It's hard for Nick to make out what the man is saying, underneath all the scarring and make-up. The make-up is the real catch. Most of reading lips is inference--'lavender soap' and 'there's hope' look the same, so you have to make judgment calls.

In this case: Nick can tell when someone's in on a joke he's not invited into. It's a tired feeling, and an old one.

He shakes his head at the joke-man's offer of inspection, resisting the urge to step back, and writes: Just stop.