Fever Beach

Twilly uses the information on the magazine address label to find Viva’s phone number. When he calls her, she threatens to call the police. He apologizes for calling and for his behavior on the plane. Before he hangs up, Viva asks him whether he is going to also ask her out; he tells her he will sleep on it.

Figgo asks Viva for a ride to work, where he packs sex toys at a warehouse. After his shift, he and Onus head out to toss more baggies into people’s yards. At a fancy gated community, Figgo gets out to try a security code someone has given him. It does not work, and Onus says they should leave. Figgo begins lobbing baggies over the fence, and Onus takes off, abandoning Figgo. A garbage truck exiting the neighborhood rolls over the baggies, crushing them. When Figgo finally returns home in a cab, he finds a note from the Florida Highway Patrol on his door, advising him that he is wanted for questioning in a “serious incident.”

Viva has dinner with her elderly employers, Claude and Electra Mink. Congressman Clure Boyette stops by to solicit a donation from the Minks, who have already contributed to his reelection fund. Now, he is starting a charitable foundation called “Wee Hammers” that will teach children building skills. Viva is skeptical, questioning him about child labor laws and taking children out of school, but he claims that the children will be unpaid volunteers, enjoying their time at what will be essentially a “Bob the Builder fantasy camp” on Thursdays and Fridays (25). Despite Viva’s objections, the Minks tell her to start processing the $2 million grant right away.

In the hotel suite always reserved for him under the name Dylan Cash, Clure—clad only in a collar, leash, muzzle, and snowshoes—finishes scanning the news and sending out a tweet before turning his attention to his companion, a young woman named Galaxy. Galaxy accuses him of being ridiculous and spoiling the mood when he shares supposed news he has just learned from Fox’s Judge Jeanine: leftists are now trying to force billiard companies to change their eight-balls from black to rainbow-colored. She tells him she is no longer in the mood, and he accuses her of acting like a child. “But isn’t that why you picked me?” she asks him (28).

Clure is disappointed when she leaves, and he churlishly transfers Galaxy only half of her usual fee. He calls his father, who informs him that Clure’s wife, Nicki, has gone to see a divorce lawyer. Clure’s father urges him to do whatever he has to do to convince Nicki to stay with him, because Clure’s campaign cannot withstand any more scandals.

The hitchhiker who was in Figgo’s truck when he committed the hit-and-run calls the police and describes Figgo to them. They say that the victim has a head injury but will recover. They have the incident on video and already know what Figgo’s truck looks like.

Viva and Twilly meet for lunch. Twilly asks whether Viva knows where her employers’ money comes from. After lunch, they ride in Twilly’s muddy Suburban to a vast bulldozed landscape. Twilly tells Viva that it used to contain citrus groves before the Minks clear-cut the land. She points out that bulldozing groves to make room for housing developments is “the story of Florida” (34), and he counters that this does not make it right.

The hit-and-run victim, Noel Vale Kristiansen, is still in the hospital. His wife, Mary, brings a lawyer to talk to him about a lawsuit against their HOA for lax security, but he tells her his only interest is in finding the person who ran him down.

Onus, who lives off the proceeds of a false disability claim from his days as a firefighter, is struggling to make ends meet. He pays child support for three sons, born to three different women all within a week of each other, and it is Figgo’s vague references to a pending windfall that keep him involved with Figgo and the Strokers for Liberty. Each morning, Onus visits the three different households where his sons are being raised and then spends several hours listening to right-wing talk shows and podcasts in his car, dreaming of someday finally being able to fight with like-minded people against the forces of liberalism. While Onus is listening to one of these shows, Figgo calls to say that he has finally gotten his hands on the money they have been waiting for. A congressman he is involved with is offering them $2 million.

At work, Viva receives flowers from Clure, with a note suggesting that they meet for dinner. She throws the flowers away. When she returns home that evening, a police officer is taking pictures of Figgo’s truck, which is back in the driveway, sporting a new hood and windshield. Viva tells the woman what she knows and is dismayed to learn about the hit-and-run.

Inside the townhouse, she finds Figgo hiding underneath his bed, holding a knife and a machine gun. Viva tells him to turn himself in. When he refuses, she says that she will break her lease and move out immediately. He offers her a free month’s rent in exchange for not telling his mother about the incident. She agrees, but as soon as she is alone in her room, she calls Figgo’s mother.

Viva and Twilly have dinner together. Twilly tells her about an encounter he had with a tourist earlier in the day. The tourist defecated in the ocean and then tried to punch a turtle that swam close to him. Twilly forced him to clean up his feces with his bare hands and threw the man’s phone in the ocean. Viva approvingly tells Twilly, “If they were selling tickets, [she] would’ve bought one” (47).

Figgo and Onus get drunk to celebrate their windfall from the congressman. Figgo explains that they might not explicitly be in charge of the money from the Wee Hammers program, but he is sure that all they have to do is ask for any funds they need. They speculate about how to use the money for another January 6th-type insurrection, but Figgo cautions that the congressman does not want anything to happen that will disrupt Florida’s tourist economy. Onus asks who the mysterious congressman is and how Figgo met him. Figgo says that the congressman wants to be anonymous for now.

