Just who is Mark looking at in panel 2? It sure isn’t Cherry. You’d think he was some shill selling giant scissors in an infomercial. They don’t even look like standard line cutters, though I’ll grant you it can be difficult to always be authentic in the limited confines of a comic strip panel. Anyway, I’ll let you spend a few happy moments dissecting Mark’s comments in panel 2. 

The bigger question is Mark’s attitude towards Cherry. When he had moral issues with how to treat the wild horses, he consulted Ralph, not Cherry. He spent the rest of the day and evening with Cherry, not bothering to bring up his assignment, until now. Do we assume Mark is just an inconsiderate jerk, as he is pictured? Or, perhaps distracted?  That seems out of character. What is Rivera’s objective?