the janitor-bucket as ball-hopper and retch-pail
the cast-off janitorial buckets are the size of like a middle-size wastebasket, but they have a sturdy steel pail-type handle, and their hard-polymer composition makes for lasting wear. It was into just such a bucket that Pemulis threw up before his kind of suspicious V.D. down at Port Washington.
Context
The academy's gear-culture in one dented object. Serious players scorn the store-bought "Ball-Hopper" and use "cast-off janitorial buckets" — sturdy, hard-polymer, "for lasting wear" — to dribble up practice balls. And the same bucket doubles as a retch-pail: "into just such a bucket that Pemulis threw up before his kind of suspicious V.D. down at Port Washington." Ball-collection and vomiting share a vessel; the body's equipment and the body's price meet in one repurposed pail. (Ties Port Washington to 157's dosing recall.)