Religion and Drugs

In Chapter 25 - Y.T. has a delivery to make to Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates #1106. The parking lot is half full and there are people lined up out the door. The first thing that she notices are small glass vials scattered around behind a dumpster the Pearly Gates. Once inside the front room she has to wait for a transaction to be completed. Y.T. becomes restless but because this is a church, she remains poised. Once the transaction has been paid for with a credit card, “a wide pair of pearlescent doors in the back of the room swing majestically open.” Featured within the room is a blazing trinity: Jesus, Elvis, and the Reverend Wayne. The customer drops down on her knees and begins to speak in tongues, “ar ia ari ar isa ve na a mir ia I sa, ve na mir is a sar ia …” (196).

The addressee of the package, Reverend Dale T. Thorpe, grabs the package from Y.T. without signing for it. She never lets something like that happen but … this is a church. Y.T. follows Rev. Dale into a room where she observes him with an aluminum computer case. After the Rev. punches away at the keyboard, he removes a small vial and inserts it into a socket on the keyboard. The vial goes down into the machine and pops out again. “The red plastic cap is emitting grainy red light. It has little LEDs built into it, and they are spelling out number, counting down second: 5,4,3,2,1 … The Reverend Dale T. Thorpe hold the vial up to his left nostril. When the LED counter gets down to zero, it hisses, like air coming out of a tire valve. At the same time, he inhales deeply, sucking it all into his lungs. Then he shoots the vial expertly into his wastebasket.” (197).

Interesting combination.