Gerald Development Project
Last night I went to bed having dropped a line about Howard in the April’s Real Blog, where he could have drunk a drugged drink, or he could have just gotten a little bad grape juice in his glass. It was up to qnjones posting as Becky to resolve what happened next. When I got up the next morning, qnjones had still not posted a resolution and some evil thoughts started popping up in my head. What if I post as Howard where it appears that Becky might have spiked the drink, and then Becky took advantage of Howard; instead of the more obvious Becky’s mom did it? The idea was too irresistible, and so I went ahead and did it. qnjones then posted a resolution to the storyline that of course, had Becky as innocent of the drink drugging. In that post, Becky taped a conversation between Rhetta Blum and herself posing as her mother to fool Rhetta. Then the tape ends up in the hands of Gerald’s Dad, the child psychologist, and there is also an invitation to Sunday dinner from Gerald’s dad to both Howard and Becky. 2 thoughts went through my head:
1. If I were Gerald’s dad and I were to play the tape, what would I make of it? I went back through the Becky – Rhetta tape dialogue post and it worked beautifully to set up the idea that Becky may have actually been responsible for the drugging. I don’t know if that was done intentionally, but it worked great for me.
2. Why did Becky get an invitation to dinner? I understood why Howard did, but not Becky. Then my evil brain started working again. qnjones also posts as Gerald, and has written as Gerald a series of hilarious posts that discuss how he is struggling mightily with teenage sexual desire. Gerald’s girlfriend April is not putting out, but in the mind of Gerald’s dad, Becky might (because of the drug / seduction possibility of thought #1). This set up the whole idea that Gerald’s mom and dad might try to move his attention from April to Becky, and hence the dinner invitation to Becky.
qnjones had said she wanted an opportunity to develop Gerald a little, and this is what I have tried to set up for her -- an opportunity for Gerald to defy his parents for April, and for Gerald to express why it is that he prefers April to Becky. With any luck the marvelous aprilp_katje can also post the April perspective to the whole thing. In the For Better or For Worse website monthly letters from April, she has been nervous about Becky with Gerald before.
Finally Howard got to do a little Iris snark today. In the FBOFW website monthly letters from Iris, she inevitably talks about some activity that she and Grandpa Jim are doing. I decided to make light of this, by stringing together every thing she did listed on the website that involves going out of the apartment building. I refer to this style of humor as the endless list, where none of the items are particularly funny, but if you take them in altogether, then they could become humorous because they are numerous. The only downside to the endless list is that not one of the items appeared in the regular strip, so it was snark based completely on the monthly letters, which I usually try to avoid.
The additional aspect to the Iris snark was in order to help with the Gerald development project. I had Iris send flowers to April on behalf of Howard, in order to spark a little Gerald jealousy, when he sees April’s flowers and knows they are not from him. I look forward to seeing what Gerald is going to do with all this mess I have thrown at him.
1. If I were Gerald’s dad and I were to play the tape, what would I make of it? I went back through the Becky – Rhetta tape dialogue post and it worked beautifully to set up the idea that Becky may have actually been responsible for the drugging. I don’t know if that was done intentionally, but it worked great for me.
2. Why did Becky get an invitation to dinner? I understood why Howard did, but not Becky. Then my evil brain started working again. qnjones also posts as Gerald, and has written as Gerald a series of hilarious posts that discuss how he is struggling mightily with teenage sexual desire. Gerald’s girlfriend April is not putting out, but in the mind of Gerald’s dad, Becky might (because of the drug / seduction possibility of thought #1). This set up the whole idea that Gerald’s mom and dad might try to move his attention from April to Becky, and hence the dinner invitation to Becky.
qnjones had said she wanted an opportunity to develop Gerald a little, and this is what I have tried to set up for her -- an opportunity for Gerald to defy his parents for April, and for Gerald to express why it is that he prefers April to Becky. With any luck the marvelous aprilp_katje can also post the April perspective to the whole thing. In the For Better or For Worse website monthly letters from April, she has been nervous about Becky with Gerald before.
Finally Howard got to do a little Iris snark today. In the FBOFW website monthly letters from Iris, she inevitably talks about some activity that she and Grandpa Jim are doing. I decided to make light of this, by stringing together every thing she did listed on the website that involves going out of the apartment building. I refer to this style of humor as the endless list, where none of the items are particularly funny, but if you take them in altogether, then they could become humorous because they are numerous. The only downside to the endless list is that not one of the items appeared in the regular strip, so it was snark based completely on the monthly letters, which I usually try to avoid.
The additional aspect to the Iris snark was in order to help with the Gerald development project. I had Iris send flowers to April on behalf of Howard, in order to spark a little Gerald jealousy, when he sees April’s flowers and knows they are not from him. I look forward to seeing what Gerald is going to do with all this mess I have thrown at him.
posted by howard at 10:06 PM
4 Comments:
I enjoyed the endless list--the letters are always trying to express that these are vibrant! seniors! stringing them all together showed just how trying-too-hard this can seem. :)
I would steer clear of any suggestion of sexual activity between Howard and Becky. Depending on the circumstances, the age of consent in Canada is as high as eighteen years. Furthermore, you may violate Canada's very stringent child pornography laws if you write about a sexual encounter between an adult male and a fourteen-year-old female.
Dear anonymous,
Thank you for the good advice. I will definitely bear that in mind in my future posting.
It occurred to me that if Canadian child pornography law is so very stringent, it might explain why Lynn used the phrases "roadside" and "gig" in the FBOFW strips involving Becky and Jeff. She might have been trying to tell her story and still stay out of trouble with the law.
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