Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 09, 2014

So, perhaps in this case, the “signs” pointing are clear. Either way, he’s gone. It’s just.. how… that is to be considered…..

I see we still have opposed endings to this mess… ;)

Oh, the different feelings of two friends on the same topic. Horrifying.

Yes, and so is Bright orange… ;)

“Can’t Get It Out Of My Head” (♫)“Untie The Knot” (♫)“Things Goin’ On” (♫)“Same Difference”“Money, That’s What I Want” (♫)“Mr. Blue Sky” (♫)“Illusions In G Major” (♫)or“Between A Rock Pile And A Barred Place”

“A Clockwork Orange?” ;)

But this will really turn out all about Brad and Toni…who gets that TJ is a trickster but not a criminal.

And if not, you will meet the most interesting people.

I love the classic imagery of today’s artwork in depicting the two paths he can take. It sort of reminds me of what I used to see in Sunday School books!

“♫…I’m learning to fly, but I ain’t got wingscoming down, is the hardest thing….♫”-Tom Petty/Heartbreakers= “♫… You’re lookin’ good just like a snake in the grassOne of these days you’re gonna break your glass Don’t bring me down, no no no no no no no no no no (ooh-ee-hoo)I’ll tell you once more before I get off the floorDon’t bring me down….♫”-Jeff Lynne/ELO= “♫… You’ve gtot to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ’emKnow when to walk away, know when to runYou never count your money, when you’re sittin’ at the table There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done …..♫”-Some gambler that Kenny Rogers met…..

Seeing as the votes are in, this is decidedly going to go TJ’s way, but what’ll happen to Brad if he accuses TJ, unjustly by the vote, of Fraud?

I am eagerly awaiting next week’s events— I’ve decided that I’d like to see some sort of ironic development. For example, TJ deliberately planned it, but no wrongdoing is found, and he gets a nice payoff. Alternately, there could be a scenario where the explosion was completely accidental, but somehow he gets accused of being guilty of arson & fraud. But I am still not sure what will happen…

To be fair, I remember a story about a Super Sentai Poll (Japanese Power Rangers) where kids voted on whether Burai (The Green Ranger) should live or die. Life won. But the network decided to ‘teach kids a life lesson’ and killed him anyway.

oh…. dear. Here we go.

I recently read where many correctional institutions are going back to the traditional black & white stripes, due to the fact that some people consider bright orange to be too “fashionable.”

Actually, TJ is acting just like any person who has accidently smashed his vehicle in a car wreck and hopes to get money enough from insurance to replace it with a better one.

He’s been bored for so long by the lack of business that he ’s anxious for a new start. He could actually be in a state of shock as the truck just blew up a very short while ago. He may yet go into a state of very deep shock and have to be hospitalized.

“I hear stripes are in this year…”@ORM “Yes, and so is Bright orange…”

Did you hear about that prison warden whose prisoners had orange jumpsuits, and then it became all the rage to wear orange jumpsuits because of the show Orange is the New Black, so he changed them over to black and white stripes.

Your improvements aren’t covered if you didn’t buy more insurance for the upgrade, TJ .I wonder what Blue Book would be on that ptomaine trolley? (That’s all I got in my auto insurance settlement.)

“Smooth Operator”, by Sade….

Writing of bed-time, sounds like a good idea! IS Katie is snoozing away by the patio door. She’d been outside in the warm evening enjoying the cooler air. Got too dark for her, so she came in. I have a new book to read: its about the story behind “Downton Abbey” (I think I got the name right). Soooo, ’nite all!-———————————————————————————-" This Submerged Tenth…is it, then, beyond the reach of the nine-tenths in the midst of whom they live."(General William Booth, 1829-1912)

Greasyspoonmobile.

Poor TJ. It hasn’t even occurred to him that it might look bad. I honestly think it was an accident. Granted, an accident he should have had more awareness about since burning down Brad’s kitchen.

If you go back to the strip when he was cleaning up and then actually dumping waste when the truck blew there was no indication by his eye movements, facial expression, body movements like he was up to a deviouse doing..In fact his face showed shock and surprise when the truck exploaded…I remember there was a pot on the stove that showed the burner was on and something was boiling away in it..thats all. That he isn’t unhappy the place blew is understandable since it wasn’t a business he was happy with , in fact had looked into seeing if he could sell it and move on…

I thought TJ was independently wealthy (trust fund or whatever), so why is he so anxious for a piddling little insurance settlement?

