Having just been released from the Navy, Benny Profane is content to lead a slothful existence with his friends, where the only real ambition is to perfect the art of "schlemihlhood," or being a dupe, and where "responsibility" is a dirty word. Among his pals--called the Whole Sick Crew--is Slab, an artist who can't seem to paint anything other than cheese danishes. But Profane's life changes dramatically when he befriends Stencil, an active ambitious young man with an intriguing mission--to find out the identity of a woman named V., who knew Stencil's father during the war, but who suddenly and mysteriously disappeared.
chapter one
In which Benny Profane, a schlemihl and human yo-yo, gets to an apocheir:
chapter two
The Whole Sick Crew:
chapter three
In which Stencil, a quick-change artist,does eight impersonations:
chapter four
In which Esther gets a nose job:
chapter five
In which Stencil nearly goes West with an alligator:
chapter six
In which Profane re.ms to street level:
chapter seven
She hangs on the western wall:
chapter eight
In which Rachel gets her yo-yo back,Roony sings a song, and Stencil calls on Bloody Chiclitz:
chapter nine
Mondaugen's story:
chapter ten
In which various sets of young people get together:
chapter eleven
Confessions of Fausto Maijstral:
chapter twelve
In which things are not so amusing:
chapter thirteen
In which the yo-yo string is revealed as a state of mind:
chapter fourteen
V. in love:
chapter fifteen
Sahha:
chapter sixteen
Valletta:
Epilogue, 1919: