V.

Profane now works as an alligator hunter in the sewers of New York City. He and Angel chase a “pinto” (49) alligator on the orders of their manager, Zeitsuss. Though he is very enthusiastic about the job, Zeitsuss struggles with budget issues and government oversight. His “pep talks” (51) are full of unrealistic goals, but, as the workers pity him, no one complains. Profane and Angel give an update on their chase to their foreman, Bung, who sticks his head down through a manhole cover. Bung correctly accuses Angel of being drunk, and they fight. Profane is left alone to hunt the alligator.

The sewer is the site of a historical event: Some time ago, a priest named Father Linus Fairing clambered down into the sewers because he believed that the world was about to end. In the sewer, he delivered sermons about the Roman Catholic Church to the rats, as he believed that only the rats would survive the apocalypse. Thereupon, he became the “spiritual leader of the inheritors of the earth” (52). Father Fairing’s journals, which date back as far as November 1934, describe the problems of teaching religion to rats. Only one of the rats, Veronica, referred to as V., seems interested in religion.

In the present, Profane suddenly sees a light in the sewer. He raises his gun and fires into the dark, apologizing to the alligator before he pulls the trigger.

Roony Winsome works in the music industry hunting for “new curiosities” (55) to sign for Outlandish Records. His work has brought him to the attention of the CIA. Roony’s wife Mafia is a writer whose work is based on the theory that “the world can only be rescued from certain decay through Heroic Love” (56). In recent years, their marriage has started falling apart, and Roony has considered a relationship with Paola Maijstral, whom he considers to be “pretty and sensitive; and unhappy” (57).

Rachel calls Roony to find Stencil and Paola, just as Esther is sneaking out of the apartment wearing one of Rachel’s coats. Pig turns up at the apartment with Fu; both of them are keen to get drunk. Absent without leave from the Navy, Pig has also unsuccessfully been searching for Paola. As they drink, Pig quizzes Rachel about French existentialist philosophy and the idea that people are “impersonating an identity” (59). Stencil telephones—he has been shot in the buttock while working undercover. Intrigued by the alligator patrol, he talked to Zeitsuss and learned about Veronica the rat. Intrigued by this new V., Stencil spent time in the sewers until he had seen “all he wanted to see of Fairing’s Parish” (60). The Whole Sick Crew rescues Stencil.

Profane thinks about Fina, the latest in a series of women who seem to charge into his life “like accidents” (60). He feels like she is only attracted to him in her pursuit of some kind of grace or indulgence. The morning after his first night shift as an alligator hunter, Profane wants to sleep, but fellow hunters Geronimo and Angel insist that he trawl the city bars with them to search for women. Angel’s sister Fina invites herself along. They visit an after-hours bar where the group argues about marriage. Fina lays her head drunkenly against Profane’s head. After declining an invitation to dance, Profane briefly steps on the dance floor, only to have his toe stepped on by a high heel. He falls asleep under a table and wakes up to find that he is being carried by the group to the next bar. They visit bar after bar. Profane’s scattered memories include being stuck in a phone box with Fina, talking about love. He cannot recall what he told her but fears what he might have said. There is a “mutual embarrassment” (61) between them. When he wakes up again, he is covered in pigeons in the middle of Union Square.

The next few days are a blur. Profane drinks heavily and unwittingly finds himself in a relationship with Fina. The daily descent into the sewer to hunt alligators feels like his only escape. Days later, Fina and Profane are sitting on the couch watching television. She asks why they never talk, and Profane responds in a laconic, stunted manner. He cannot understand why Fina treats him “like he was a human being” (61). Later, he asks Angel what Fina could possibly want from him. Angel tells Profane that his sister is the spiritual, maternal leader of the Playboys street gang, a group of “pale and soulless” (62) youths.

When Profane, Angel, and Geronimo embark on another bar crawl, they introduce themselves to a group of 14-year-old girls, eventually leading the girls in “a song of the Great Depression” (63). The whole street joins in with the song. When the girls ask about the men’s jobs, Angel and Profane invent stories about hunting alligators. The men follow the girls from bar to bar. Profane, in particular, chases after one of the girls named Lucille. As she leads him into the back of one bar, a “rumble” (64) takes place: The Playboys are about to fight a rival gang, the Bop Kings, but Fina arrives and stops them. In the following days, Profane becomes increasingly paranoid about Fina and the Playboys. He sleeps in the bathtub, refusing when Fina asks him to be the first man to have sex with her. He cannot understand why she would want to be with a man like himself.

In the spring, Profane’s worries about Fina turn “real and ugly” (65).

The alligator hunters’ hours are cut to part time because there are so few alligators left. In the sewers, Profane now finds himself “talking to alligators” (66). Angel and Geronimo are annoyed by this, and Bung tells him to stop. A few weeks later, Profane is ready to quit, and Fina tries to find him a job as a clerk at Outlandish Records. On the way to his interview, however, he is struck by existentialist thoughts—he believes that a passing glance from a messenger tells him to “listen to the wind” (67), so he skips the interview and wanders the streets.

A few days later, Profane joins Angel and Geronimo at a bar after their shift in the sewers. Fina is missing, so they leave the bar to search for her at the scene of a “full-scale rumble” (67), where Roony is recording audio of the fight for Outlandish Records. Angel busts down the door of a clubhouse belonging to the Playboys, and Profane and Geronimo follow him inside. They find Fina “lying on a cot, naked, hair in disarray, smiling” (68). Angel closes the door, and the other men can hear him beating his sister. Profane exits the building without looking back. Rather than return to the same apartment, he takes the subway and looks for somewhere cheap to stay.