The Last House on Needless Street

Ted returns to the roadside bar, lamenting his failed date with the blonde woman. He gets drunk. Ted realizes why there are no women at this bar: it is a gay bar. He wonders what his mother would think. He goes to the bathroom and locks himself in a stall. Two men enter the bathroom, arguing over stolen cufflinks. One voice is familiar to Ted. Ted hears one man strike the other to the ground. Ted exits the stall and sees the bug man lying on the floor. He greets Ted. Seeing Ted’s size, the other man flees.

Ted and the bug man drink more outside of a gas station. Ted gradually lowers his guard. The bug man followed Ted home after their last session. He heard Lauren’s and Olivia’s voices. He asks what is really going on. Ted accuses the bug man of breaking into his house, but the bug man denies this.

The bug man proposes that Ted allow him to write about him as a case study for his book on DID, keeping Ted anonymous. He asks Ted if Lauren is the first of Ted’s “daughters” or “kittens” (242).