Jitterbug Perfume

Part 3 begins with Pan, who is attending the reburial service of the philosopher Rene Descartes in Paris in 1666. The Greek god has been rendered invisible by years of neglect in this new age of reason. Resentfully, he steals a wig from a funeral-goer’s head.

We resume Alobar’s and Kudra’s story. They live for seven years in the caves of the Bandaloop, learning the secrets of immortality from the “vibrations” within the caves. Kudra is impatient to experience life, however, and convinces Alobar to set off with her. For many years they run a successful spice business in Constantinople, until their supernatural youthfulness gets them run out of the city. Alobar notes, “We are now aware that a display of undue longevity created problems in a community conditioned to age and die” (139). They see the city burn behind them as they leave (possibly in the historically documented Sack of Constantinople in 1204).

In Greece, the couple visits Pan and the nymphs. They dally together in coital bliss (though a mesmerized Alobar mildly protests Kudra’s coupling with Pan). Pan is amazed by Kudra’s scents, which only temporarily mask his signature muskiness. “’Tis true, thou [humans] do have magic of thine own, the gods have always known that, known it even better than thee,” Pan says (146). As they leave Pan and his entourage behind, the nymph Lalo implores the couple to “protect Pan’s dominions and reputations wherever thou mightiest go” (150).

The couple passes by the place where Alobar once ruled, and past Aelfric, where they are barred from entering. Over several centuries, they survive “wars, robbers, fires, pillages, plagues (including the Black Death of 1347-1350) and the intolerances of the Church” (155), among many other quickly mentioned tribulations. They travel with Gypsies and are once again set upon as the secret of their immortality becomes known. Before escaping, Kudra catches a glimpse of the future. In this vision, a tall black man dressed in 20th-century clothing holds a swarm of bees in his lap.

This creates an existential rift in Kudra and Alobar’s relationship, in which Kudra proposes that they take the next step and ease their way into the aging process. Alobar protests. As a compromise, Kudra wills herself to physically age to meet Alobar’s apparent age. They settle in Paris and open an incense shop near a monastery that will one day house the LeFever family. They meet Lalo, who has separated from Pan and taken on the appearance of an aged prostitute. Together, they plan to travel to the New World, where they will bring Pan back to his former strength, away from “modern” influence.

Yet Lalo dies, and Pan, though now weak and invisible, still emits a supernatural stench. In attempting to disguise the stench, the couple impoverishes themselves with perfume ingredients. At the same time, the nearby monastery has begun to suspect the couple’s longevity. They decide that if they can will themselves to be immortal, they can will themselves to teleport across the Atlantic Ocean. Yet their attempt only partially succeeds, leaving Alobar behind and Kudra’s corporeal form in a mysterious state. Kudra’s last act is to indicate a newly delivered perfume bottle with Pan’s image on it, and to whisper, “The bottle must be filled” (182).

Filled with regret, Alobar sets about creating a successful perfume to disguise Pan’s stink, employing Bohemian beets to his purpose. The result is a gallon of perfume he calls K23. He fills the smaller bottle bearing Pan’s likeness with the scent as well.

With Pan’s stench now covered, they book passage to the New World. The night before they leave, Alobar receives a mysterious message. The message is written in dust, in his long-lost former wife Wren’s handwriting and in their now-ancient Bohemian language: “Erleichda!” This translates to “Lighten up!” (192). Pan and Alobar take the voyage, but as soon as Pan sees the New World, he indignantly heaves the jug of K23 into the ocean. He does the same with the smaller bottle. The author informs us that the smaller bottle winds up at the mouth of the Mississippi River, buried in the mud.

In Seattle, Priscilla stands up Ricki in order to stay late at an exclusive event hosted by the Last Laugh Foundation. There she meets the foundation’s talkative and mischievous leader, Wiggs Dannyboy, as well as his entourage, including a notable chemist named Dr. Morgenstern and Wiggs’s daughter, Huxley Anne. While there, Priscilla decides to sleep with Wiggs. In the meantime, V’lu skips out on her own invitation to the event. Instead, she sneaks into Priscilla’s room while she’s at the event and steals the mysterious bottle, now revealed to be the small bottle Pan threw overboard centuries earlier.

In New Orleans, Madame Devalier recalls that the bottle was turned into her perfume shop by beachcombers. The trace amount of K23 remaining in the bottle inspired V’lu and Priscilla. We are told that Priscilla stole the bottle and came to Seattle before Madame Devalier could sample it for herself. V’lu, returning to New Orleans in the present, now invites Madame Devalier to sample the K23. They decide to recreate the formula as soon as possible. Down the street, Bingo Pajama, Madame Devalier’s chief supplier of jasmine, is shot dead by the police and releases a swarm of bees.

In Paris, Claude LeFever puzzles over a recording of a recent speech by Marcel LeFever, one that relates sensual experience and memory to the unbusinesslike extension of human life.