Previously: Jonesy was tarred, Ruthie was possessed, Eleanor was oar-ed, and Sofie prayed.
It's nighttime at the Carnivle, and a naked man is crawling around on all fours. Sure, why not? He crawls up the steps to one of the trailers and enters. He crosses the floor and raises his head. It's Lodz, naturally. Or unnaturally. He looks over the edge of the bed at a sleeping Lila. And then Lila starts to ooh and aah and gasp and pant and make it rain, except without the rain. She wakes up happily, but her smile fades when she looks down the bed at the figure hidden under the covers. Lila nervously pulls the blanket up until at last, Ruthie's smiling face is revealed. Along with her whited-out eyes. Ruthie says, "There's my buttercup." Ruthie crawls up over Lila and they kiss enthusiastically.
Ben drives down the highway. Libby, sitting to him in the cab, looks at him raptly. Ben eventually tells her to stop staring at him because it's giving him "the creepin' willies." No, the creeping willy was in the last scene. Libby apologizes and faces the front for about two seconds before she starts peering at Ben again. Ben grumbles, "For Christ's sake." The truck is jolted by a pothole or something, and Jonesy asks why Ben's in such a rush. Ben says that he has to get them back to the Carnivle. Jonesy asks, "Then what?" Ben says he's got stuff to do, and sighs, "Probably too late as it is." Jonesy asks if he and Libby messed up Ben's plans. Ben says, "Couldn't be helped."
A fully Lodz-ed Ruthie sits up in the bed, holding the opium pipe as Lila takes a puff. Ruthie says, "It was the boy. Ben Hawkins. He's the one who took me from you." Lila asks about Samson, and Ruthie sighs, "Covered it up." Lila's strangely unsurprised about Ben's role in this. Then Ruthie says that she (or "he," I suppose) has to go. When Lila protests, Ruthie calls her "my little clarinet," and says that it isn't practical to stay in Ruthie's body. Lila says that she doesn't care what people might say, but Ruthie says that the only thing that matters in this world is what other people think of you. She adds, "Besides, you'll be seeing me soon." Lila asks if Lodz intends to go body-snatching again. Ruthie says, "No, my dear. In the flesh." Ruthie's head nods abruptly and Lila shakes her, calling for Lodz. Ruthie opens her restored eyes and looks around, startled. After a moment she leaps out of bed, holding the blanket around her. Ruthie asks what she's doing in Lila's trailer. Lila calmly sniffs, "You were doing fine. Now you're just leaving," and tosses another blanket at her. I'm guessing this might be a sufficiently odd development for Lila to tell Samson about the message on her mirror.
Ben arrives at the Carnivle. Libby and Jonesy hop out of the truck, and then Jonesy tells Ben to wait a second. Ben protests, but Jonesy insists, "I got something for you," and leads Libby away quickly. As they walk, Jonesy reminds Libby not to tell anyone what happened, and prompts her on the cover story they've prepared for Rita Sue. Libby recites, "You got liquored up, in a fight. You been pinched, and we spent the night in the tank." Meanwhile, Jonesy has stopped by another truck and started pulling fresh clothes out of it. Well, relatively fresh. He puts on an undershirt while Libby complains that her mother already thinks that Jonesy's a bum. Jonsey says, "Good. Let's keep it that way." Libby asks how Jonesy plans to hide his healed knee. Jonesy explains that he's going to go back with Ben, and pulls another wadded-up bundle out of the truck. That must be the laundry truck. He insists, "It's something I have to do," and heads back for Ben's truck. Libby protests, and when that doesn't work, she offers to go along. Oh, Ben would love that. Libby whines, "Mama's gonna make it hard. She's gonna tell everyone you left me cold." Jonesy calmly says that if she does, then Rita Sue will look silly when he comes back. Libby tearfully asks if Jonesy really will come back. He says he will, and they kiss quickly.
Jonesy gets into Ben's truck. Ben says, "I thought you said you had something for me." Jonesy says he's the something. Ben doesn't need company, but Jonesy says that Ben's got it whether he wants it or not, and asks, "Gonna sit here all night?" Ben sighs and drives off, leaving Libby standing all alone on the highway.
