Molly Notkin's party (pp. 237–238)
he, always with a wooden match in the corner of his mouth, pointing up into the rectangular world at this one or that one, performers, giant flawless 2D beauties iridescent on the screen, telling Joelle over and over again how she was prettier than this one or that one right there
Context
Joelle's own personal Daddy, the low-pH chemist, in the front row of the Paducah -plexes — the tenderest and most poisoned father-image in the scene. He held her hand in his lap and pointed up at the screen beauties to tell her, over and over, that she was prettier than any of them, and she'd "never so much again... felt so taken care of." It's the origin of everything her adult veiled life is trying to escape: a father's love delivered as a verdict on her face, the being-looked-at that becomes her curse. It's the origin panel of the Joelle's-Daddy arc this collection also follows — the rescuer-Daddy of 104, the “still sucking air” Daddy of 112, and the predatory low-pH chemist of 159; father-daughter texture, and a strong one.