Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for June 29, 2017

the good ol’ sofa

This is not how he envisioned their time off.

Toni’s first thought it is “With TJ?” instead of “on the couch”. What kind of relationship does she think TJ and Brad have?

Boy, poor Brad is on the couch already, and he has done nothing to warrant that mad spouse remedy. That as opposed to a ready, and willing Toni, very much in love, for 4 delirious days. Need I say more? They need to do something bad, because the brother is now affecting three adult lives, and one child, and one marriage.

Brad is a sweety.

If Shannon had her own room at Jonah’s, Isn’t Shannon old enough to have the couch for four days?

They should have put Shannon on the couch. She’s be fine there and is the right size for it. Just tuck in her stuffed toys with her and her own blanket, and she will wake up just fine. She is 6 years old, not 6 months old.

1. Tell Jonah he should just let Toni and Brad adopt Shannon.2. Tell TJ to go find his own place; it’s weird having him live with newlyweds anyway.3. Remodel TJ’s room for Shannon.4. No, I am not back on a regular basis.

Brad took the better choice.

Jonah is gone for the time being. His place could be used instead. But then they wouldn’t be near TJ, so that’s a no-go.

They certainly should have put Shannon on the couch. She’s used to sleeping by herself at Jonah’s. But maybe they’ll do this after the first night, once Toni has a chance to talk with her.

They’ll make good parents, methinks.

One of these days, they will both grow a pair, and tell him NO! Then he’ll have to man up and realize he has a very impressionable young child HE engendered that he needs to be responsible for. And he’ll just have to learn to deal, instead of foisting his responsibilities off on a newly married couple.

Ha Ha! More and More folks are saying “TJ must Go!” GLORIOUS!

I am now FULLY onboard with the “Adopt Shannon” thing if it gets RID of Old Smiley.

And not to Worry. There’s STILL a spare bed for Him at the Berger House…,

I have been thinking “adopt Shannon” for a long time. Also, last week’s events already showed that sharing the house with TJ must come to an end, so I guess that is what we’ll be seeing soon.

Luann could watch Shannon for a couple of those nights – but Luann should be paid. Otherwise Jonah is pushing Shannon off on Brad & Toni – and they would be pushing Shannon off on Luann. I don’t recall anybody ever asking Jonah to pay for babysitting. Jonah would probably have no shame trying to make everybody else feel guilty for asking. If Jonah says he simply doesn’t have the money – Bingo! It’s time to say that he can’t take another acting gig until he earns enough money to pay for babysitting.

Since Shannon’s going to wake up not knowing where she is, it would be better for her to wake up next to her Aunt Toni than on the couch… tonight. Tomorrow night is another story. Tomorrow it would be appropriate to have her sleep on the couch. In fact, they could make a little deal out of turning the Living room into Shannon’s living room for the next few days. That assumes of course that she is staying for only a few days.

Bet Brad never envisioned these sleeping arrangements so early in his marriage.

It appears Brad did not want to take his chances and sleep with TJ. I mean, what would happen if during the middle of the night Brad were to forget that it was not Toni who he was next to as he was half asleep and ended up “spooning” TJ.

.

Then, all of a sudden, TJ’s rumbling and gurgling starts up in his lower intestine again which wakes him up and he cannot get out of Brad’s clutches in time…

Now that I’ve thought a bit more about why Brad is on the couch and not Shannon…Brad and Toni were getting into lovemaking when Jonah showed up so I think Toni and Brad figured it’d be best for them to sleep apart for the night considering Shannon’s new presence. Although she is fast asleep and they certainly could resume their activity in their bedroom without waking her on the couch,but as a woman, I’d not feel right about it, though, which I think is why Brad is on the couch…Shannon is Toni’s bodyguard.

Hate to see Brad’s parents paying a visit and seeing him on the couch. They’ll think he and Toni had a fight.

The time to get rid of TJ is approaching.

So sad that Jonah put Toni’s fire out. Who knows when she will ever want to celebrate again?

At this rate, Shannon is the only child Toni and Brad will ever have.

Sure, Shannon is six, and does have her own room, and could sleep alone! But…. does she even know if Jonah is leaving out, tonight? If he was abrupt and imposing upon Brad and Toni, surely his own daughter would also be experiencing the shortfalls of his decision!

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And, too, with the active imagination that Shannon has, surely, she’d wake up scared at times (even in her own room), and is also a girl who needs/likes close, loving attention. Toni’s proximity is probably going to help this abrupt transition, at least during this initial phase.

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Remember, too, she stayed with Toni in her old apartment. Now, she’s overnight in a possible two floor dwelling. A bit different ftom a one floor apartment.

Plus, Brad has first dibs on the couch money, now!

So they have a leach, an unplanned young child, and different work schedules to start off their lives together. This doesn’t bode well.

Perhaps TJ and Piro can get a place

Time for TJ to move out

TJ’s not long for the house, and Jonah’s not long for the strip.

if that’s Brad’s pillow from the bed, shouldn’t it have a mauve case?

