That’s Doc in the hospital bed. You can tell by the glasses on the table. According to the vital signs monitor, his heart rate is 67 (a little better than average for someone his age), blood pressure is 115/[unreadable], and body temperature is 98° (normal).
It’s actually a pretty good ending, in my opinion, except for that abrupt announcement by Lizz that the EMTs did their best, which is still rather puzzling.
Here is the full ending of the play, because I don’t think the excerpt in today’s strip does it justice:
The STAGE MANAGER appears at the right, one hand on a dark curtain which he slowly draws across the scene. In the distance a clock is heard striking the hour very faintly.
STAGE MANAGER:
Most everybody’s asleep in Grover’s Corners. There are a few lights on: Shorty Hawkins, down at the depot, has just watched the Albany train go by. And at the livery stable somebody’s setting up late and talking. Yes, it’s clearing up. There are the stars doing their old, old crisscross journeys in the sky. Scholars haven’t settled the matter yet, but they seem to think there are no living beings up there. Just chalk … or fire. Only this one is straining away, straining away all the time to make something of itself. The strain’s so bad that every sixteen hours everybody lies down and gets a rest.
He winds his watch.
Hm…. Eleven o’clock in Grover’s Corners. You get a good rest, too. Good night.
Flyface first and now Doc…. Grandma will surely blame Tracy for everything that happened to her family. If Tracy has not uncovered the knowledge hidden in the library, it will come in handy for Grandma’s revenge in a future story.
so, if i’ve got this right, doc flyface sends ‘splody books, arranges to be manager of vitamin’s theatre, tries to assaniate dt, fails, has drugs delivered to work, messes that up, has his girlfriend try to pick it up, messes that up, tries to kill dt, and dies in custody from an od? and is promptly ignored!
1-SUGAR DADDY IN ROLE AS OFFSTAGE NARRATOR: Small town life isn’t as bucolic as you might imagine. Oil wells like this one used to contribute more than their fair share of Grover’s Corners citizenry to our local cemetery… 2-…but technology has come to Grover’s Corners! See for yourself how the dangerous work of Roughneck on an oil rig has given way to the new, safe and highly lucrative black-market trade in vital organs. This Grover’s Corner man can look forward to a life of ease for at least six months after a single night in the hospital where his kidney and half of his liver were harvested for use in a beneficent rich man whose body was, through no fault of his own, devastated by excess. Yes folks, we’ve come a long way…
Yeah, these guy’s keep you guessing all right. Guessing about when there might be a good story. Now that Neil has finished his English essay, maybe we can move on.
On Wednesday it was implied (not stated explicitly) that Little Doc had died abruptly of an overdose. Today we see him alive if not well in a hospital bed. It’s getting harder and harder for the dead to stay dead! And the analogy propounded with the Sleep of the souls of Grover’s Corners seems forced. Little Doc is neither simply asleep nor yet in the Sleep Eternal….
Pequod over 4 years ago
Diversity in audience
This is Tracyville
Take a good long look
Dear friends
Consider if you will
Our town comprised of multitudes
Most upstanding and true
Our sisters and our brothers
May look different than you.
Vitamin, he bids goodnight
Now wishes us good rest
All the world’s a stage
Dear friends
The poor, the ill, the rest
We make our way
At close of play
Elsewhere, a man lies stricken
Did have a habit dangerous
Grave ways it did him sicken.
DaJellyBelly over 4 years ago
Uh, oh, who is on life support?
HarryCK over 4 years ago
Good morning, farewell players and life supporters !
Guess I wont be auto liking Timbob’s basher posts as I am satisfied with the end of story panels despite the ups and downs ride in getting here.
Neil Wick over 4 years ago
Good morning™, theatre-goers!
That’s Doc in the hospital bed. You can tell by the glasses on the table. According to the vital signs monitor, his heart rate is 67 (a little better than average for someone his age), blood pressure is 115/[unreadable], and body temperature is 98° (normal).
