Humane Society Volunteer: "We've had her locked up in this tiny cage with no bedding for almost a year. We even feed her twice a week. But still, not a word... We just can't understand it."
Saul: "Have you tried making her wear a ridiculous bow tie?"
30 comments:
There's all kinds of problems with that cinder block wall. Also, the plot.
As @TimP points out, the cinder block wall adds to the awful atmosphere. If there was a third panel today, we’d see a blindfolded prisoner with a last cigarette dangling from his lips.
What we all know we’ll see in the coming days: Greta looks up at Myster Wynter, licks his hand, and wags her tail. What we wish we’d see: Greta looks up at Myster Wynter, bites his nose, and snarls at Mary.
Poor Greta, she has her paw on her eye in the second panel because she realizes, like us, how ridiculous this plot is.
If I was in this horrible place, I wouldn't open up either. Greta's probably wishing she had a spoon so she could dig a hole and get out of this jail.
Today's Boldface Haiku is titled
"GrrrrZzzzzzzzzzz".
Year opened up!
Poor Greta.
Hold?
Great comments by Wanders today. You're at the top of your game, my man.
-- Scottie McW.
KM must think her readers reside in an isolated facility similar to the one that has jailed poor Greta. A year in an animal shelter? Right.
This shelter cannot possibly be run by the ASPCA. In fact, it should be investigated by the ASPCA!
She hasn't opened up yet. What is she, a clam? A rosebud? Yes, Regina, that's a face-paw, the canine equivalent of a face-palm, and who could blame her?
This plot would be much more interesting were Saul to leave the shelter with a lonely volunteer vs a lonely dog.
I'd be happy if Mr Wynter says "I want to squeeze her, and hold her, and call her George."
And just like that, Saul wasn't sad about Bella any more.
What was Brigman thinking? That paw is so creepy! Wasn't there a movie about an evil monkey paw? That's what it reminds me of.
@fauxprof, Not related to the strip, but our city's SPCA is not associated with the ASPCA and donations to the ASPCA do not benefit our local SPCA.
When we volunteered there, they would be very consistent about pointing this out as it chafed them that local giving was being diverted by the ASPCA's national campaigns.
Maybe Saul can rescue the dog and then give it to Mary as a gift at Christmas.
@Miss Scarlet--I used to teach the original short story "The Monkey's Paw" by WW Jacobs. It was always a favourite among my students. It's been made into a movie several times.
I haven't had time to post lately, but I've been reading all along. There have been too many wonderful comments by Wanders and all of you to comment on, so I'l just say, excellent work to all. Know I get to read what you write makes me actually look forward to reading MW each day.
Mary Worth is a horrible, horrible person. That has now been well established. But because this is the Worthiverse, Saul will be the one to "open up" Greta, he'll "open up" as well, he'll become what Mary considers to be a useful member of society at Charterstone, and Mary's obnoxious behavior will be vindicated. Yay.
I haven't mentioned this yet, but I lost my 18-year-old kitty Dixie three weeks ago. I've very much appreciated all the humor and snark here to get me through a terrible storyline. I've had a few people ask if I think I'll get another cat. I decided a while ago that I wasn't going to get another cat; it would be hard to follow the special bond I had with Dixie, and I'm just not home enough. If one of my "friends" kidnapped me and took me to a shelter under false pretenses to "help" me, I would have had some very family-unfriendly words for them, and taken the bud home. Ugh ugh ugh,
@LouiseF — actually, good, genuine no-kill shelters will keep an animal for a year or even longer if necessary to rehab it, though the best ones have a foster network for animals that aren't ready for adoption or have been there a long time.
On the one hand, this whole storyline and message is terrible. On the other, that looks like it might turn out to be a dachshund and I am hoping for weeks of dachshund illustrations. It might remind me of my family’s own rescued doxie who was also rejected, and turned back in for a year, and wouldn’t open up right away, who became our little sweetheart. Then something in this strip can remind me of reality.
Thursday
I saw today’s first panel and thought the shelter manager had foisted a giant, leftover chocolate Easter rabbit on Saul.
Okay, this is turning out exactly as we all predicted. How many weeks of Mary’s victory lap will we be subjected to? Besides her self-satisfied gloating, Saul will thank her profusely for saving his life (and Greta’s), and then everything will get the Toby rehash. We’l be in for it until Christmas - egad.
Greta is safe, but we aren't.
Imjb 1964: I am so sorry for your loss.I know what you're going through. I've talked about my cat Michael and like you, I can't bear to replace him. All I had to say to him was "Comon boo, let's watch Judge Judy" and he be bounding up there stairs (taking a minute to scratch the stair protector) and we'd sit and enjoy Judge Judy. He would sleep on my hip and watch my husband play video golf. I've been married nine years and my husband was in the military where they teach you to be stoic. The first time I ever saw my husband cry when we put Michael down. Tomorrow it will be eight months and we still miss him like it was yesterday. Like you, if some nosy old biddy kidnapped us and brought us to a shelter against our will, I'd be saying a few family unfriendly words to her as well.
Now that Saul's heart has melted like the Grinch's, we can move on and Mary can do her victory dance. If I was KM, I would read this blog to find out how the real world works and stop making Mary look like a sociopath.
"Okay, Saul, my work here is done. You two are on your own now because you're not putting that thing in my car. I can barely stand having YOU in my car. Ciao." And Mary peels out, fishtailing and burning rubber. "Love my new tires."
-- Scottie McW.
Even the dog has a smaller snout than W. Saul Fields....
Volunteer: "Um, it's wonderful to see Greta finally warming up to someone, Sir. But, I do have to warn you, the vet thinks she's about 18 years old, so....."
A nod to KitKat: RECIPE FOR TOBY REHASH: Take one snarling neighbor, remove equally snarling dog, Add 5 trips to the Pet Sematary, slice several fake-looking pet tombstones over all of it. Innovate with a pretend trip to the tire store after tenderizing said neighbor with a sledgehammer of insensitive bromides, slather with a helping of sentiment and sadness at the animal shelter. Remove all reality, shake vigorously and enjoy with a stiff drink of your choice while marvelling that all's well that ends well.
What brand of tires did Mary buy for her car?
When will the pool party, with Saul feeding salmon snacks to Bella, start?
Mary is an absolutely horrible character.
Oh, Scottie McW...if only you wrote this strip. I think June would enjoy working with you and the rest of us would be daily tickled instead of daily RANKLED!
Thank you , Regina.. Michael sounds wonderful. Dixie and I never got into Judge Judy, but I did take her for walks (on a leash), and she basically wanted to be on me on me wherever I was, which made it hard to get anything done sometimes. When I went to bed, she would lie on my chest, and we would hold hands while I scratched her under her chin. :)
Scottie, loved your wrap-up, and LouiseF, your recipe. If only KM had a tiny fraction of the wit that is displayed here.
I just noticed that it looks like there's a question mark over Greta's head, making it look like she's questioning what's happening. Perhaps she's wondering, "Old man, do you really want another dog, or are you just making an emotional decision you'll regret later?" Or perhaps she's thinking, "How did that meddling biddy get yet another sucker to fall under her spell?" More likely, though, she's thinking, "How did a nice dog like me end up in a crazy strip like this?"
Gotta say, though, the frame with Greta putting her paws on the old man's chest is pretty cute.
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