Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for November 17, 2011

uh brudder… Rat needs therapy.

That explains a lot.

Maybe Jiminiy Cricket will pop out if they open it.

That explains a lot about Rat. Maybe his conscience will become vindictive and take over the chest to use it to kill Rat.

Hmmm what kind of sandwich would a conscience eat? Food for thought.

Aha! There it is. Rat’s conscience is down, but not out! Probably severely undernourished by now. Go, Pig (I’d recommend a fish filet sandwich—brain food)!

Rat could get a job at Citi Corp.

Maybe the super committee is in there too….only a week to go before we find out what a really highly paid group can do over a number or weeks of intensive work?

well thats explains just about everything about rat (if rat locked away his conscience, where’s pig’s brain?)

That’ can’t be for Rat’s conscience. The trunk is too big!

Mark Twain tribute?

love it!!

I think rat is going to need a bigger lock for that thing.

“Oh! If you could compact your conscienceOh! And you might.Oh! If you could bottle and sell it you might have doneOh! And you mightOh! If you could compact your conscienceand sell it save it for another timeyou might have to use it.”

Hehehe! I would never have suspected Rat of listening to his conscience at all, or even giving it the attention of locking it up. ++++Of course, the real joke is that listening to your conscience kills your fun—actually, virtue increases your ability to be joyful in life.

♪What you gon’ do with all that junk?♪All that junk inside your trunk?♪

Yes, a virtuous life is filled with joy.

I would just run out of the house.

LOL xxx

Does anyone else remember that segment of the Twilight Zome moveie with Adrian Barbeaux? (Why don’t you just ask it to call you ‘Billy’?). DON’T OPEN THE TRUNK!!

Twilight-Zone-movie

I would really like to see this stretched out into a long story arc, ending with a battle between Rat and Anti-Rat (i.e., his conscience) just like the one between Cartman and Evil Cartman. (Does Anti-Rat have a little beard?)

Knowing Rat, he’s got the Blue Fairy locked in there too.

I’VE GOT IT…okay, now you get it, too… Prepared to be Amazed!okay… Have you ever seen or had been served a fried egg with it’s shell? I doubt it.This may be Stephan “coming out of his shell.”This “Conscious” in the trunk has to be light enough and visible enough for Pig to have found it, carry it, and to inquire it’s desires.

no wonder rat is such a jerk and doesn’t care when he hurts other peoples feeliings (or physically) I bet this is going to be a week long series.

Maybe that happened to my conscience!

Aw, guys – thanks for any compliments and also the menu suggestions in reply.

We should make a list, then see which ones it chooses.

That way you could learn how to follow your conscience in your diet.

Oh, right…. Rat’s conscience…… OK, never mind.

Anyhow, thanks especially to Otto — my pleasure; glad when friends enjoy PB4S.

And to Trusted Mechanic, of course (hmmm… I need one of those.)

Say, Mechanic — wouldn’t setting Rat’s conscience free end the terror, rather than provoking the others to lock it up again?

And BTW, however undeserved any titles may be — “Matriarch” makes me feel old.

“Mistress” will do….. especially if preceded by “yes”!

It explains… SO MUCH!

Rat has a conscience at all!?!? :O

How did he get it out?

look at how intracate that trunk is, then look at how simalir it looks in each panel, then realize you’re dealing with a lazy cartoonist who like to cut-and-past