Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for January 28, 2012

AHA, and now the REAL TRUTH comes out.

Evie is wondering if she can build a life with Arnold.

Pretty hard to compete with grateful widows getting a free house.

Someone in another strip once said, “The less they tell you, the more there is to know.”

There’s nothing wrong with what Arnold proposes. I knew a couple from Ireland who used to travel from country to country, with the husband teaching English as a second language. They didn’t get rich from that line of work, but they did get to see quite a bit of the world.

On the contrary, it sounds to me like Arnold is MUCH more committed than Evie is.

Actually, the look on Evie’s face is that of a woman who now realizes that very soon, she will have to make a life changing decision. Yes, even at her age, a woman can still occasionally face decisions that alter the course of her life.

Arnold seems oblivious to what Evie is fishing for… the same commitment to her as he has for helping others.

Let’s see. One way takes her home. One way takes her effectively out of the strip. Gee, which will it be? (Unless she can make Arnold see that the widows needing a home aren’t all in Zambia.)

Interesting… but the big question is, will she want to travel to all these places with him??

@Lightenup, that seems to be what she would prefer. On the other hand she seems OK with the status quo. The only problem would be (as Bagbalm suggests) that she have to compete with one or more determined widows.

Evie is realizing that his commitment is to H for H and she can tag along for the ride if she wants to. Of course, she won’t do that because she has never been a tag along.

They should let their mom go and set out for what she was called for. Evie looks committed to her work.

Commenters on here seem to have decided that marriage is in question but this strip is all about embracing non-traditional family ties. Maybe they’ll leave the the marriage hoopla aside and focus on choices with real substance, like whether Evie is interested in a globe trotting life of service like Arnold’s, or whether she want’s Arnold to sink roots and focus on her and the family.

Am I the only one who thinks it is mild alarm on Evie,s face at the mention of all those widows who will need homes and (husbands). And not concern for a long term status check.

Post your comments at Frog Applause, or you will feel weak from lack of blood.