When I magnified the panel, I noticed TJ’s nametag— TJ000!

When TJ gets the money, he’ll be able to move on from smarm to super-duper smarm with a side of smarm.

TJ is ever frustratingly optimistic. Brad sees the potential downside, without necessarily wishing it for his long-time bad boy roommate…. Bring on Insurance Investigator Eiffel!

I recognize that this is a comic strip, and the story can go any way that Greg Evans wants it to go. However, TJ WAS taking out the trash when the explosion occurred, and he DID have a facial expression of surprise when the boom hit. Furthermore, TJ is crafty enough that if he did want to blow up his business for the insurance money, he wouldn’t do it right after he made obvious complaints about the business (to a fireman, of all people). I suspect this story isn’t going to be about TJ committing insurance fraud (TJ has a talent for pushing the envelope, but he’s not a criminal) as much as it’s going to be about Brad’s doubts about him and what that will do to their friendship. I will be interested to see where Evans goes with this.

I bet that somehow both their imaginations are wrong.

TJ did look surprised when the “ka-blooie” went off (Aug 1 strip).

Where’s TJ going to move on to?

Uhhhhhh, You’ve NEVER Really DEALT with Insurance Companies Before, Have You, Smiley?

LOL! That’s one of the better Tom and Jerry shorts. – It was hilarious. In fact, it was a zoot and a half….

I have seen Kenny’s GEICO commercial… but the point is in bold, in Kenny’s song. I was attempting to point out that there is an element of truth in Kenny’s song, as the gambler he met in the song was teaching life lessons, before he died there on the train. – In this case, TJ is "counting his money before the “dealin’s done”…..

Here’s what I’d like to see.The adjuster never shows up, and when TJ calls the insurance company to ask about it, he gets a recording, saying the number’s been disconnected.

Smooth operator:

Dang, wish that was video…^Well, here ya go! I “present”: Tom and Jerry, “Zoot Cat”!

BTW, that commercial was funny!

Shouldn’t the fire department be investigating the cause of the fire/explosion?

And don’t forget that Frank and Nancy have warned Brad before, in regards to TJ, and has since shown they have misgivings about him, even though there have been times when they’ve given him the chance to prove himself. It’s the main reason that they urged Brad to have him sign a contract before moving in (more than just a regular type). Though they’ve given him some slack, TJ has still “hung himself” in his subsequent actions…

Same thing I said….

I was positive that as soon as TJ first got the truck, that he would be successful and move on, even then. So that Toni and Brad could marry and then have their place free of TJ, as he “didn’t get the picture” when Brad tried to tell him that there’d only be 2 living there, once they got married. A year later, and TJ’s business with hot and cold health dishes has been more cold, then hot. Yeah, I really thought TJ was moving on, even then, and the “story” would progress that way.– But even a well preserved book still manages to get a few wrinkles along the way, somehow ….

TJ has been a lot of things, but I don’t think he has ever been a criminal. And his schemes have tended to turn out okay. But we are seeing Brad’s experience leading him to one possible conclusion, and TJ naiveté leading him to a different possible conclusion. My prediction is, the outcome will fall in the middle ground, with Brad hugely relieved, and TJ hugely chastened— and maybe back with Ann Eiffel.

The heavy handed will/he-won’t-he in the last few strips makes me think they’ll split the difference. TJ maintains his innocence, Brad has his doubts, but it all becomes a moot point because TJ never sent in the insurance payment. I can see some firefighter coming up to TJ with a soggy envelope telling him it was found in what was left of the truck.

Or…. the company says he is not covered for this type of loss or he is but only for a dollar or two instead of replacement value…

Nice to see how supportive and trusting Brad is of his best friend. He’s already got TJ in jail with no real cause except a casual conversation.

Fire Chief:“Brad, if you’re through standing around here, we’ve packed up the truck and are going to head over to Weenie World for our usual $6 Weenie Meal (ever since you queered the deal for the home-cooked, gourmet ones.), wanna join us?”

