Too bad she’s not getting it at Toby’s…

…but HOW?!??

When you can’t even snark at a comic strip (or at least, not much):

And just when you think things might be getting better…

You know it’s true…Toby is going to meet Madi! And how the Platitudes will flow, like tears in the rain…

On our way to see Toby and her cooking disaster…

Of course, Facebook’s Alan Fisher suddenly complicates the matter…
“That wasn’t the deal!”
“I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
And for those following along in their “Empire Strikes Out” coloring book:

…which is looking suspiciously like a number of previous ones.

As if we didn’t know…introducing Mary Worth, Crappy Guidance Counselor!

Mary continues her blathering, bu t even she realizes that sometimes a different tack ought to be tried…

Come ON! What we all need is a little recreation as we all lounge poolside! And Mary’s on board with it!

And if we’re NOT going to have an honest-to-God pool party, but just splash in the pool, then the heck with you, says I! You don’t even deserve a whole Sunday comic!

Someone over at Facebook’s Comics Readers of the Comics Curmudgeon (yes, it was Fritz Goebel) suggested that Madi needed a love interest to take her mind off her problems…he even suggested the perfect paramour!

I dunno…

This may not be as easy as Mary expects…but she’s always been up to challenge!

Mary 1 Madi 0…Mary’s got the little brat crying!

And we’re up to Mary 2 Madi 0…plus a trip to the Emergency Room!

And it’s a sweep….Mary takes the tourney!

Time to head back into the condo, so Madi can hurl on Mary’s priceless Oriental Rug…

Please be the end. Please.

…or something like that!

It’s always best to approach a problem slowly and diligently (and if you get side-tracked, so be it):

THANK YOU, MARY! Christmas is coming early in 2020!

“My Luncheon with Mary” has gone nearly a week without anyone being defenestrated. I am shocked. OTOH, Mary and Madi just might be hitting things off…

Actually, this get-together isn’t so bad, after all…

…unfortunately, this is nothing like it.

But wait…there’s more!

So now Saul has to rescue Greta…

But at least, the basic ground rules with their unwanted guest have been laid (yay!):

And the good ideas just keep on coming…

Fortunately, help is on the way…I think.

It could be any minute now….Madi, or Death, or Mary Worth jogging by, or Death, or Dawn and Jared strolling along, or Death Death Death!

TA-DAH!!!!!!!!!

Saul and Lyle say their goodbyes…

And now we get those little surprises…

Don’t worry, Saul. I think Greta will deal with the Madi dynamics…

Yep, I was right!

Saul wakes next morning to a terrible surprise…a messy apartment! Whoever could’ve caused it???

Make it up from whole cloth! (Really, it isn’t that difficult!)

Saul’s still on board (reluctantly) with teen-sitting Madi. Greta continues to thing otherwise.

Still, the current situation isn’t sitting well with some folks…

I find myself feeling bad for Saul. Getting stuck with a distant relative would be just as appealing to me (that is, not at all). I’m not as old as he is, but I am an old child, and that suited me just fine.

Les is back home and still worrying over his film-epic-to-be…what will happen if the guy who knocked up dead Lisa (still alive) shows up on the doorstep or railroad crossing of post office? And who cares?

Nevertheless Les is beginning to see enemies everywhere…and we are obligated to oblige the jerk. Starting with…

And then:

And THEN:

And even MORE THEN!:

This spreads more insidiously that ‘rona virus!

The driver is actually Mason Jarr, following Les so he can “become” Les, in the great tradition of hack D-list movie actors everywhere! and everyone who reads this tripe asks “Who cares?”

Saul Wynter and his dog reappear (not particularly difficult, since they both live at Charterstone), and it seems they’ll be fostering a difficult teenaged relative. I don’t know where I might be taking this, but does Moy have much of an idea, either (and she’s getting paid for it!)?

The plot thickens, and Lyle (if that is his real name) delights in taking advantage of an elderly relative…heck, he probably bumped off Madi’s grandmother).

Come on, Lyle! Less chit-chat, more running for that plane! You can discuss the Madi problem with Saul when you get home…