Ben jerks and opens his eyes, then rubs his head painfully. Then he says, "Jeepers," and I laugh.

Night has fallen at Casa de Creepy. In a taxi parked by the house, a driver is reading The Los Angeles Herald, where the top story is "Jews not wanted." That'd be about the immigration quotas and so forth.

Inside, Wilfred Talbot Smith is visiting Brother Justin. It is actually "Wilfred," not "Wilford," and would you believe nobody corrected me? Y'all are falling down on the job. Anyway, Wilfred asks, "And then what happened?" Justin says, "There was just the pain." Wilfred asks to see whatever they're talking about. Justin says that he's burned and scarred, and unbuttons his shirt. The tree tattoo is now a tree-shaped patch of shiny red scar tissue. Justin asks what it means. Wilfred, horrified, says, "Your enemy has received his boon." However, he's more worried about "this business [Justin] mentioned with the knife." He opens the Gospel of Matthias to an drawing of a knight with a shield over his head, sticking his sword into the spooky tree. Wilfred quotes the rhyme about the dagger and the plunging. Dude, Freudian much? Wilfred explains that the dagger is "infused with avataric blood." He says, "If he has it in his possession, along with his boon, he not only strength, but the means to destroy you." Justin rebuttons his shirt as he reports that Scudder is on the way to Casa de Creepy. Wilfred asks Justin to call him when Scudder arrives: "He and I have some unfinished business." Is he sulking about how he didn't get enough snake-bits? Justin says, "Perhaps." Wilfred wheedles, but Justin sticks to his maybe.

Out on the porch, Iris sits on the swing, with a clear view into the room through a window.

As the walk through the midway, Jonesy apologetically explains to Libby that he couldn't say no to Stumpy's invitation. Libby insists that her folks are up to something. Jonesy tut-tuts and insists it'll be fine.

Cooch tent. Everyone eats silently. Stumpy tries to show some manners as he starts to ask for the salt, but the silence is so oppressive that he finally just grabs it himself. Heh again. Rita Sue asks if Libby and Jonesy are planning to settle down, "Maybe buy a little bungalow?" Jonesy has his napkin tucked into his shirt, because he wouldn't want to spill something on his clothes.