In any case, Lonnie has called his two actuarial lady-friends to tell them that he is no longer interested in slipping and falling for their mutual profit, for reasons he cannot disclose. In return, they fail to disclose that they are roofying him. They act very uncanny and weird for a while, and play with his dick through his pants, and say some very uncouth things, and it is decided that the three of them will go upstairs for some spiritually fulfilling, quietly romantic times with one another. The sort of healthy, passionate, not-at-all terrifying making of love that you can only find in a coked-up threesome with two homicidal moms wearing makeup from a Robert Palmer video who keep sticking their fingers in your butt and screaming "Suck on my titties! Suck on my titties!"

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

ELSEWHERE

First, Jerry keeps a duffel bag full of hundies out in his trunk in the casino parking lot, because Jerry is the king of making great life choices, so I guess he's going up against Lester for Round Three.

Meanwhile, it's time for Ace and Escalante to see who's going to be a hair-trigger maniac asshole first. It is kind of a photo finish, in the parlance of this world we are exploring, in that both of them are pretty much odious. Ace, however, especially dislikes the meanness of Escalante toward Leon -- I think? -- and that puts him morally closer to the black than Escalante, because Leon is pretty much an okay person compared to the rest of these people. On the whole what I have learned is that jockeys, as a people, are kinder than most. Perhaps this is an evolutionary trick to compensate for their tiny size, but whatever it is, the only person that even approaches them in coolness is the Old Man.

Topic #1: The Gus horse is doing quite well. How are his bowel movements? Curiously, we don't discuss his bowels this week, although of course hope springs eternal.

Topic #2: Escalante has been paying all the bills for Gus's horse for the last two years, and something else about some other horse or something. And How They Killed Him.

Topic #3: Gus is still obsessed with this one goat. As it turns out, Gus's horse also likes that same goat, and vice versa. They have a healthy friendship of manly goat and virile horse. To be fair, it is a very cute goat. Some of the fellows in the stables call the goat "Vicente," although Escalante, as an unfeeling cad, simply calls it "Goat."

Topic #4: How much do carrots cost? Ace needs to know.