The Damsel of Distress
- The next day, Freak is determined to return the purse and complete their quest. This requires going to an area of town called the New Tenements, which is super sketchy.
- Max had promised Gram he would never go there, but Freak convinces him it's okay to break a promise if you are on a quest.
- We're not so sure.
- The boys sneak over to the New Tenements and get right up to the door of the woman who lost her purse. That's when Freak begins to have second thoughts. But Max figures they made it this far, so why not? He knocks on the door.
- As soon as the door opens, Max realizes his mistake. The woman starts swearing at them and calls a "big hairy dude" over.
- Max tries to leave, saying they have the wrong house, but Iggy, the big hairy dude, won't let them go. He wants to know who sent them—and he wants to know now.
- They try to explain about the purse, but then Iggy accuses them of stealing and wants the money from it.
- The woman just keeps saying how Max looks familiar. Uh oh.
- Iggy tells them they better come inside. This is the last thing Max wants to do, but he's not about to argue with a big hairy dude. Would you?
- When they get inside, Iggy starts demanding the money from the purse. Just one problem: there was no money in the purse.
- Loretta, the woman who answered the door, keeps saying she knows Max from somewhere. She finally figures it out. Guess who she thinks he looks like?
- Yep. Turns out Loretta and Iggy knew Max's dad, or as they call him, "Kenny Kane" a.k.a. "Killer Kane" (11.44).
- Loretta is really excited to have figured it out, but Iggy just gets really quiet. He tells the boys that it's time to leave.
- Loretta wants to mess with the kids some more, but Iggy says there is no way he is messing with Killer Kane's kid, so he shoves them out the door.