Figgo’s mother pounds on the townhouse door, demanding that Figgo let her inside. She immediately punches him in the ribs and chides him for the list of crimes Viva has shared: keeping guns in the house, swearing, and failing to fix Viva’s shower drain. When she questions him about the hit-and-run, he gets angry, thinking Viva has snitched on him, but his mother says the police called her about it. She says she will text him the number of a good lawyer.

In the hospital, Kristiansen’s memory is improving. He recalls the website address on the flyers Figgo was distributing. Because his wife, Mary, is Black, Kristiansen is particularly furious at Figgo’s racist views. He decides that his own whiteness and conservative values will be an ideal cover for infiltrating Figgo’s world.

At Viva’s request, Twilly spends a week investigating Clure. He finds what he expected: The man is “lazy, arrogant, and entitled” (54), and has a history of DUIs, assaults, and sexual harassment—all of which his powerful father has succeeded in hushing up. His inquiries reveal that Wee Hammers is likely a front intended to launder illicit campaign donations; when Viva naively says that she has to tell the Minks, he breaks it to her that they almost certainly already know.

Viva tells Twilly that she has discovered that the Minks intend to turn the bulldozed citrus grove Twilly showed her into a luxury development called “The Bunkers.” She suspects the Minks’ donation to Clure may have something to do with the zoning change they need. She has decided to pretend to return Clure’s romantic interest in order to get closer to him, hoping to discover incriminating information that she can make public.

Corporal Danielle Dominguez interviews Figgo, who claims that someone stole his truck and that he was not driving it when the hit and run occurred. He disclaims any knowledge of the Strokers for Liberty or the hate literature the driver was distributing. Figgo rushes home and packs up his weapons, any evidence related to the flyers, and his far-right merchandise. He disposes of it in a storage unit rented under a fake name. Figgo tells Onus that they need a new meeting location, and they agree on Fever Beach, a beach in the middle of a 12-mile stretch of federal shorefront.

Clure tries to present his wife Nicki with the keys to a new Aston Martin, but she throws the keys into their fountain. Nicki has allowed Clure to buy his way out of trouble following numerous previous affairs, but now she is being pursued by a wealthy former athlete, and Clure’s most recent affair is the perfect excuse to dump him. Clure begs her to postpone the divorce until after the election, and she says that she will talk to her lawyer, Howard Fistman. He thanks her but is distracted by his elation over an incoming text from Viva. The next text is from Galaxy, threatening that he is “DONE” after shorting her latest payment.

That evening, a stranger appears at Figgo’s townhouse dressed in a Confederate uniform. He claims to be Jerry Jeff Tupelo, a potential recruit for the Strokers for Liberty. Viva amuses herself by pretending to interview him, then sends him away. Clure texts her, and she agrees to meet him for dinner the following night.

The 17 members of the Strokers for Liberty assemble on remote Fever Beach. Figgo announces the group’s windfall but warns that the money is for “ground operations” and not to be used for any personal expenses. Figgo gets a call and puts it on speaker. The anonymous caller tells the group that he has an operation planned for them. For now, the caller will only tell them a location: Carpville’s Precinct 53, in Bonifay County.

Viva meets Twilly for a drink before her dinner with Clure. They are both nervous about her plans, but she stresses how terrible she thinks charity fraud is and reiterates her desire to do the right thing. Clure arrives; he wants to cook Viva dinner, but Viva insists on meeting somewhere public before going back to his condo.

Viva expresses skepticism that Wee Hammers is a real program. Clure insists that the first lot is already being prepared in Carpville, in his home district. He pressures her to leave the bar and accompany him to the condo, but she tells him she feels alienated by his lying. He strokes her arm, promising that she has not broken any laws with her involvement in the scheme, but she leaves while he is taking an urgent phone call.

Twilly stews over the evidence he has collected from The Bunkers. Having grown more and more frustrated over the years with his inability to stop environmental damage in Florida, he fantasizes about buying a small island in the Bahamas where he can live off-grid in peace. He goes for a walk and encounters a young tourist couple swimming naked. He tries to warn them about the danger of sharks at night, but they insult him. He steals the man’s clothes and gives them to a delighted unhoused person.

When Viva drops by his apartment after ending her date with Clure, Twilly tells her about this encounter. Viva says that his confrontations with other people are a nearly daily occurrence. He tells her he is thinking of moving to the Bahamas, and she says he has to help her expose Clure and the Minks first.

Clure rushes to the condo, where Galaxy—whose real name is Janice Eileen Smith—is smearing everything with doe urine and the smelliest foods she could purchase on short notice. A furious Clure tells her that he has Venmoed her the rest of her payment. She tells him that this is not enough, and she reminds him that she is a minor and can send him to jail. Her Venmo records establish that he has paid her for sex 11 times, and she can also testify about the cocaine he has had her buy for him. Worse, she has humiliating and explicit photos of him that will scandalize his constituency. She tells him that she will make a list of her demands.