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The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Rivera shifted the story’s focus this week from the golf course to the water park. As Mark and Happy walked off with the Cheddersons for a round of golf, Cherry and Rusty went to the water park where Rusty tried out the “stingray spinner” water slide (what we used to call a snake slide in my youth). Turns out the pool (or pond) contained actual stingrays put there (according to the staff) to make the experience more exciting. But for whom? The concept of using actual stingrays in a pool designed for family entertainment sounds just a tad reckless, wouldn’t you say? Earlier this week, some readers discussed a now-defunct amusement park in New Jersey that bragged about its dangerous rides. So, reckless? Sure. More importantly, does it make any sense to include this “stingray” diversion in the story, or was it just thrown in to be weird? Or is it meant to reveal something of the character of Chet Chedderson?

Cherry yanked Rusty out of the water and berated one of the teenaged pool staff, to little avail. But right then, Cherry got a phone call from Honest Ernest whining about her not helping find the lost peacock. Cherry reminded Ernest that she had the day off, so it was now his job.

Rivera is not one to waste an opportunity for a traditional “but just then…!” opportunity, so as she ended the call, the missing peacock suddenly appeared near the pool. Will Cherry call Ernest back and tell him to come get it, or will she and Rusty go chasing after the peafowl all over the resort? Well, gang, maybe we’ll have some real suspense, at last!  

And you thought getting stung by jelly fish was bad (Well, I sure do)! Looks like reader comments on stingrays discussed on Friday were not enough to replace the Sunday topic, so Rivera still had her say. But today’s topic is not really so much about the rays as the consequences of human interaction with them. And it looks to be no fun at all. I read that sometimes the blade of a stinger gets embedded in a person unlucky enough to get stabbed, requiring surgery to remove it. Ugh! Maybe wading in the surf with sandals is a better option.

Cherry takes on the pool staff!

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Well, it’s not much of a confrontation; just some desultory venting. What happened to you, Cherry?

And sorry, car fans, but no vintage Corvette Stingrays are sporting about in the Stingray pond, as reader observantdonutad36129846 commiserated in a recent comment. And reader Triteon reminded us that stingrays can kill a human without using its venom, if you are unlucky enough to get struck in the right (or wrong) place on your body. Looks like we got the Sunday Nature Chat out of the way for the week!

Art Dept. When Cherry gets mad, she certainly transforms, and I don’t just mean emotionally. As many of you might recall, Dr. Bruce Banner, when under great stress, would transmorph into The Incredible Hulk®. But when Cherry gets stressed out, it looks like she turns into Jules Rivera; or maybe her sister. For Mark’s sake, let’s hope that he’s not the one calling.

Stingrays in the pool? Cherry puts her foot down!

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I am faced with the visual evidence that this water park pond has actual stingrays in it. Going along with the story, one has to wonder why anybody would open such a water park and think it will attact anybody but lawsuit chasers. Are the Cheddersons that out of touch with reality or are they playing a prank? These could be fake stingrays, as I suggested earlier, to add a bit of spice to a humdrum experience. I suppose these could be real stingrays that have had their venom removed, though that sounds rather expensive and dubious for a mere water park. In addition, what will Mark do when he finds out how stingrays are being potentially misused and possibly harmed, all for “a good time”!? I’m assuming this will all get back to Mark.

I reckon we’ll learn more soon, but wackiness is almost always on the Mark Trail menu of plot devices.

Art Dept. Rivera normally uses her standard “pendant symmetry” in a single panel, but today she spread it across panels 2 and 3 to frame the action. This is an exception to the issue I brought up yesterday, of characters not facing the people they are talking to or talking about. Instead, this is actually a clever composition:  In panel 2, Cherry’s profile in the foreground confronts Rusty questioning her, from the background. In panel 3, Rivera reverses the sequence, so that Rusty is in profile in the foreground, as Cherry stands in the background and replies to his question. Taken together, we also see Cherry and Rusty “facing each other,” as if they are both communicating in the same foreground. Like I said, a clever composition!