Zodac was born in a tidy Brooklyn slum in 1947. His parents were both professional hockey players who were down on their luck because they had had all their arms and legs broken in a bizarre canned goods accident. They were surviving under the good graces of Zodac's uncle Gregorio, a despotic landlord and nighttime gardener, who also gave them part-time work as spotters for the local tennis tournaments. Zodac, although grateful to his uncle for keeping his family alive, also grew to hate Gregorio. This was largely because of the verbal abuse Gregorio heaped upon everyone in his presence, and also because Gregorio was secretly a thought vampire feeding on the brains of the entire population of New York State.
To be continued . . .