I'm so relieved to know that Mary's motives for bringing Mr. Harpman chicken soup are motivated by her selfish desire to stick her nose into someone else's business and to find out why this recluse keeps to himself. After she promised Jeff that John Dill would be her only good deed in 2013, I was worried she might break a promise.
I too find Mary's interest in this poor Mr. Harpsichord rather unsavory. It's all about her. And if she helps someone else along the way, oh well.
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to think Charterstone is actually the Santa Royale Home for the Terminally Narcissistic.
In the second panel, Mary really should be thinking, "Shut up and eat your apple, Toby, before it turns brown."
ReplyDeleteToday, Toby's shirt is now a v-neck. Makes me wonder if Giella even looks at the drawings from previous days.
Ouch. Holding a bowl of steaming hot chicken soup with your bare hands has got to hurt. Unless you feel no pain. Like Mary.
ReplyDeleteMary is a conniver. While she tells Toby that she's sure Tom Harpman has his reasons for keeping to himself, and that he was kind to her, all she wants to do is snoop around and butt into his life, whether he likes it or not. Too bad if the guy wants to keep to himself, Along Comes Mary.
ReplyDeleteI forget who said it earlier, but I second it: I hope Tom Harpman is a hoarder. That would be interesting, and it's an easy cheat for Moy. There are two shows on TV for her to rip off.
Joe has invested his MW characters with at least one superpower from his comic book days--asbestos hands! How else could mary hold a Tupperware full of scalding hot soup and still have that sweetly interfering look on her face?
ReplyDeleteShe's shown this power before, and so did John Dill. Or else they have severe circulatory problems and have no sensation in their fingers.
I think I know where this storyline is going. Mary takes the soup to Tom Harpman's. But As usual, instead of just giving it to him to enjoy in peace, she invites herself in to help him eat it. And of course to snoop. As they make small talk, Mary asks him how he likes her soup. Tom Harpman says "Eh, it's okay", which is not what Mary wants to hear. Angry and upset, Mary breaks into tears and runs to the bathroom and locks herself in. After 1/2 hour of trying to talk her out, Tom Harpman, sick, tired, and full of soup and Nyquil, gets his semiautomatic and sprays the bathroom door with a 50 round clip. Mary is killed. When the police arrive, Tom Harpman tells them that she had gone in to powder her nose, had accidentally locked herself in and couldn't figure out how to open the door. All he meant to do was shoot the doorknob off. And oh yeah, he thinks he saw a burglar go in there, too.
ReplyDelete@Link3220: That is truly sick.
ReplyDeleteAnd really made my day.
Sounds to me like Toby's angling for some of that soup for herself, even though she's been scarfing down apples. What an exciting life she leads hanging around in Mary's bizarre kitchen and gossiping.
ReplyDeleteIf Tom Harpman needs to come out of his shell, maybe turtle soup would have been in order. BTW, I keep wondering about "harpman" - ?? I hope Tom Harpman looks just like Harpo Marx:
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpue0fSUZp1qza7o9.jpg
The police later learn that Tom Harpman has two prosthetic legs, and he kept to himself because he was self-conscious about them. In a clever twist never seen before from Karen Moy, we find out that Tom Harpman is Jim's father.
ReplyDelete@Nance -- it's an easy cheat for Giella as well. All he has to do is draw an apartment full of shapeless lumps. (Something like what he already does, only these lumps would be packed a little tighter.)
ReplyDeletePerhaps Tom Hapman is relatively new to Charterstone and is not yet use to the world spinning crazily around, with items morphing and changing size from second to second. That would make me take to my bed.
ReplyDeleteBut if by some horrible twist of fate I were required to live there, you'd better believe I'd keep to myself. Locks, bolts, boards nailed up against the door, anything to keep Meddlin' Mary and her band of merry meddlers away.
Maybe Mary should help Mr. Harpman with his own package...
ReplyDeleteI am... I mean uh...Mary is a big bottle of EVIL.
ReplyDeleteHas Toby been hitting the Botox again? Her face has been looking a little droopy/paralyzed this week.
Ohh, great. As an introvert, I have a feeling Mary's for the next 5 months is going to offend me.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait!
Some speculation about why "Tom Harpman" came to Charterstone:
ReplyDeleteWants more upscale place than his previous residence, Vandownbytheriver condos.
Needs more space for his collection of Madame Alexander dolls.
Charterstone cable selection includes the Judge Wapner channel.
To escape nosy old biddies who hang around the parking lot trolling for lonely guys.
Is actually cleaned-up Hobo stalking Nola.
Better rehearsal space for his future tour with Johnny Puleo and the Harmonicats (coming soon to a second-rate city near you).
'You make terrific soup Mary!'
ReplyDelete(translation: thanks for offerring me some; all I have to eat is the lousy apple).
Meanwhile, Mary plans to use the soup to slip Mr. Harpoon a mickie.
Bring Nola Wolvenson back, PLEASE!
ReplyDeleteWe all know Harpman has a Deep Dark Secret(TM) that will come to light through Mary's prying. After all, nobody normal is able to just mind their own business and go about their quiet lives, are they?
ReplyDeleteSo I'm wondering what his D.D.S.(TM) might be. Considering that Moy has beaten the "troubled family relationships" theme to death - to the point that it will drive me insane if she uses it one more time - I'm going to go ahead and guess it's "troubled family relationships".
He's GAY. Obviously. How else would a man be able to resist such a smoking hot chick as Mary? Now all she has to do is "cure" him.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the second floor of an old boarding house. The doorknobs are chest high, with no deadbolts. And Charterstone management really ought to clean up that graffiti.
ReplyDelete