Victor finds an alternative, yet guaranteed way to make money: choking. Yes, fake a choking episode in restaurant after restaurant, play the victim and allow someone else to save you. That way, the 'hero' in turn will feel responsible for you for the rest of your natural life.
Yea, he's worked out quite a scheme for himself. He receives monthly, occasionally even weekly checks from the many who have 'saved' him, made out for generous sums of cash.
However, in order to supplement his income, he works with his best friend at colonial Dunsboro, dressed to the nines if you will, in period costume.
Victor feels a real sense of guilt over his mother and her condition as well as anger directed at himself for his often passive way of handling her and the situations she either intentionally, or unintentionally got them into.
He reaches back into his mind to pull out embittered childhood memories of a mother rarely able to care for him due to her disagreements with the law, which incidentally were frequent occurrences.
Little Victor was placed in a succession of foster homes because of this. However, his mother somehow always managed to find him and abduct him from each home, each time that he was placed.
Usually within a matter of hours, or days, the two were always caught and his mother reprimanded, until the next time.
Now in his thirties, Victor is disgusted with himself for essentially doing nothing with his life. He regrets leaving medical school, and realizes that this scheme he has devised for himself is gradually running out of steam. Afterall, asphyxiating for a living can take a real toll on a person's health after awhile.
His mother's physical health is deteriorating and her fragile mental condition is on the verge of collapsing altogether. Still, there is one piece of information that Victor must coax out of her before her death, which is immanent; the identity of his real father.
Was she artificially inseminated, or is his father actually our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as his mother has insinuated for years?
A perversely entertaining read.
Have a look at Palahniuk's 'A Writer's Cult' web site highlighted in my top five best.
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