin to approach the nozzles of the plenum chamber from which the air-supply hoses led below" (726). I missed this on my first reading, but this chapter pretty clearly telegraphs his designs on Scarsdale.

Meanwhile, we have Kit and Reef, plotting and pondering on the best way to assassinate him. Kit runs into Dally--with whom, you'll remember, he had an abortive shipboard romance. Will they be able to get something going NOW? No. But he and Reef DO reveal their plans to her, enlisting her aid (Reef renders "arrivederci" as "areeferdirtcheap," which amuses me). For reasons. Reef's ol' "friend" Ruperta is there too, but she goes off somewhere with Hunter Penhallow.

Dally, you'll remember, is living with this Principessa Songiatosta, who has a complicated personal life, with people coming and going for romantic and non-romantic reasons. One person who keeps showing up is Cyprian's old "friend" Derrick Theign. Just wanna keep an eye on him.

She's having a party at her place, to which Scarsdale Vibe is invited. They wonder what to do, but they don't exactly have an assassination planned out yet, so Dally's just attending the party. Extremely unfortunately, Andrea Tancredi, the painter anarchist on whom Dally had a crush, shows up. It's not at all clear that he's actually making an assassination attempt, but "he was doing the one thing authority cannot abide, will never allow to pass, he was refusing to do as he was told." So Scarsdale's bodyguards murder him, basically. Too real, although I have to note that today's American cops are more than willing to murder you even if you do do what you're told, at least if you have too much melanin. Scarsdale is a horrible sadist about it, as you'd think: "Make sure you damage his face, fellows. Batti! battia la faccia, yes? Destroy it. Give the little shitass's Mamma something to cry about" (743).

Later there's a little party to celebrate the incident. Foley is uncharacteristically dancing. "'Why?' 'Celebrating. Just happy they didn't get you.' If Scarsdale heard an emphasis on 'they' he gave no indication" (744). Boy, future events are becoming EXTREMELY apparent.

Anyway, any assassination plans have to be put off, as Scarsdale and Foley leave, going who knows where. Reef and Kit feel it prudent to depart also, the former feeling a certain resentment of the latter for not being committed enough to the task at hand and for having taken money from Vibe. Though, really, the fact that the plot failed had nothing to do with him. Come on now.