Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 26, 2016

uh-oh… uncle Al doesn’t looked pleased

It sounds like Les is still less. He may never be more.

Here comes the BOOM!

Busted …?

Yeah… that money thing might have been cooly played…

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And perhaps he’s been doing a good job, otherwise…

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But them drinks on the mobile bar didn’t escape notice…maybe…

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Or is it that he gave one salad leaf per bowl too many?

Les will learn how much more his uncle is.

uncle Hitch is not stupid!…….we hope.

he maybe throwing pru(ne) under the bus. she has the cash and the jewelry on. oh boy…………..

This is where he drops the “No dating other employees” bomb.

Baby steps, baby steps.

Les my boy you are doing such a great job I decided to make you the new manager and on top of that a raise and a bonus, keep it up son your going places.

He is going to out Pru to Les.

I’m still worried that Pru will be blamed for this.

My guess: Some people contacted Mr. Gray to ask for receipts for the amounts they donated to the youth program … and the amounts they are claiming exceed what Les said he collected.

Please send both of them packing. Les is nothing but trouble and Pru is another character who long should have been written out of the strip.

Leslie gave Pru the jewelry in front of witnesses. He handed her the money within his uncle’s view. Things aren’t going to add up as Les wants them to.

“Ploy Story”

“Could’ve Fooled Me!”

“Give A Bus Boy A Big Fat Lip”

“A Quick Staff Beating”

“Embezzled, Bedazzled, Tomato, Tomato….”

“Suspense, None The Richer” (♪♫)

“A Big Hit, And A Near Miss”

“Everything’s Coming Up Roses…But Every Rose Has A Thorm”

“Upstairs, Downstairs, Basement”

“A Clean Getaway, In Dirty Laundry”

“Can You Spot A Leopard?”

“A Reformation, With Strange Shapes”

“To Shill A Mockingbird”

“Games Without Frontiers” (♫)

“Cool, Calm….And Collected?”

or

“Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” (♪)

“Give A Bus Boy A Big Fat Lip”

“A Quick Staff Beating”

^

I meant “…Fat Tip” and “…Meeting”!…I think…

Anyone else sad about George Michael passing away??? It seems unreal. This year David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Vanity, Prince and Now George Michael have died. Its like a big part of the soundtrack of my youth is gone. I hope they’re all in a better place…but it’s still very sad.

Too soon to judge this one . Mr. Gray has done some investigative accounting and its lights out for Leslie. Or, Leslie has managed to con Uncle Al and is about to get a promotion.

And the hammer falls…

Kinda’ hoped last panel of today’s Chickwood Lane was first panel of Tiffany and Gunther’’s new arc as they discuss going back to classes.

Less is what MY Prue always said!

ugh, hopefully Uncle will send Les to timbuktoo and out of the strip

Geez – Pru was born yesterday? I thought she sniffed people out better than that.

It’s just gratitude Jack, about to be smashed by the look of Uncle Grey.

Uh-Oh Les I think you are about to get an offer you can’t refuse dude. Uncle Grey does NOT look pleased, and I would not want to displease him, particularly when he put himself out for you, and particularly when he really likes the people connected to the FUse, including Gunther’s mom.

NOTICE: She called him LESLIE… he did not object.

The other day, he said "I’ve been co — " Counterfeiting? Methinks the rotten apple has fallen the from the tree, and the poison apple has been ingested…

An apparent scheme all along coming to light that only G&K would know for devious Les to make himself look good despite his unsavory reputation.

I’m with those who believe Les is not turning over the proverbial new leaf, or reforming into a nice guy. That character is forever rotten. Only nice when he is pressured into begin congenial.

Uh-oh, trouble is a brewing. Stay tuned to find out.

Opening bars of “Dragnet” theme

Uncle Al may feel Les is up to something, but not know exactly what. He may be cautioning Les.

Could be he just wants to do something decent with the money before he gets whacked by his uncle and ends up in a cornfield.

This could get ugly quick.

Dangerous disgruntlement on the way.

Happy Kwanzaa! (Except for Les, and you’re going to have a difficult day. I think it will be based on the principle of “community economics”).

Even smarmy guys have a heart, and Les’ is about to be broken.

Here come the cement shoes.

I knew it wasn’t a love interest. Leopards don’t change their spots.

