If This is What Love’s Like-I’m Loving It

In today’s strip from For Better or For Worse, we got to see a Paul visit. It was very different from the Paul visits described in the monthly letters and more importantly the ones I had been describing in April’s Real Blog.

1. It appears that Paul’s visit is contained in a single day.
a. His clothes do not change for the entire strip sequence.
b. As near as I can tell, it begins sometime after Liz has gotten off work, since Liz mentions to Jesse and Ellen that she has seen them today.
c. It is not clear if Paul was already in the apartment when Liz arrived with food, but I assume so, since with he appears carrying art supplies as if he were also coming into the apartment. My uncertainty about this is due to the period of time that passes when Liz comes in and Paul appears. When he arrives, she is already putting away groceries.
d. It concludes that night with enough time for him to drive back to Otter County to go on duty for his night shift. This is important because it tells us that Paul does not spend the night.

2. Paul says he will see her again in a couple of weeks. If he has any kind of regular schedule then he should have days off work every week. I infer from this that Paul does not come to Mtigwaki every time he has time off.

In the monthly letters, there are a few differences:
1. Liz mentions Paul has relatives in Mtigwaki, so he has a place to stay when he visits, although Liz does not say that he stays there.
2. Liz mentions activities they have done things like cross country skiing to get some privacy. This does not sound like something you can do in the few hours from the end of school to having to drive hours to be on time for a night shift at work.

ARB Paul has gone much further than that.
1. He has spent the night with Liz. I had presumed this wouldn’t be a problem, since Liz lived with Eric. Of course, that may have been an error, since Liz may be intentionally not spending the night with Paul to draw a distinction between him and Eric.
2. He has done much more substantial trips with Liz, like his overnight camping trip to Lake Nipigon, I did early in the relationship. I only did this because I imagined that if I were living in Otter County and dating a girl halfway across the province, I would want to make every visit special.

I am going to try to adjust Paul a little bit. The monthly letters led me astray a little. I am pretty sure now that Paul and Liz are celibate. Not only that, but I don’t think they have ever really kissed. Liz’s statement, “If This is What Love’s Like-I’m Loving It” is very Liz. It is completely self-oriented. She loves the way her vision of Love feels, without ever once mentioning that there is someone else in the equation. On the other hand, Paul has demonstrated very strongly why it is that he is single, even though he looks the way he looks. He is very aggressive and very needy. I imagine that has driven many girls away with his lack of social skills. I had been trying to play him as intelligent and kind, but thanks to this week, I see him being much closer to the way qnjones posts as Gerald.

Tomorrow's strip: I had hoped we were done with electrified rodents. The strip is similar to another where Edgar licks Butterscotch back to life after being electrified, and then Butterscotch went back to chewing on an electric cord. However, this strip left me a little frightened of Butterscotch. The rabbit seems truly demented.