Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for August 28, 2009
Transcript:
Val:I can't believe summer's almost over. Phil: Hey you - Val: PHIL? I thought you had to work. Phil: One more day at the lake with you was too hard to resist. Val: Um...the kids are here, too... Phil: How long before their radar picks me up? Holly & Alix: MOM? MOM? MOM? MOM? MOM? MOM?
Dear Stone Soup readers, Regarding the question of what happened to Val and Joan’s husbands in the early days of the strip, the reader RMBDOT got it just right… Joan’s deadbeat first husband Leon went out for milk one evening and ended up in the Virgin Islands. It took a while for Wally to get through the defenses that Joan built up, and for him to convince her that nice guys can be attractive too (she had the all too common propensity to pick the wrong guy). They married in Book 4, Roadkill in the Closet.
Val’s husband passed away before the strip began, of cancer. Holly remembers him, but Alix doesn’t. He was her perfect guy, love of her life, and it is his memory that keeps her from being able to fully commit to Phil. That, and the complications of step-parenting have been the reasons Phil and Val keep their relationship at a bit of a distance. This will change eventually…
It’s so great to see all the comments, thanks to everyone for visiting the site and reading Stone Soup.
I have the greatest job in the world, and you make it so.
Cheers, Jan