Jules Rivera turned the story around really fast. Rusty’s “Lord of the Animals” delusional reign popped like a birthday balloon. And he now feels like he owes gratitude to the guys who let him down and indirectly helped put him into this silly situation in the first place. Is all forgiven?

But as we know from past experience, Rivera shies away from actual danger at every opportunity and turns every story into farce, a submission, or a TV sitcom plot.  Even the reaction of the so-called “feral” raccoons was a whiff and a miss:  They were either docile or facing away from Rusty as they hissed. I think they were just angry that Robbie, Ernie, and Ian showed up, so they threw a short hissy fit and fled. And Rusty doesn’t seem to be bothered any longer by Robbie’s theft or his friends’ complicity.

This is Saturday, so we’ll return to Mark’s troubles on Monday. I’m not sure there is enough of Rusty’s adventure left to return to after a few weeks, so we may see a short epilog and transition to a new storyline back in Lost Forest.