Act 2, In Vitro, Scenes 4-5 Summary

Scene 4 is an hour later. The scene is split between Joe and Roy at a bar and Louis with a man in Central Park. Joe confides with Roy about his wife's Valium addiction. She has a miscarriage, but the pills started before that. Harper's father was drunk and abusive, and Joe was attracted to Harper because she was a misfit among the Mormons. Joe felt different, too, unable to "pass." When Roy asks what Joe tried to "pass" as, Joe says someone cheerful and strong, without secrets. Roy presses Joe to go to Washington, but Joe says he can't leave Harper. Meanwhile, Louis asks the stranger to fuck him, and tells him that he needs to be punished. They have nowhere to go, though. The man lives with his parents, and Louis says he doesn't...