Carolyn and Colonel Fitts are similar in that both cannot come to terms of their reality. Carolyn's marriage is on the rocks, and while it is not clear who is to blame-- herself, her husband, or both-- her infidelity with the local real estate competitor is the culmination of the divestment of her marriage and investment into the extramarrital. She cannot admit to being the cause, even partially, of her marriage failure, but is forced to when she and her flame drive up to the drive through window. Yet she repeated consoles herself by telling herself how she will not be the victim. Colonel Fitts, in the same way, cannot admit to having homosexual arousal, and denies his homosexuality by making fun of the gay partners in the neighborhood. Both Carolyn and Colonel Fitts are left with the only solution to carry on their denial; that is, to remove the one person who has smacked reality into their heads however gentle way as possible. Lester, who has violent tendencies -- throwing plates against the wall as Carolyn interrupts him at dinner and raising his voice in a threatening manner towards his daughter, Jane -- merely tells Carolyn at the drive through window, "you don't get to tell me what to do anymore," in a composed and controlled way of communicating compared to what he could have done. Lester, all macho with his sports car in the driveway and his bench press weights in the garage, speaks in the most gentle way possible to Colonel Fitts, "you have the wrong idea." Lester is killed by Fitts but it could have been Carolyn as well.