Joan and Adam are riding the bus somewhere. Adam seems more distracted and morose than usual as he stares out the window while Joan reads something from her chemistry notes: "'Sublimation is the process of conversion from solid state to gaseous state, while bypassing the liquid state.' Does this make any sense to you?" Adam explains, "CO2 solid becomes CO2 gas." Joan asks, "What does that even mean?" A little shirtier than normal, Adam says, "I told you, I don't know. I just memorize things." Joan looks slightly irritated and says, "Rove...you plus cranky becomes a real pain in the ass." Adam says, "I've explained my situation, Jane." Joan's suddenly distracted by the sound of a woman sobbing a few seats ahead of them. She's young, maybe in her late twenties or early thirties, with long blonde hair and wearing a jean jacket. Joan mutters, "Oh, God." She figures this must be her assignment. She gets up and moves to a seat nearby, and asks if she's okay. The woman doesn't say much at first, but eventually blurts out that her ex-husband met a woman, ran off the Mexico with her, and stopped sending child support payments. She's waiting tables and trying to support her eight-year-old son on that income. In addition, one of her co-irkers (tm somebody on Hissyfit whose name I can't remember) is "such a pain in the ass." Joan thinks that all sounds pretty bad. The woman adds, "It gets worse. My babysitter quit and moved to Hawaii!" She says this in that fake light-hearted way, and then struggles and sobs as she explains that she's trying to go to night school in order to become a legal assistant, but if she can't find a babysitter soon, she'll have to quit: "You know what? I'm just going to quit. I'll be a waitress for the rest of my life!" Nothing gets past Joan: "So, you need help." The woman asks, "Were you listening, or what? You know, because...yeah." Joan asks if she needs a babysitter. The woman says she needs a cheap babysitter who's not a psycho. Joan says she can do it, and claims she's not a psycho. The woman explains that her kid, Rocky, is a great kid who mostly entertains himself: "And you're really not a psycho?" Joan claims she's totally normal, and says, "You can even ask my friend." She turns to look at Adam, who's rhythmically banging his head against the window as he stares out. The woman looks doubtfully in Adam's direction, and Joan says, "Um...maybe you should just take my word for it." The woman smiles at Joan.