"Write them down," Kevin said; he brought out a fountain pen. Kevin always used fountain pens, the last of a vanishing breed of noble men. "Paper?" he said, glancing around.
When paper had been brought, Fat began the list. "The third eye with the lateral lens."
"Okay." Nodding, Kevin wrote that down.
"The pink light."
"Okay."
"The Christian fish sign. Which I didn't see, but which you say was -- "
"Double helix," Kevin said.
"Same thing," I said. "Apparently."
"Anything else?" Kevin asked Fat.
"Well, the whole goddam information transfer. From VALIS. From the satellite. You say it not only fires information to them but it overrides them and controls them."
"That," Kevin said, "was the whole point of the film. The satellite took -- look; here's what the picture was about. There is this tyrant obviously based on Richard Nixon called Ferris F. Fremount. He rules the U.S.A. through those black secret police, I mean, men in black uniforms carrying scope-sight weapons, and those fucking cheerleader broads. They're called 'Fappers' in the film."
"I didn't get that," I said, "when I saw it."
"It was on a banner," Kevin said. "Marginally. Fappers - - ' Friends of the American People.' Ferris Fremount's citizen army. All alike and all patriotic. Anyhow, the satellite fires beams of information and saves Brady's life. You did get that. Finally the satellite arranges for Brady to replace Fremount at the very end when Fremount has won re-election. It's really Brady who's president, not Fremount. And Fremount knows; there was the scene of him with the dossier of pictures of the people at Meritone Records; he knew what was happening but he couldn't stop it. He gave orders for the military to bring down VALIS but the missile wobbled and had to be destroyed. Everything was done by VALIS. Where do you think Brady got his electronics knowledge in the first place? From VALIS. So when Brady became president as Ferris Fremount, it was really the satellite which became president. Now, who or what is the satellite? Who or what is VALIS? The clue is the ceramic pot or the ceramic pitcher; same thing. The fish sign -- which your brain has to assemble from separate pieces of information. Fish sign, Christians. Old-fashioned dress on the woman. Time dysfunction. There is some connection between VALIS and the early Christians, but I can't make out what. Anyhow, the film alludes to it elliptically. Everything is in pieces, all the information. For example, when Ferris Fremount is reading the dossier on Meritone Records -- did you have time to scan any of the data?"
"No," Fat and I said.
"'He lived a long time ago,'" Kevin said hoarsely, "'but he is still alive.'"
"It said that?" Fat said.
"Yes!" Kevin said. "It said that."
"Then I'm not the only one who encountered God," Fat said.
"Zebra," Kevin corrected him. "You don't know it was God; you don't know what the fuck it was."
"A satellite?" I said. "A very old information-firing satellite?"
Irritably, Kevin said, "They wanted to make a sci-fi flick; that's how you would handle it in a sci-fi flick if you had such an experience. You ought to know that, Phil. Isn't that so, Phil?"
"Yes," I said
"So they call it VALIS," Kevin said, "and make it an ancient satellite. That's controlling people to remove an evil tyranny that grips the United States -- obviously based on Richard Nixon."
I said, "Are we to assume that the film Valis is telling us that Zebra or God or VALIS or three-eyed people from Sirius removed Nixon from office?"
"Yep," Kevin said.
To Fat, I said, "Didn't the three-eyed Sibyl you dreamed about talk about 'conspirators who had been seen and would be taken care of'?"
"In August 1974," Fat said.
Kevin, harshly, said, "That's the month and year Nixon resigned."
Later, as Kevin was driving me home, the two of us talked about Fat and about Valis, since presumably neither of them could overhear us.
The opinion Kevin copped to was that all along he had taken it for granted that Fat was simply crazy. He had seen the situation this way: guilt and sorrow over Gloria's suicide had destroyed Fat's mind and he had never recovered. Beth was a tremendous bitch, and, married to her out of desperation, Fat had become even more miserable. At last, in 1974, he had totally lost it. Fat had begun a lurid schizophrenic episode to liven up his drab life: he had seen pretty colors and heard comforting words, all generated out of his unconscious which had risen up and literally swamped him, wiping out his ego. In that psychotic state Fat had flailed around, deriving great solice from his "encounter with God," as he had imagined it to be. For Fat, total psychosis was a mercy. No longer in touch with reality in any way, shape or form, Fat could believe that Christ Himself held Fat in his arms, comforting him. But then Kevin had gone to the movies and now he was not so sure; the Mother Goose flick had shaken him up.
I wondered if Fat still intended to fly to China to find what he termed "the fifth Savior." It would seem that he need go no farther than Hollywood, where VALIS had been shot, or, if that was where he would find Eric and Linda Lampton, Burbank, the center of the American recording industry.
The fifth Savior: a rock star.
"When was Valis made?" I asked Kevin.
"The film? Or the satellite?"
"The film of course."
Kevin said, "1977."
"And Fat's experience took place in 1974."
"Right," Kevin said. "Probably before work began on the screenplay, from what I can piece together from reviews I've read on Valis. Goose says he wrote the screenplay in twelve days. He didn't say exactly when, but apparently he wanted to go into production as soon as possible. I'm sure it was after 1974."
"But you really don't know."
Kevin said, "You can find that out from Jamison, the still photographer; he'd know."
"What if it happened at the same time? March 1974?"
"Beats the fuck out of me," Kevin said.
"You don't think it really is an information satellite, do you?" I said. "That fired a beam at Fat?"
"No; that's a sci-fi film device, a sci-fi way of explaining it." Kevin pondered. "I guess. But there were time dysfunctions in the film; Goose was aware that somehow time's involved. That really is the only way you can understand the film... the woman filling the pitcher. How'd Fat get that ceramic pot? Some broad gave it to him?"
"Made it, fired it and gave it to him, around 1971 after his wife left him."
"NotBeth."
"No, some earlier wife."
"After Gloria's death."
"Yes. Fat says God was sleeping in the pot and came out in March 1974 -- the theophany."
"I know a lot of people who think God sleeps in pot," Kevin said.
"Cheap shot."
"Well, so the barefoot woman was back in Roman times. I saw something tonight in Valis Ididn't see before that I didn't mention; I didn't want Fat to fizzle around the room like a firecracker. In the background while the woman was by the creek, you could see indistinct shapes. Your still-photographer friend Jamison probably did that. Shapes of buildings. Ancient buildings, from, say, around Roman times. It looked like clouds, but -- there are clouds and there are clouds. The first time I saw it I saw clouds and the second time -- today -- I saw buildings. Does the goddam film change everytime you see it? Holy fuck; what a thought! A different film each time. No, that's impossible."
I said, "So is a beam of pink light that transfers medical information to your brain about your son's birth defect."
"What if I told you that there may have been a time dysfunction in 1974, and the ancient Roman world broke through into our world?"