“A Couched Response”

“Brad’s Lounge Act”

“The Ottoman Umpire”

“The Lone Rearranger”

“The ‘Ack!’ In Acquiese”

“Terms Of Endurement”

“The Fast Asleep And The Furrirst Slippers”

“Upstairs, Downstairs”

“Spring-Time, In The Living Room”

“Unkie See, Unkie Do”

“Behest Side Upholstery”

“All’s Fair In Love And Snore”

or

“Few, And Sofa In Between”

time to get your own place.

This kid can’t sleep on the sofa? Get real.

They need a small blow-up bed, also known as an air mattress. Put it in their room if they have to. If Shannon is indeed around 6, she is old enough to sleep by herself obviously and they could even put it in the living room. The couch should just be a one-night emergency.

Dear wife. Tomorrow morning, “We need to talk!”

“Resistance if futile.” Get a bigger couch.

NO. NOT AT. ALL. If must be, ONE NIGHT after which the child can sleep on the couch, not the newlywed husband. ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Brad looks like he is 6’3" or is that a small couch?

But We’re supposed to “laugh” at Brad Suffering, TRILOGY.

You know, like when We’re supposed to laugh whenever Lucy Suckers Charlie Brown to trying to kick that football?

Shannon for the couch. She’s old enough.

This is how divorces happen. The kids never sleep with the parents or adults. Shannon needs to get her priorities straight. She should have told her brother NO!

Hang in there, Bwad. You’re earning BIG chips here.

Have a feeling Jonah will disappear for a long time. Time for TJ to move out, and give Shannon that room. It’s only a two-bedroom, 1-bathroom house???

You are all missing an important point about adopting Shannon. Don’t let Jonah’s actions fool you; He will not support losing his child and the “state” will agree with him unless there has been abuse.

Awww. Shannon looks so cute sleeping on Brad’s shoulder! <3 That poor girl gets shuffled around a lot. :(

4

Well, PERHAPS on this first evening, it is “ok” for Shannon to sleep with Toni. Shannon could potentially wake up scared and frightened about finding herself in a new place (if Jonah had not told her, and she was asleep the whole time). But, after this evening, I believe that Shannon should obviously sleep on the couch. Being six, she is old enough for that.

Perhaps Toni & Brad should get a monitor so they can keep a bit of an “ear” on her if she ends up on the couch, however.

I am both happy and sad for Brad at the moment. First, I am happy about Brad displaying such kindness and willingness to sleep on the couch this evening. It really shows a true level of maturity that he is putting Shannon’s feelings ahead of his own at the moment. But, I also am of course, sad, that Brad has to sleep on the tiny couch. That is not very comfortable or fun. But, I hope tomorrow and/or Saturday show Brad and Toni figuring out how to better handle the next several days.

What exactly is the HARM if Toni and Shannon sleep together? I suspect some of the readers are frustrated by the interrupted love-making, which would be very subtly suggested in any case. Certainly the mood is broken now. Toni and Brad are mature enough to know that other intimate moments will come along.

This confirms what I suspected, Jonah picked up his child in the middle of the night and hauled her to Toni and Brad’s place, probably without telling Shannon. A crack in Shannon’s trust of her dad. Sad situation.

So, what’s the betting that this subplot will eventually lead towards a decision about either: 1) TJ leaving the house; or 2) Brad/Toni leaving for a bigger place. And what drama between Brad & TJ will ensue as a result… With only one bathroom and with TJ’s “G.I. issues…” :) having to share that space with a 6yo can get rather awkward.

And forget about “private time…” Even if TJ isn’t in the house, with Shannon there, it’s gonna be a lot more difficult for Brad/Toni to find that “private time.”

I sincerely doubt that Toni would ever fight Jonah for custody of Shannon. I think we will just continue to see this situation over time, with Shannon (as she gets older) beginning to recognize that she can’t count on her father to always be there, and either becoming more independent or even becoming estranged from him.

I am thinking this is the ‘kindly version’ of the age old husband-on-the-couch gag that plagued comics in the days of yore.

For all those interested, there’s some recent photos of a LOT of cartoonists at the 2017 Reuben Awards weekend, including Greg and Karen Evans. I subscribe to Hogan’s Alley, a comics trade magazine, which has a bunch of interesting comic info, BTW. You can Google it at www.cartoonician.com . -CtE

Obviously time to show TJ the door.

About the issue of adoption: our family adopted our youngest sister through a private adoption, which a lot of states don’t even allow. Some states have ‘closed’ records, forbidding an adoptee from ever finding or even contacting birth family; others allow more contact. But it seems that the laws that allow a state to take a child from a birth parent or family and let someone else (even a relative) adopt vary widely. In general, the emphasis right now seems to be on keeping a child with birth parents unless real danger is demonstrated, although interpretations of this seem to vary, too. Cases of birth mothers who lost custody immediately because of faulty drug tests that mistakenly showed them to be under the influence occur, but so do cases of children taken back from foster families trying to adopt and returned to homes where they subsequently died due to actual abuse. In short, I think removal of Shannon from Jonah’s custody and adoption by Toni and Brad is a very long shot…

TJ and Jonah should go together! They deserve each other. But the key point is, they must GO!

Only then can the Brad & Toni & Shannon family begin to live a real life!

Wonder if Brad will wake up with Shannon sleeping with him on the couch?