Taking three days (of strips) to get around to pulling a kitten out of the bushes seems excessive. It’s not as if Violet and Cherry had spent the time deep-thinking the value of happiness as a desired philosophical position or debating whether a restaurant that serves Fettucine Alfredo should call itself an Italian restaurant (it shouldn’t).

Golly gee-whiz! All we have here is:  Cherry discovered a kitten in the bushes. But, to add some melodrama:  Maybe it’s the bastard offspring of that gigolo catabout, Banjo Cat (I bet Rivera wouldn’t have come up with that obscure pun).

In her defense, I will remind readers that Cherry’s adventures are meant (I think) to reflect the Lighter Side of Mark Trail (with apologies to the late Dave Berg of the late MAD magazine for playing off the title of his strip).

Well, having done my duty, I am ready to rag on Rivera for unnecessarily dragging out the obvious point that a kitten (or maybe a catbird?) is hidden in the bushes. As usual, Rivera seems more intent on disrupting the story to get in her punch line, so she has Cherry respond to Violet’s rebuke with ambiguity (panel 3) instead of clarity. At least Cherry manages to maintain a positive disposition in spite of Violet’s usual catty behavior. (I hope you appreciate the length I went to, to set up that pun!)

And since when was Cherry down with weed killer? Hasn’t she always fought against it? Perhaps the realities of getting a regular paycheck and maybe having to pick up the slack for Mark’s lack of paying work (until now) has something to do with it.