It’s actually a pretty good ending, in my opinion, except for that abrupt announcement by Lizz that the EMTs did their best, which is still rather puzzling.
Here is the full ending of the play, because I don’t think the excerpt in today’s strip does it justice:
The STAGE MANAGER appears at the right, one hand on a dark curtain which he slowly draws across the scene. In the distance a clock is heard striking the hour very faintly.
STAGE MANAGER:
Most everybody’s asleep in Grover’s Corners. There are a few lights on: Shorty Hawkins, down at the depot, has just watched the Albany train go by. And at the livery stable somebody’s setting up late and talking. Yes, it’s clearing up. There are the stars doing their old, old crisscross journeys in the sky. Scholars haven’t settled the matter yet, but they seem to think there are no living beings up there. Just chalk … or fire. Only this one is straining away, straining away all the time to make something of itself. The strain’s so bad that every sixteen hours everybody lies down and gets a rest.
He winds his watch.
Hm…. Eleven o’clock in Grover’s Corners. You get a good rest, too. Good night.
THE END
22ph over 4 years ago
The flies really abandoned Doc…
22ph over 4 years ago
Flyface first and now Doc…. Grandma will surely blame Tracy for everything that happened to her family. If Tracy has not uncovered the knowledge hidden in the library, it will come in handy for Grandma’s revenge in a future story.
iggyman over 4 years ago
Wow, another unexpected turn! Who was the woman yesterday? I am staying tuned! Joe and Mike you keep us guessing!
Gerard:D over 4 years ago
Doc should be a corpse and Flies covering him head to toe. It would be more impactful. The flies were the stars of this arc.
jrankin1959 over 4 years ago
Not that I’m a fan of Our Town, but nice juxtaposition of the play with the story line.
jaz h over 4 years ago
so, if i’ve got this right, doc flyface sends ‘splody books, arranges to be manager of vitamin’s theatre, tries to assaniate dt, fails, has drugs delivered to work, messes that up, has his girlfriend try to pick it up, messes that up, tries to kill dt, and dies in custody from an od? and is promptly ignored!
Another Take over 4 years ago
1-SUGAR DADDY IN ROLE AS OFFSTAGE NARRATOR: Small town life isn’t as bucolic as you might imagine. Oil wells like this one used to contribute more than their fair share of Grover’s Corners citizenry to our local cemetery… 2-…but technology has come to Grover’s Corners! See for yourself how the dangerous work of Roughneck on an oil rig has given way to the new, safe and highly lucrative black-market trade in vital organs. This Grover’s Corner man can look forward to a life of ease for at least six months after a single night in the hospital where his kidney and half of his liver were harvested for use in a beneficent rich man whose body was, through no fault of his own, devastated by excess. Yes folks, we’ve come a long way…
Kip W over 4 years ago
Every sixteen hours? Sorry, Mr. Wilder, but that would mean something like ten and a half sleep cycles a week.
vanisleson over 4 years ago
Is it me, or is this disjointed?
buckman-j over 4 years ago
Yeah, these guy’s keep you guessing all right. Guessing about when there might be a good story. Now that Neil has finished his English essay, maybe we can move on.
ssledge over 4 years ago
I don’t understand this. How did Doc get from Tracy handcuffing him to the ICY?
BreathlessMahoney77 over 4 years ago
You know Joe & Mike didn’t stick the landing in a story when nobody’s really sure if the chief villain ended up alive or dead.
ScottHolman over 4 years ago
Thank gawd the flyboy is ok. I hope his employee, that sweet little cupcake with the knockout figure, comes back to entertain us in the future.
Sisyphos over 4 years ago
On Wednesday it was implied (not stated explicitly) that Little Doc had died abruptly of an overdose. Today we see him alive if not well in a hospital bed. It’s getting harder and harder for the dead to stay dead! And the analogy propounded with the Sleep of the souls of Grover’s Corners seems forced. Little Doc is neither simply asleep nor yet in the Sleep Eternal….