Jules Rivera seems to have a thing for bats. They keep showing up in her stories and Sunday nature talks! As you might recall from mid-August, Cherry was roped into helping Violet Cheshire figure out and get rid of whatever was causing weird screeching sounds inside the octagonal music hall for an upcoming music concert. The plot here follows a similar story from a few years ago. That may become more apparent as you read on. Upon investigating the hall, Cherry discovered there were bats and bat babies in the loft. So Cherry told Violet that they could not be disturbed until the babies were able to leave on their own. There is even a law to back Cherry up. Violet did not like it, not one little bit, because her concert was coming up soon. Apparently, Violet huffed and puffed, but left them untouched. Then.

This past week, as Cherry was weeding the grounds of the Sunny Soleil Society, who should pop up, but Honest Ernest, decked out in his default yellow work suit, sporting a pesticide tank on his back. After insulting Cherry, Ernest announced he was there to get rid of the bats. Cherry read him in on the law, but Honest Ernest brushed it aside because of his devotion to Violet. He tramped on to the music hall—he is a man on a mission!—as Cherry vainly attempted to stop him. Ernest entered the building and mounted a ladder to reach the bats. There, he taunted the bats and told them to prepare to meet their doom. But the result was a bat swarm that knocked Honest Ernest off the ladder, his face now a battlefield of bites and scratches. Cherry told Ernest it was time to get to the ER. Again!

Now, it is certainly plausible that this storyline could recur every few years, though I would have thought they would have bat-proofed the music hall after the first situation. But at no time in this story is there a hint from the characters that this situation more or less repeats what happened earlier. In fact, they all act as if it never did. It would have been great, for example, if one of the characters broke the fourth wall at some point (like George Burns used to do in his TV show) and admit that they are aware of the prior story. Sorry! Well, try to keep this plot in mind, because we are due for two more weeks of Mark and his cave rescue adventure. You remember that one, right? Cricket Bro entered a restricted mine and got stuck in a collapsed floor. Mark was called in to help …

Is that raccoon scat spelling out Mark Trail in the title panel!? Unintended irony, perhaps. Well, this is a nice example of how to throw together a topic using the least amount of research possible. A quick Google search or scan of Wikipedia, and you’re done, except for the drawing. Is Jimothy famous in his Seattle neighborhood for years, as Mark reports? That’s not so obvious. Jimothy only became a phenom in July 2026. The raccoon may have been seen in 2025, but some wildlife experts are doubtful and think Jimothy was born early in 2026. The prior raccoon seen may have been the mother. I reckon the good citizens of that neighborhood in Seattle can decide for themselves.