Pru has no previous history with Les, and no reason to mistrust him. She is one of my favorite characters, now. Evanses seem to have moderated her over the top perkiness, which put me off at first.

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww. You’re hallucinating again. Must be the cat dander….

Hope this creep gets busted BIG TIME!!!

Prudence! Right Now, while Les is standing before his Uncle, give his money and jewelry back saying: “I’m SORRY Leslie, but I CANNOT accept Your Stolen…,uh Sorry, I meant, ‘generous’ gift!” Then, shedding a cartoon tear, RUN quickly to the Ladies Room…

Can Uncle Al get the money back from the jeweler, or possibly make the restitution himself.

About time he showed up!

I have not heard that pejorative term in decades.

Looks like Les’’s day is about to turn a rather unpleasant shade of gray.

I am wondering if TJ and Ox are still just over to the side and witnessing all.

I think Les is about to be busted by his uncle.

Gads, i have not heard anyone use those ugly terms in about 50 years.

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I thought the person perhaps used prune because of how Pru’s hair appears, then for some totally unfathomable reason never dropped it as she became a developed character.

Multiple epiphanies standing by…

Trying to buy a person is low. Trying to buy a person with a gift using money stolen from a collection for something which matters to that person is lower still. Then trying to appear big hearted and attractive by giving some stolen money to the collection itself is way over the top. Even if Les thinks of Pru like a sister or mother substitute, and is trying to release stolen funds this is sooooo misguided.

a Penny for MR. Grays thought right about now

Part of what we do not know, and part of what we do know:

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We do not know how much Les stole, but we know from averaging over the group size from the portion we know was stolen in the first donation that the sum from the donations was likely to be at least somewhere in the hundreds. We also do not know how many tips Les stole but have seen him pocket a tip for Ox.

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We know there was an unnamed reason why his uncle, Al Grey, felt that Les should work in the Fuse, but not what it was nor how it weighs in and to what degree.

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We know that if he is making a pass at Pru then Les is barking up the wrong tree.

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We know that Pru made arrangements in Pitts which indicate some degree of financial security but probably at modest levels.

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We know that Pru worked in NYC in some aspects of the theater attached to the youth program but NOT if she was successful, nor how long she was there. We do not know where Pru grew up.

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We do not know how many people witnessed what Les did with the necklace and/or money. Given spacing and timing, anywhere from 0 to 3.

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We do know that in high school Les treated others as less than himself, and for dark haired females that also included sexual harassment. Also, that he bullied and stole in high school, as well as threatening to beat people.

Sorry, I had forgotten her full name.

Les has not asked anything of Pru yet, and he has witnesses for the gift and cash he has given her. Whatever Mr. Gray wants, it is rude of him to interrupt Pru in the middle of her sentence. He could wait until Pru is done talking to Les.

In earlier “Pru” strips, she tells her new friends that she is homosexual. So it’s unlikely that she is expecting more from Les, although Les appears to be unaware of Pru’s sexual preference.

Given he basically stole that money during his “collection” activities for the show, #2 he is a creepy dude and #3 Don’t you want him to get his comeuppance for his bad deeds…

Is it Gray, or Grey?…I used both, ‘cause I can’t remember :p

If someone calls someone else a “prune” it usually means they are calling the person a dried-up, wrinkled, old person, or something like that. And that’s what I was challenging, because the character Pru is nothing like that. @31768 wrote, “he maybe throwing pru(ne) under the bus”. That made no sense to me, because Pru is a young, active person and doesn’t have any “prune-like” qualities.

Uh oh, Les is in more trouble. Stealing from the kitty, and for what – does he not know Pru is gay?

Both Al and Gray with an “a” on 2016-05-05.

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Also with an “a” on 2016-05-06 and multiple other strips. BTW, that date’s strip has been referred to a lot recently here.

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“Grey” and “grey” are used interchangeably for the color in Luann when i search. Is it possible that occurred in the past w his name and then there was editing? Maybe, or maybe it always was with an “a” and those who corrected me in the past were wrong. Whatever. By definition, neither is the end of the world.

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I looked them up in a more easily searched ref compilation, and no, not Wikipedia but something that contains the actial images.

How I long to draw a pic of Les’ face, when he finds out Pru is gay… $#%$ new GC rules!!!

Icky, but they do make a nice-looking couple.

Well, that didn’t last long.

Maybe Pru’s about to discover that she’s a closet heterosexual.

