“Wally says he loves you too…What’s that, Mom? Oh. Well, it’s…it’s an I.O.U., actually. But I folded it up and put it on my finger just like a ring! …Hmm? No, silly, we wouldn’t dream of having our wedding in a pizza parlor! We’re getting married in the gazebo!…No, that big white pavilion…in the park!…What? You’re breaking up…oh…Buddy. Buddy. His service dog, Buddy! Mom? What’s wrong? Mom, stop crying. Mom?”
Tag: Buddy
Man’s Best Man
The best man is the chief assistant to the groom at a wedding and (along with Maid of Honor) is the third most important in attendance after the Bride and Groom. In most modern, English-speaking countries, the groom extends this honor to someone who is close to him, generally his oldest and closest male friend, or a sibling.
At first, Wally’s selection of Buddy as best “man” seems like another one of Batiuk’s goofy, contrived plot flourishes. But actually, sadly, it makes sense. Since he appeared on his “widow” Becky’s doorstep four years ago, Wally’s been shunned by everyone he left behind when he went off to serve his country. Even his country didn’t bother to verify that the human remains they shipped home for burial were his. He was made to endure the most awkward homecoming ever before Becky handed him his trombone and showed him the door. His only known relative, uncle cousin Funky, has had little to do with him since giving him a job and surreptitiously swiping his sidearm.
Calling all guest authors! Putting out the call to see if any of y’all feel like filling in for a week, maybe 2, starting Monday. Drop me a line thru the usual channels. Prospective guest authors (who haven’t “guested” yet) are welcome to apply too…WordPress or blogging experience a plus. Use the Contact SoSF form in the right sidebar! Thanks. –TFH
The Be-tr-owe-thal
“It’s an I.O.U. for an engagement ring.” Y’know, Wally, lots of guys decide to pop the question even if they don’t have the scratch for a diamond ring. But a written I.O.U.? Weak, dude. A two bit ring from a Crackerback jox would’ve been preferable to that. No doubt a Niagara Falls honeymoon is in store…fifty years from now.
Spit Tune
Having Wally as a member of the Westview Submarine Band gives Batiuk license to recycle all those band jokes from Acts I and II. While I enjoy a good band joke as much as the next euphonium player, the gag’s gotta make sense, and this one really doesn’t. The “spit valve” (properly called the “water key”–a trombone has no “valves” of any kind) is at the very end of the outer slide, and at no point in today’s strip do we see it anywhere in the vicinity of Buddy’s paw.
Home Sweet Trombone
Even though Wally’s PTSD is kept in check thanks to Buddy, he’s still not immune to midlife doubt and regret. Today he muses about how life “should be” for him and Rachel (and presumably her little boy Robbie, wherever the hell he’s been since January 2011). Or given his absent-mindedness around Rachel (see Wednesday’s “chick magnet” strip), perhaps the “we” Wally’s speaking of is him, Becky, and their two children, stolen away from him by Dead Skunk Head John during his captivity in Iraquistan.
Son of Stuck Funky 
