Such a gentle energy
There are few that Billie can’t charm, and Lottie is the kind of soul in need (the top of her head is literally smoking) who might just require a bit of B. Baker salve.
There are few that Billie can’t charm, and Lottie is the kind of soul in need (the top of her head is literally smoking) who might just require a bit of B. Baker salve.
“Blimey”, indeed. Of course, even though Billie and Maggie are just friends, they have shared in at least one erotic experience.*
[* See Secret Sentai -Smilin’ Sean]
Uh, which church is Billie taking Lottie to?
To HER church, I think/hope.
Methinks either Lottie will be shocked or we, the readers, will be shocked by the church Billie takes Lottie to. I’ve got £5 on Lottie being shocked.
Lottie has already assumed that Maggie is Belinda’s wife…is she really capable of being shocked at this point?
Look at who her sister hung out with – she’s been adjacent to darkness her whole life.
That’s some serious smoke that came out from Lottie’s head! Mrs Clovis fused her engine, but Billie is that sort of mechanic who do miracles. I can’t wait to see Lottie’s face seeing that the gentle vicar’s church is the Church of Satan. Will she think about a sacrificial kidnapping attempt or will she look at Billie and just start laughing? By the way, it’s nice to see that Lottie immediately thought Billie and Maggie are married♡.
Well, when you’re an investigative stickybeak, you need to keep your mind open to such possibilities.
Of course, we will soon see how open Lottie is going to be able to keep her mind…
If there’s a Billie x Maggie ship going on, permission to come aboard. Though I’m also partial to Maggie x Rev. or Billie X Brian.
I don’t know about a Billie x Brian relationship. I think I would have to see a signed certificate that he’d washed recently.
Very true, as well as confirmation from the NIH and whatever the UK’s equivalent of the CDC is.
PHE, Public Health England, althpugh I don’t know what it’s called for bits of the UK that aren’t England
Until I read John’s note, I thought it was Joe Btfsplk-esque black cloud.
As cartoon motifs go, it’s a direct descendant.
Lottie asked Maggie if she [Maggie] was the Vicar’s wife and Maggie never actually answered her, so Lottie has concluded that that’s indeed who Maggie was. Because, in Lottie’s mind, her presumptions are always right until and unless they’re proven wrong. Now she’s met Billie, who is demonstrably *a* Vicar. Lottie has thus put the pieces together without realizing that she has neither the correct nor enough pieces. At this point, Miss Marple might favor Lottie with a look of POLITE contempt. 😉
That’s right and makes me happy.
Lottie’s mystery-solving style often involves her coming up with multiple theories which are then (either instantly, due to further thought, or over a longer period, due to new evidence) proven wrong, before she hits on the right theory. I think a big part of what made her, in the Bad Machinery days, a better detective than Shauna or Mildred, both of whom are almost certainly technically more intelligent than Lottie, is her incredible imagination, which allows her to come up with theory after theory.
From the few times I watched the U.S. TV series “House”, featuring Mr. Hugh “Bertie” Laurie, that seemed to be The Brilliant Dr. House’s technique, as well. He’d keep throwing diagnoses upon the wall until one of them stuck.
I feel I am comfortable enough in this space to say that House is the basis for Lottie’s ramrod investigative technique – often relying on getting the best out of her close collaborators like he did too.
I used to look down on that technique, but nowadays, I treat it with more respect. In emergencies, both doctors and detectives are under a time crunch to solve their problems. In these cases, “doing nothing” is almost ALWAYS the wrong thing to do. So, hopefully, the worst thing that a snap theory results in is a failure that shows you which way NOT to go. Just like naval gunnery; the first shot usually misses. Each salvo hopefully gets you closer to the target.
I never thought about that before – but suddenly the similarities between Charlotte Grote and arrogant TV doctors seem so obvious.
Lottie might want to drop her suitcase off at the inn sometime. It’s making me tired just seeing her drag it around.
Yeah, the Cornish landscape doesn’t seem too friendly to wheels, so she’s having to put the “lug” in “luggage.”
At least it’s a smiling suitcase: will help to keep her spirits up.
She’s keeping her stuff close. Smart.
Is that the start of a comedy of errors?
“Ohhhhhhhh… what Happy Bag, it wa-uz (wa-uz…, wa-uz… …)”
The Church of Satan really is the place for a chibi Vampirella. Tom and Charlotte will have fun competing for “Best Eyeliner”. Too bad Brian can’t turn into a wolf and sniff out where Shelly is being held.
Also, fun bit of accidental poetry in the second panel. I read it out loud and it is very fun to say. Lottie has the best vocabulary.
I’m sure poetry is not accidental.
And the Checkov’s Axe polishing from the last panel is not accidental.
Despite Lottie’s tough exterior and furious fuming, I totally feel her concern for Shelley. I’m glad Billie can recognize a soul in need.
Ah, the wrong end of several sticks being grasped. Have any two characters ever been at such exquisite cross-purposes in John’s work?
I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive Mrs. Clovis for this.
Once again, I love all the facial expressions! Especially panel 4 Lottie. How long will this spousal misconception go on, I wonder.
Billie has no reason to allow Lottie to mistakenly think that she [Billie] is married to Maggie or to anyone else, so the spousal misconception will probably end with Billie’s very next comment: “Oh, I’m not married.”
Any other reaction would mean that Billie is deliberately allowing Lottie to proceed with inaccurate information, and why would Billie want to do that? There’s no reason to think John A is crafting what Roger Ebert called “an Idiot [sub-]Plot.”
In fact, since Billie is presuming that Lottie previously visited the Satanic Church (and met her “co-workers”), we have no idea who [at the Satanic Church] Billie would think Lottie could have been told was, or could even have reasonably mistaken for, Billie’s wife.
If any Satanic singles have been crushing out over Billie — is that the phrase? did I say that right? — and thus might, after gushing over “the Vicar” in conversation, have left even a total stranger with little doubt that she [the single woman] is in love with Billie (and thus could at least be reasonably SUSPECTED of being Billie’s wife), well, AFAIK we readers haven’t been told about any of that. 🙂
“Oh, I’m not married” may well put paid to the idea that Maggie is Billie’s wife, but what I wonder – and what I meant by the “spousal misconception” – is how long the idea will continue that Maggie is married to “the vicar”, because I imagine Lottie will discover Billie is not exactly Church of England before she meets Rev. Penrose.
I can see it would be confusing to visitors to Tredregyn. what with representatives of both rival churches wearing the clerical collar. Seems like they should have “team” colours so you can tell them apart.
This issue is addressed shortly. I’m really on it.
I’m sure, by the end of the story, Lottie will have Tredregyn all figured out.
It really says something, don’t it.
The best possible thing has happened. 🙂
Billie may need to fiddle with her brake pads to take care of that SQUIK
I think the sound may be coming from her foot scraping the ground.
I heard that same brake squeak too. I love the way John conveys sound effects.
I wonder if Lottie will be getting a “Neil Howie in Summersisle” vibe before long.
Hey, “Neil Howie” = “Howie, Neal” = “how we kneel.” I just got that. 🙂