And now the other shoe is about to drop.

well there is the name ‘Prunella’ which is the first name of the actress that protrayed Sybil on Fawlty Towers: Prunella Scales

1) Pru(ne) is simply a weak pun, because the double meaning fails. For good puns see Oscar Wilde or William Shakespeare. See below.

2) Correcting “Gray” to “Grey” or the reverse is disturbingly pedantic.

3) Mark Twain famously quipped that, as a result of his own researches, he had decided that Shakespeare did not write the plays usually attributed to him. The true author was another gentleman having the same name!

Talk about an Indiana Jones Last Crusade moment! In the living room we had a planter with collards which were not doing well this winter due to white fly (a moth). It was an object of affection for Y?Y? ferret. She turned out to love the taste of collards and of the diluted ivory soap slurry with which i would tackle the moths. During this last week she found three vantage points from which she could jump into the planter: atop a red, dragon painted stool, and from two corners of a firm black cushion on a bench. Then she would dig out any plant that was not a collard, snack on some collard leaves, and create damp mounds of dug soil on the floor. We tried many approaches but none worked, so today i sacrificed that planter. Later in the evening Y?Y? came out. She moved from jumping platform to jumping platform, five times over, looking for the planter but could not see it. Then her Indiana Jones moment hit! It was a Leap of Faith! She took it. That furry little mustelid flew through the air, four paws ready to land, four legs ready to buffer the landing. Time slowed as i watched. Up she arced, then down toward the planter which must be there, and down, and down…

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Aside from disillusionment she is fine.

Mr. Gray is in charge of all the finances and probably keeps a spreadsheet with all expenses and sources of income from events. If money was raised through donations it should be entered into the spreadsheet. Les ran these fundraisers and Mr. Gray needs the information to close out the year for tax purposes. We can only hope that Les’s doings will be uncovered when (or if) the spreadsheet doesn’t balance properly.

I don’t recall any strips that show Mr. Gray investing in the Fuse or being part owner or manager. He helped the DeGroots with various projects and asked for a favor in return. The favor was that they hire his nephew, Les. This is what I recall, I may have forgotten or missed some strips about Mr. Gray.

I was wrong. Probably Frank keeps the books (on the Fuse’s finances) and he may have asked Mr Gray about something strange in the ‘year-end’ calculations, and then Mr. Gray knew to suspect Les.

One thing about Greg and Karen is that they are as unpredictable as white water rafting. I can never guess what he is going to have these paper puppets do. But, with the exception of the wedding, he/they never fail to disappoint me. Relationships crash, likable characters leave the strip, and the new characters just aren’t making it……and they all have bad hair.

oh hey Mr. Grey is back in the game. Long time, no see. I thought he’d died or something.

I’m another who doesn’t recall Mr. Gray having a financial interest in the Fuse. He showed up to help them with the remodel, and may have contributed at that point (at the very least, he seems to have brought in some specialized labor at what was probably well below market costs). Does he have a documented share in the enterprise? Maybe, but we haven’t seen it.

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I’ve said before that I’d really like to know more about the chain of command at the Fuse. Is Mr. Gray the manager? Is TJ in charge of the Kafe? Does Pru have any standing, or is she at the same level as Les, employment-wise? Who takes orders from whom, or is it just whatever the plot calls for in a given story arc?

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I’m not criticizing, just curious. And I think there are still some commenters out there who don’t seem to realize that just because the readers know Pru is gay, doesn’t necessarily mean that all the characters are aware of that.

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We also don’t know if Mrs. Berger and Mr. Gray are still an item, or how much of an item. It’s been a while, even in Luanntime, since they were seen together.

A Gray cloud of doom hangs over thy vile head, wretched Leslie!

Back off, Pru, and let Karma follow its course….

Uncle Al is going to explain Pru’s orientation, confront Leslie about his abundance of funds, or both. He’s no fool.

Only problem is, I, or anyone else here could go into Wiki and change it. We had a rash of that going on here when one poster in particular had to be right all the time and would go into Wiki, change the entry, then post the “new” Wiki quote to demonstrate that he was correct. I won’t mention any names, but a lot of us thought it was highly Implausible that anyone but him would have the need to stoop that low.

Spoiler: judgement call

SPOILER TWO

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Mr. Gray reminds Les of certain obligations…

I dunno….I’m not sure I like the little toad. And a leopard doesn’t change its spots.