Monday, July 21, 2014

Mary Worth 1854

This reminds me of a funny story. My friend's sister, Nicole, was babysitting my sister, Kristen, and they decided to play Hide-and-Seek. I don't know how little my sister was at the time. Maybe five. She didn't know that when they call out "Olly Olly All Come Free," you reveal yourself and you win. She hid herself very well, and the distressed babysitter had to call her entire family over to the house, and when they couldn't find her, they were panicked enough to call the police. There were sirens in the front yard, so finally Kris came out to see what all the commotion was about.

Olive, may I recommend lying on top of the narrow wall mounted space heater underneath the coffee table? That way, anytime anyone looks under the coffee table, you'll be up off the floor high enough that they won't see you unless they actually get down on the floor and look up. And trust me, if a panicked babysitter can't find you when she's really trying, your disinterested parents may not even notice you are missing. I'm sure they'll appreciate the extra hour of quiet in the morning.

Hey! Let's have a Not-a-Real-Contest contest: Whoever guesses where Olive ends up hiding gets to nominate a jukebox song to the Condo Board!

Today's Full Strip

15 comments:

Darth Curt said...

My guess: Bottom of the Swimming Pool

KitKat said...

In Mr. Allora's basement "office," i.e., hovel

Can anyone identify the rectangular item next to the vase in the first panel? It looks like it has an eye and a protruding nose - ??

mrvy said...

It's time for The Worst Parents since the Wormwoods (yeah, I still have Matilda on the brain) to have a Meddlin' Mary showdown! Olive will bang on Mary's door in search of sanctuary. Mary will call Olive's parents to tell them to heed their daughter's intuition. They'll say no. Mary will sleuth with Dr. Jeff's help and learn that Dr. K. is either a fraud or has had his license revoked. This revelation will transform Olive's parents into Jim and Margaret Anderson, and Olive will be renamed "Kitten".

Short answer: Olive is headed to Mary's condo.

Thorpnotized said...

Darn. I was going to say Mary's condo too. So I'll have to go with the rose garden, in amongst the flower fairies.

Nance said...

Oh, mrvy, you dear sweet thing, you! Your plot/story is fantastic, wonderful, engaging, logical, and contains all the elements that could have been carefully foreshadowed by earlier plot developments. It's terrific!

And all of that is why none of that can happen in this comic strip.

Instead, KitKat's guess is far more KM-Logical. So, in fact, would be the guess "under her bed!" or "in a park by a basket full of kittens!"

My guess is Diner. The angel told her to stay away from the pool, right?

Anonymous said...

I've got to go with Darth. Olive is going to garnish the pool.
The only question is, who will save her? Maybe Dr. Jeff? But how will he explain being at Mary's apartment?

jerrybear said...

I suggest bottom of the deep end of pool, or in Hobo's stolen grocery cart covered over with cans, bottles and other unnamed items.

Carlye said...

Thorp, I wanted to say rose garden, too. Flower fairies, ATTACK!

Dawn Weston's Evil Twin said...

Well, I know I can't win, because this option has been chosen already, but I really think that Olive will end up in Mary's apartment. I look forward to some bonding over ghost pie/pinkcake and platitudes! YES!

Can Toby be visiting Mary when Olive shows up? Please, please, please? I really miss her!

Unknown said...

Wes, that's close, but not really what happened. I remember it this way…

We were watching TV in the den and I had gone into Mom & Dad's room to find my blanket. It was dark and I hadn't bothered to turn on the light. I thought I was reaching for my blanket but instead it was a paper bag. It made a very loud noise. At that moment I heard Nicole, the Babysitter, get up from her chair. I was scared and hid. That was the start of an epic hide-n-seek "game" that eluded a very large family.

I don't, however, believe the cops were ever called. They said they would call the cops. But because my big brothers loved to tell me that the cops were my parents and they would come for me if I were to misbehave, I was terrified of the cops. Whether I knew my dear brothers were only quoting Bill Cosby and were merrily teasing, I no not. I do know that my fear of the authorities was gripping.

When our dear, sweet Babysitter's family started discussing involving the cops, my fear of my sitter seemed much less encompassing compared to my fear of the Men in Blue.

At this point I was located behind a table in the living room and simply stood up, announced, "here I am." and that was that.

What was my key to stellar hiding? Every time they left the room, I moved.

fauxprof said...

I've got to go with Olive, amid the rose bushes, with the flower fairies--who will, when they realize Olive is threatened, grow fangs and claws and attack the evil grownups.

(Kristen, what a great little sister "gotcha"!)

r u ok? said...

I guess Olive will hide under her bed hoping for the Angel of Pool Danger to return.

meg said...

Tommy will be coming home from his late shift and hear Olive calling for help after she falls in the pool.

Or perhaps Olive will go to that place where all the lost MW characters disappear to. She will be playing pinochle with Elinor Kinley while sharing an adult beverage with Jill Black and getting career advice from Nola Wolvenson. When Chester the Dog bites her on the leg, Dr. Adrian Cory-Hewlett will treat her. Afterwards, Olive will be sent to live at Promise Haven and she will be doted upon by dear old Shelly Cohen.

TimP said...

I know people have already said Mary's condo, but I'd like to narrow it down to Mary's non-Euclidean nightmare kitchen where left is up and you can pour soup horizontally. Olive will hide in the nth dimensional wormhole that exists in Mary's oven from which there really is no escape except in the form of salmon squares possessed of infinite density yet zero mass or flavor.

regan said...

So, it's not "Olly, Olly, oxen free." That's a big reveal, for me anyhow.