Tod takes the long way home with the box of clothes so he won’t run into his friends or the neighborhood bullies. These bullies typically harass Tod and steal from him. At home, Tod goes through the box; it is filled with old, ruined clothes that he's not confident he can turn into costumes. He then makes a list of places where he can easily steal more old clothes like laundromats or clotheslines. After, he hauls potatoes from the cellar inside for dinner, drops off Bernie's homework which Tod wrote for him, and goes to the local laundromat to scope it out. Tod questions a kind older lady, who asks if he is okay. Tod gets slightly emotional at her questions but recovers when Rex appeared.

Mrs. Woodrow asks about the rest of the story, so Tod continues. Tod lied to Rex that he was getting change at the laundromat. Rex called Tod "buddy," and Tod angrily reminded him to never call him that. Rex was smoking as he told Tod that earlier he'd broken into a car to steal but hadn't realized that the owner was in the backseat with his girlfriend. The man had turned violent, so Rex had run away.