Bennie Salazar, owner of Sow's Ear Records, experiences shameful memories as he meets with executives of his record label.He loses his focus, and his erection, as he scribbles "hairball" onto his parking ticket. Bennie then remembers a time in Christopher's childhood when Christopher had lice. Bennie couldn't believe it because Christopher went to a fancy private school. After this, Bennie began to spray OFF! bug spray into his armpits. Suddenly, he remembers a woman he was admiring who went into the bathroom at a party after he'd had diarrhea, and he'd felt intensely ashamed. These memories are so overwhelming that Bennie runs from the studio, apologizing on his way out. Bennie drives home with Sasha and Christopher. He feels the magic of the afternoon continue to fade away, and fights the desire to look at Sasha's breasts. When he finally looks, he feels nothing, and despairs the loss of the erection he'd had as the Stop/Go sisters played. Bennie asks Sasha what she thought, and Sasha says Stop/Go is awful. Bennie says they sounded different two years ago, but Sasha reminds him he signed them five years ago. She knows because the last time she saw them she'd come from a meeting at Windows on the World, which was in the World Trade Center. Bennie waits out a respectful pause, and then changes the subject back to the band. Bennie tries to rationalize the band's change, saying two years or five years shouldn't matter, but Sasha reminds him in the music business, five years is five hundred years. When they reach the home where Christopher lives with his mother, Bennie is unable to pull up the driveway. Christopher tells Bennie to take some of his medicine. For a moment, Bennie can't find his box of gold flakes, but Sasha produces it and tells him he dropped it as he ran out of the Stop/Go sisters' house. Bennie, Christopher, and Sasha share some of the flakes. Bennie hugs Christopher and feels tempted to tell his son not to tell his mother about the gold flakes, but he catches himself as he imagines Dr. Beet telling him to avoid "betrayal bonding."On the back of a parking ticket, he writes, Bennie "Incompetent" and "Kissing Mother Superior." His therapist, Dr. Beet, suggested writing down his insecurities instead of burdening his son with them. They decide to get coffee together, but Bennie tells Christopher he can't tell his mother about this. Bennie feels connection to his son through defying his ex-wife. As they drink their coffee, Bennie sprinkles some gold flakes into the cup. Christopher asks what it is, and Bennie tells him it is medicine. Christopher asks if he can have some, and Bennie gives him one flake. Christopher becomes increasingly talkative, and Bennie wonders if it is because of the flakes. Bennie notes that Christopher is more talkative than he has been in the year since the divorce. Sasha waits for Bennie at the house of the Stop/Go sisters. As Sasha says hello to Christopher, Bennie again looks at her breasts and feels nothing. He then looks up at her face and realizes, though they have worked together a long time, he doesn't really know her. The sisters, Chandra and Louisa, look fantastic, and have a bunch of new material to show Bennie. Chandra's daughter, Olivia, is also there, and Bennie notes Christopher's reaction to her, like a charmed snake rising from a basket. In the recording studio, Louisa sits at the keyboard. Olivia takes up some bongo drums, and hands Christopher a tambourine. Bennie feels a sense of hope being in the presence of music. Sasha brings him a coffee, and he sprinkles some gold flakes into the cup. As they begin to play, Bennie feels great. He starts to record the music. Simultaneously, he smells Sasha's perfume, and becomes aroused. He seizes a cowbell and begins hitting it, feeling as if he were on fire. As they play, however, Bennie remembers a time he was inadvertently copied on an email between two colleagues in which he was referred to as a "hairball."When he signed the band they seemed like an excellent bet, but they are aging now, and haven't put out an album.As they drive back to the city, Sasha notices the place where the Twin Towers used to stand.