Chapter 20
We rejoin our contafulous pair in the most pear-like of circumstances: enhanced by a nuclear cruiser, they hang by the merest sliver of repugnance from a basket of large cherry droppings, put expressly upon a razor blade for their own entrapment by Mr. Tweed. (Ah, Mr. Tween … captor of nations, Magenschmerz of all vibrations, redeemer of the vile, emperor of the undressed, undeserving utterer of the underserved, main waiter at the Café Tom on East 14th St., vast and ultimate power of gasoline fumes, etc.) (Not THAT Mister Preen, you fool!) The situation, as you can well imagine, my friends, is desperate. They have no need of regret, no remorse courses through their pale brains, for they know that their lives have been suffused with Pig Latin, the Other White Language — and yet … and yet there is a hint of trouble in Willina’s pinkish eyes. She reaches over to Pubert — she begins to breathe into his ear — she reco...