Act 1, Chapter 3 Summary

Vernon spots Vaine too late to escape. Mom scurries out in "Spooked Deer mode," dripping the "cutesy-shucksy" attitude Vernon loathes. Vernon does not want Vaine to come in for refreshments, for fear she will check his bedroom and find amputee sex pictures, Mom's polluted lingerie catalog, and a Nikes box holding Taylor Figueroa's two joints and two hits of LSD. Vaine doubts a single gunman or the innocent absconding, but Pam takes the blame for taking Vernon to eat. Vaine is ready to take Vernon back to town, when Fate intervenes. Mom's three overweight so-called friends arrive, including Leona Dunt, Georgette ("George") Porkorney, and mopey Betty Pritchard. A crumpled stranger steps forward, claiming to be a CNN reporter, Eulalio Ledesma, and interviews Vaine on-camera about how the community is coping, and the open-and shut case. She balks, when Ledesma pulls Vernon...