In Their Backseats or at McDonald's, the Madmen Sleep Tonight
- This latest incident with the $20 gets Karl reminiscing about the night things really started to go bad—the party his mom threw for herself seven months after his dad died.
- After being gone at Paul's all weekend, Karl came home to find his mom decorating the living room with band posters and putting out bowls of chips and snacks.
- She told him she had to clean out his bank account so she could throw a "coming out party" for herself, as well as give her and her friends a chance to talk through the students getting shot at Kent State a few weeks before.
- The party was a disaster—Karl got drunk and woke up the next morning with a killer hangover.
- Then, it got worse: The cats made an appearance. His mom's friend, Judy, brought over a box of kittens, and then they spent more of Karl's money on pizza to celebrate the party and the cats.
- That was the beginning of the IOUs, and by Christmas, Karl had a collection of them stapled to his bulletin board.
- That night at work, Karl burns off his angry energy at his mom by cleaning the place twice as fast as normal. He's reading his Philip K. Dick book when Marti shows up and bangs on the window.
- Karl lets her in, and she tells him that she's locked out of her house and it's too cold to sleep in the car. On top of that, her parents had a big fight when she came home from school, and she didn't get dinner.
- Karl fixes her up with a leftover burger and fries. He admits that he often sleeps at McDonald's to get away from his mom and the cats.
- Then, he explains what other places in town are good for a night locked out, including the old hotel lobby downtown, where one of the employees is really nice and will give you a room for free if she's working, and the Salvation Army.
- Karl and Marti decide to sleep until the morning shift comes in at 3:45 a.m. They are about to nod off when Marti tells Karl that Paul asked her out on a date to the movies, and she wants to know if he's gay.
- This isn't news to Karl. Paul likes to go up to Toledo and cruise around looking for gay parties. Still, he tells Marti that Paul is a good guy and she should go on the date anyway.