It’s nice to get away for a while from the sturm und drang of Happy’s romantic escapades and financial chaos and return to the more pastoral and peaceful activity of weeding the yard. Or “garden” as Jules Rivera calls it? Perhaps she is using the British definition of “yard.” Otherwise, it looks like a pretty small garden. But who am I to criticize? I don’t garden, but I have listened to “Gardener’s Question Time” on BBC4 radio.

Anyway, here we find Cherry, happily working alongside a rabbit decoy or cutout in the foreground, probably installed there to scare away … uh … well, maybe “scare away” is a bit optimistic. Perhaps it is just another parody by Rivera of the long-standing tradition of inserting animals into scenes. If so, this joke went stale over five years ago … Wait. Somebody just told me it’s supposed to be a real rabbit.

Rivera used the peacefulness of the first two panels to set the stage for the dramatic, voiceless stranger in panel 3, though perhaps that silhouetted figure is not quite as tall as today’s blog title suggests. This person sports a wide-brimmed hat as he stands arms akimbo, at some kind of entrance gate that we have never seen before. I tell you, Cherry is one busy gal!

Rivera refers to this mystery person as “another kind of species”, which makes no sense. First off, “kind” is not a scientific term within biological taxonomy (Yeah, I know she was just making a pun!) Second, the figure certainly doesn’t look like a different species of human, unless it is just a cardboard figure propped up at the entrance. Snarky comments aside, I think we can all figure out who this is, right!? And no, it is not The Shadow. Too bad Rusty isn’t around.