Pemulis discovers Avril and John Wayne — the cheerleader-and-punter tableau, and the blackmail

pivotal · 9 Nov YDAU (and standing) — the Wayne liaison

• When: late P.M., Mon 9 Nov YDAU (the "office-incident"), her doorless office
• What: Entering the reception area during Study Period, Pemulis finds "Inc's incredibly tall and well-preserved mother Dr. Avril Incandenza" in "a little green-and-white cheerleader's outfit," a pellet-less brass whistle around her neck, doing near-splits and mock-blowing the whistle two meters from a near-naked helmeted John Wayne in a three-point stance producing "the classic low-register growling sounds of U.S. football." Pemulis subsequently trades on it: he and Hal "escaped on-spot urinalysis only because Pemulis implied to Mrs. Incandenza that he'd tell the Incster about Avril having some sort of major-sport interlude with John Wayne," Avril being "a coldly-biding-her-time-not-to-be-fucked-with administrative figure." This is the most concrete on-page evidence of the Avril-Wayne liaison (see events 25, 30).