Yea, yea, yea… enough of the Santa Poco malarkey, Mark…  It’s not even a real place…

But what’s this?  Rusty is making a “Friend?”  Good heavens, he doesn’t even have one, and now he’s in a most agreeable situation with a fellow female passenger… who, aside from her gray hair, seems to be about his age?  Same size, anyway…

With Ed Dodd as a witness, I don’t think we’ve ever seen Mark speak out of the side of his mouth… which he appears to be doing in the third panel… and the look on Rusty’s face in panel two is what?  Rapture?  Like he just (say it isn’t so…) relieved himself?