Pemulis walks in on the Avril/Wayne football-cheerleader tableau

pivotal · 9 Nov YDAU

• When: late P.M. Monday 9 Nov YDAU, the doorless Dean of Academic Affairs's office (Avril's office)
• What: Seeking a word with Avril, Pemulis walks into her office and finds "18-A John Wayne and Hal's Mumsly-Wumsly." Wayne "wore a football helmet and light shoulderpads and a Russell athletic supporter and socks and shoes and nothing else," down in "the classic three-point stance of U.S. football" and producing football growls; Avril, in "a little green-and-white cheerleader's outfit" with a pellet-less whistle, does near-splits facing him. Wayne straightens and dresses "with no little dignity," silent; Pemulis makes a show of not looking "south of" Avril's face. This is the liaison caught in the act (the leverage Pemulis banks in event 19) — narrated at the level of tableau, its meaning left to the reader.