Cheyenne Motor Court. That was fast. Jonesy has put on a button-down shirt, and it seems that he's also got a revolver in his bundle of stuff. Ben looks a little surprised, but he doesn't protest. I'm kind of wondering how Jonesy knew he'd want that. It seems a little odd: "I'm going with Miracle-Boy on an unspecified quest. Better take a gun." And given the rules of drama, and the fact that they really didn't need the gun in this episode, I think that someone's going to get shot in the week or two.
Jonesy rings the bell for the manager. While they wait, I have a question. Didn't Ben spend all that time last week astral-projecting himself through the motel? So, shouldn't he know which room Varlyn and Scudder are in? The manager finally wanders out in his robe, looking irritable. He asks if they want a room, showing off his German accent. Ben explains that they're looking for a pair of men who checked in in the past day: one with long white hair, and the other bald. The manager suspiciously asks if his visitors are cops or G-men. He's not a very observant guy if Ben and Jonesy look like cops. The manager says that he doesn't want trouble, and prepares to stomp off. Jonesy insists that they just want to talk to these guys. Ben slides a fifty-cent piece across the desk. The manager's eyes light up, and he takes the coin and says, "This is not the Ritz; it is fucking Cheyenne, Wyoming, do you understand me?" He says that three people checked in in the past day: "The first was a big, huge, fat woman, the size of a tank. Sweating all the time, disgusting. Full of donuts." There's a beat, and Jonesy says, "And...?" Heh. The manager seems a little sad that nobody's interested in the fat lady, and shrugs, "Two men, just like you say." Aw, just wanted to talk about the donut lady. He's lonely!
“ Jonesy picks up the paper and opens it immediately, without even glancing at the front, which is not how you read a newspaper unless you're just holding it up so that someone else can notice the front- page headline. ”
The lonely German manager leads Ben and Jonesy toward Varlyn's room, complaining about the weather as they walk. Jonesy pulls out his revolver and cocks it as they reach Varlyn's room. The manager finally notices the gun and asks, "You want you should kill somebody?" Okay, I guess I'll assume that Ben explained some of the situation to Justin on the drive up. Which seems terribly unlike Ben, but fine. Jonesy hushes the manager and gestures at the door. The manager knocks loudly and then opens it. It's room 13, by the way. How could Ben forget a room number like that?
The three men enter the room. Varlyn and Scudder are gone. The camera pans around, showing the general mess: unmade beds, sheets tied to the headboard and footboard on the second bed, and...wait, motel beds with footboards? Wow, this is a pretty fancy motel after all. The manager gripes, "Gott damn, I had a feeling about those two." Jonesy goes to the sink, where some blood has dripped into the basin. There are also some syringes sitting on the sink. The manager looks over the kipple and complains that his visitors were "fucking chronics." Ben and Jonesy trade a look while the manager grumbles his way out.
Varlyn's car pulls up outside Casa de Creepy.
Inside, Iris answers the door in her robe. Varlyn introduces himself and says, "I got business with Brother Justin." Iris hisses about how late it is, but is cut off when Justin says, "Iris..." She turns to see Justin, fully dressed in his cassock, standing to Wilfred. Iris stares at them both and accusingly asks, "What's he doing here?" Justin grunts, "Upstairs." He finally says Iris's name again, and she scampers upstairs like a kid caught trying to peek at the Christmas presents early. Varlyn slowly enters, removes his hat, and falls to his knees in front of Justin. As Varlyn kisses his hand, Justin strokes Varlyn's head tenderly. Aw. Varlyn finally looks up, and Justin asks, "Where is he?"
At the motel, an exasperated Jonesy says, "We've been all through this room. Might help if you told me what you're looking for!" Jonesy, considering that you forced your company on Ben so as to repay him for saving your life, maybe you should be a little more polite. Ben searches through the dresser as he says that he'll know it when he sees it. Jonesy huffily sits down in a chair and starts reading a newspaper aggressively. Which you wouldn't think was possible, but I assure you, it is. As soon as Jonesy starts reading the paper, it's obvious that the clue Ben's looking for is on the front page. Because Jonesy picks up the paper and opens it immediately, without even glancing at the front, which is not how you read a newspaper unless you're just holding it up so that someone else can notice the front-page headline. And that's what happens. Ben grabs the paper out of Jonesy's hand and allows us to see what's so interesting. There's a photo of Justin cradling Balthus, with a bold headline reading, "I Command Thee, Stop!" Jonesy asks who the guy in the photo is. Ben says, "Someone I gotta stop." Just like in the headline! Cute.