Cash-flow man of the clean-urine racket

pivotal · STANDING — quarterly; narrated 15 Oct YDAU

• When: STANDING quarterly operation, on display on urine-sample day, 15 Oct YDAU
• What: Axford is Pemulis's business partner in the clandestine clean-urine trade: every third month the two work the unsupervised line in the Comm.-Ad. lobby, selling little Visine bottles of sub-ten-year-olds' urine out of an antique wienerman's vending tub to ranking players who can't pass the O.N.A.N.T.A. scan. Axford handles cash-flow while Pemulis dispenses; Axford then stashes and recycles the used bottles, so packaging overhead is nil. The pair co-own — with Hal, Struck, and a since-graduated player — the reconditioned tow truck whose registration and insurance are paid out of quarterly urine revenues, Pemulis and Axford taking slight priority of use. This is Axford's narrative function in miniature: the dependable, colorless second half of a Pemulis enterprise.