Let’s take stock, again, I suppose: Poppy and Cherry got the hell out of Christmas, Florida when “Mama’s” mental illness became too much.

No we have the truth coming out that has left Rusty’s “Poppy” ashamed all these years… And not a little conflicted, it would seem…

Fast forward, “Mama” had two more girls, Olive and Peach, by whom? Who knows?? Certainly not by Poppy… Stepsisters, then.

And, Scene… Olive seems to take after Mama, and Peach is the peacekeeper/caretaker. Probably not the first time we have seen mental illness and co-dependency in the funny papers, but certainly the first time we’ve seen it called out in MARK TRAIL! But come to think of it, we’d only have to scratch a little on the veneer of the old to see where there was a certain unhealthy dynamic…