Son of Stuck Funky

The year’s most utterly predictable FW arc rolls into its fifth week. To recap:

1. Wally announces he’s heading into his final semester; Funky and Rachel remark on Wally’s progress vs. post-traumatic stress disorder.
2. We meet Adeela, Wally’s hijab-wearing classmate. Wally and Adeela are thrown together as study partners.
3. Without even really trying, the two decide they can’t get along, and agree to ask their professor to assign them different partners.
4. The sound of a loud siren sends the two into a panic; when they regain their senses they learn it was merely a test of the campus tornado warning siren.

Now, let the bonding commence. Before their scare, Adeela refused to sit at the same table as Wally. Now she sits thisclose, and shares a memory about her life back home. Is Batiuk channeling Yogi Berra here? “…when you went back to bed, you’d be up for the rest of the night” feels kind of like “It’s so crowded, nobody goes there anymore.” Except, you know, not funny, although Wally’s rejoinder does draw a wry smirk from Adeela.

Spring ahead, fall back, Sunday’s strip was not available for preview.

Link to today’s strip

Let’s try some haiku
Hat tip to billytheskink
(Mine won’t be as good):

They don’t test sirens
That warn about tornadoes
Back home in Westview?

“Tell me about it”
She knows “it’s an expression”
Don’t mansplain, Wally.

Adeela’s no dope;
Though she grew up overseas
Her English is fine

Buddy looks dismayed
Must know he’s failed his master
For the umpteenth time

Though she’s “exotic”
Adeela looks generic:
Very simply drawn

Her head looks like a
Potato wrapped in a scarf
But less int’resting

No punchline today
PTSD’s not a joke
Nor “an expression”

Now we all must wait
To find out if Sunday’s strip
Provides some respite

Still no big reveal as to the source of the scary orange capital R’s, but while these two were experiencing their respective flashbacks, something happened to put them both on the ground. I don’t suppose panicked Wally tackled Adeela, else she’d be running away shrieking. Having the other students walking by instead of stopping to offer assistance is probably the most realistic human behavior Batiuk’s depicted in months. Also, while we are all fond of Buddy, he’s pretty useless as a service animal.