Foobonia and Points West.

Another mortal sin that has enslaved our merry band of vermin is Avarice. Now, they don't seem to be especially money hungry, except for say Michael. After all, he seemed somewhat dissatisfied that his fluke advance of twenty-five thou wasn't bigger. It isn't all about money, however, as much as it is the race to acquire worldy goods to the exclusion of all higher needs. You must admit most of these people are a shameless bunch of pack rats, and look down on April because she thinks the drive to burden oneself with gear is a mug's game. I can vaguely remember a sequence with Elly having an argument with Phil over a pipe organ their parents owned. What had happened is that the Richards had moved to a smaller house after their children had moved away and were eager to rid themselves of some material possessions they didn't immediately need and had over the years made contradictory promises over its ownership. The thing is that Phil had the stronger claim because he'ds actually use the thing; she just wanted it to get the thing first so as to have sometrhing to pretend to dust. They aren't really all that greed-driven, but let's just say that Avarice is holding the coats of more ACTIVE partners, shall we?

I know I'm beating a dead horse her, but I can't help but notice the Patterson family in general and Elly in particular have a deep-seated dread of the new and different. This stems from a near-manic drive to go through this existence without really experiencing anything. Elly's ideal is for a nice, safe, tidy little world where each day is exactly like the one before and there are no nasty little surprises to upset the perfect routine. The notion of being dragged along into things and dealing with the big, nasty world and *gasp* growing as a person fills her with as much horror as her plastic, super-sanitary zombified life fills us. You'd almost feel sorry for her because she's both an unbearable know-it-all and hapless down-the-river patsy. The temptation immediately vanishes because she thinks this horrifying and crippling character defect a mark of singular virtue. The freakish old biddy refers to her smug refusal to budge from a idea whose failure is obvious even to the dullards and toadies she calls her immediate family 'integrity' when it's a sad comment of the rottenness inside her soul. She thereby defends herself by projecting her deformed prejudices on the outside, seeking only those facts that confirm her delusions. Thus the horrid failure of Granthony and Straw-woman Therese's marriage and the chaos between Lizardbreath and the sap Paul stem from a culture clash, breezily ignoring the failed real-world union of White(Lynn) and Bread(Husband no. 1). Another shameless example of begging the question is her pointless animosity towards Lizardbreath's cat, Shiimsaa. The hapless creature is bad because cats are bad, case closed, end of discussion. Part and parcel with her worship of mind-numbing predictability is the worship of material goods. She and most of her family obsess constantly over the state of their beloved material possessions, even valuing them over the well-being of the people and companion animals in their care. Threaten a Patterson with physical harm, as Kortney did with April, and that's no big deal. Threaten or break their crud and you've got a fight on your hands, buddy. One is reminded of South Sea islanders who have formulated a folk religion based on manufactured items, the famous 'cargo cults'. They believe a messiah will someday appear and deliver their rightful cargo from the hands of the white man. Explaining to them about factories and even showing them around one is useless because their faith is pure and will not be sullied by the lies of the Europeans. So it is with the primitive tribe called the Foobs. As long as their cargo stays exactly where it is, the world is safe and the Sun will not die. At least, that's how Elly sees it. The others are probably just good little consumers happily rubbing other peoples nose in their crap. April is thought of as a freak because she doesn't sink her self worth into her possessions. But then, sanity is madness to the insane.