Looks like Mark is trotting out his “Buford Pusser” persona, using a shovel instead of a bat; only the perpetrators are not moonshiners or part of the so-called Dixie Mafia, but employees of a company legally doing their job. So Mark’s aggression is kind of a hard thing to square, even if his defense is based on a sympathetic ethic or value system.

Is Mark going to risk serious jail time and civil lawsuits if he actually assaults these people? Mark! You are supposed to be hiding out over in your own storyline. You are confusing everybody with your teleporting from one location to the other, as if you are caught in a Kurt Vonnegut chrono-synclastic infandibulum. I can only imagine what Diana and Cliff are thinking at this point. Wait, if they have any brains, thinking is the last thing they should be doing at this point. In fact, they probably encouraged Mark to spend more time with Cherry!

What a shame and what a paradox:  Mark makes the scene here just as Cherry’s week ends. That means Mark must immediately zip back to the fishing lodge in time for Monday and the start of his own two-week segment. Then he has to get back to this storyline and pick up where he left off. I think! But are Cherry and everybody else supposed to just wait around until Mark returns? And will he reappear in the same state we see him now? Could that infundibulum thingy really be true?! It’s getting real confusing!

Yeah, Ernie’s corn-pone persona dropped pretty fast, once he got down to business. At least, he’s been straightforward about his intentions. Reckon that owl did not slow him down, either, as Ernie and his crew fulfilled the third predictive outcome I made yesterday. Did you guess correctly? Okay, so I waffled; but option#3 was the most likely outcome, because it provides the best option for adding more drama. And here it comes!

So, action fans:  What next? There is just today and Saturday before we return to Mark’s storyline. Something else is bound to occur. Maybe the bees attack Honest Ernie and his gang. Ironic justice. Or we get left with a cliffhanger, the usual “wait for it!” plot device before the story breaks away. Were the bees killed now, it would also kill Cherry’s storyline, for want of anything left for her to do. Therefore, we have to expect something will occur to interrupt the extermination. Agree or disagree? Let me know!

I don’t think it takes a lot of imagination to figure out this must be good ol’ boy Honest Ernest, who apparently has a devious-enough mind to figure out that something might be happening with the bees the night before he arrives to bee-head them (as he joked earlier).

After some research, I found out that owls do, indeed, attack humans on occasion, such as when they think they, or their progeny, are at risk; or sometimes humans are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, this is the wrong place for Ernest, but the right time for Cherry and her gang. Maybe.

I see three ways this story continues:

1. Ernest gets scared off, allowing Cherry to keep working
2. The gals grab their stuff and hide, hoping Ernest leaves soon
3. Ernest spies the gals, anyway, spoiling their plan

Do you see any other possibilities?

Notice any parallels with Mark’s current storyline, such as the undercover work; the danger of getting caught or found out; being pursued; and in both cases, doing things that walk the line of legality? Wait, did I already mention this earlier?

Focus on the job, Cherry! I have to admit that the artwork yesterday was much more interesting than today’s, both in composition and details, where virtually all of the scenes were drawn from a low “dog’s eye view”. Go back and check it out, if you overlooked it. Moving on to today’s strip, I thought it was interesting that the first thing Cherry thought about when a possible intruder was around was a male figure, when virtually all of the antagonists have been women, Honest Ernest excepting.

So how is it Mark finds time to work two jobs: Daytime investigative journalist on the run and hiding out from nefarious goons; and nighttime laborer and bodyguard for Cherry and her sidekicks? When does this guy ever sleep, and how does he jump between hideout and lookout so easily? Can’t this dude ever let anybody else have the spotlight once in a while!?

As far as the plot is concerned, the premise is sound enough:  Save the bees from extermination by relocating them. The method is still ambiguous.  Georgia, at least, seems to have the basic equipment:  White bee handler’s suit with netted hat and a smoker with an attachment, presumably to reach up to the statue. Are the boxes portable hives? Or perhaps just boxes to put the actual hive and bees into?

Anyway, their lack of planning for lookouts has imperiled their plans. They should have watched The Great Escape for tips.

Could it be that Violet was not as naïve as they thought, and so she simply waited for the women to get started so she could catch them in the act? Or is Mark once again butting into Cherry’s affairs?

Unlike Mark and Diana, it appears that the people on this side of Lost Forest recognize the season for what it is and dress for it. So, Dolores is able to easily chase away the always-effete Violet, who must have been fantasizing about dead bees. And shouldn’t Violet have been suspicious of some person who just happened to be passing by at this time of day?

But with a skill that matches former Mark Trail artists, Jules Rivera neatly telescopes the action and omits just how and why Violet disappeared back into the Society’s house. Equally amazing is that The Black Rose Garden Club members simply parked their car in a culvert in front of the house, whereupon the ladies gleefully and baldly got out! They are not even trying to hide themselves. I’m thinking that Mandrake the Magician must have been invoked from his KFS-sponsored comic strip to gesture hypnotically and cause Violet to take a nap. Either that, or she’s dumber than we thought.