None of us know what will happen in comic strip life, or in real life, from one minute to the next. We’ve all gotten that 3 am phone call. What we do know is that TJ is rather an enigma, but one of the good guys, who seems to lead a charmed life. We all know he didn’t torch his truck. His friends have doubted him before, and always been proven wrong.

I think Brad is a pretty crappy friend, with an immediate suspicion of arson from a long-time friend, even given TJ’s past hare-brained schemes. Shame on Brad for that being his first thought.

If Greg is showing us these two outcomes you can bet the final outcome will be a third we didn’t see coming.

Actually, the most sensible thing to do is this.

Brad:Fire chief, considering comments made by TJ earlier today, I have reason to believe he may have blown up his truck on purpose to collect the insurance money. As this is both an arson and an insurance fraud cause, it should be investigated extremely carefully. I should not this myself, howeer…he’s been my roommate for years, so I’ll recuse myself due to potential conflicts of interest.

Fire Chief: …Fair enough. We’ll get our arson guys over there immediately.

Didn’t TJ give Brad some equity in the business or at least a share of profits for fixing up the truck for him? Doesn’t that make Brad a potential earner if TJ collects for the business and a potential cellmate?

I think the fact that it doesn’t even occur to TJ that he should act something other than happy about a possible insurance payout speaks to his innocence. If he had torched the truck, he’d be acting as if he was concerned about the loss of his truck, possible loss of life, etc… and as if collecting a ton of money was the last thing on his mind.

I think it will be somewhere in between. It won’t be fraud but there will be some reason the insurance doesn’t pay. Maybe he forgot to make the latest payment.

Just to play it safe, T.J., maybe Gunther and Rosa would like some company in Peru.

you may have something there dougsathome

Change the prison wear to bunnies and butterflies. See if it affects anything other than what little girls are willing to wear.

Did you know that playing cards with Kenny Rogers gets OLD In a hurry.“You got to know when … What?”GEICO is very entertaining sometimes.

Nor does it constitute a confession if TJ is simply looking on the sunny side.“Terrible thing it happened, but at least it opens new opportunities for me. "

Let’s hope for the best for TJ. His heart is always in the right place, just not sure if his mind is with it.

Unless someone was trying to kill TJ, TJ is most likely the cause of the event. Either he did something which caused it or he didn’t do something which would have prevented it. .The main question is whether or not he did so knowingly.

Also nationwide commercial were also funny sometime back

Innocent until proven guilty, Brad.

Every gambler knows that the secret to survivin’Is knowin’ what to throw away and knowing what to keep‘Cause every hand’s a winner and every hand’s a loserAnd the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep

And when he finished speakin’, he turned back towards the windowCrushed out his cigarette and faded off to sleepAnd somewhere in the darkness the gambler, he broke evenBut in his final words I found an ace that I could keep".You mean FINAL final???NOOOOOOSurely the whiskey wasn’t THAT badI thought … I thought .. I thought he just went to sleep. Then how’d he make all those movies with Bruce Boxleitner after Bruce left Mrs King but before he moved to Cedar Cove?

Maybe he’ll meet some of Dirk’s friends. They’ll like him.

also, it’s only been minutes since the explosion, maybe an hour or so. Give the strip time to develop what will happen!

Precisely. I think the “official investigation” part could last another week. But the outcome on Brad & TJ’s relationship might be even another week, especially if they have a “falling out” over the incident.

Red: “I wish I could tell you that TJ fought the good fight, and the Sisters let him be. I wish I could tell you that –

Somehow, I don’t think ol’ TJ will be playing “Marriage of Figaro” from the Warden’s office…. :)

TJ would be Red from Shawshank: the guy who can arrange to get anything smuggled in, for a price.

One could say, TJ is already “institutionalized…” :)

I bet the insurance agent is Ann Eiffel, I’d love to see the look on TJ’s face!

He may not be as guilty as we think. The very first panel showing the explosion, it sure looked like TJ wasn’t expecting it.

One word…ACTING!

As has been stated many, many times here, Con people tend to be very good actors. I would not put something like this above TJ’s capabilities as an actor/con man.

This, and his “surprise” could very well be his reaction to the over-explosion. It could have blown much bigger than even he anticipated.

I’m not saying this is what happened. I’m just saying it’s how it could happen, if he were faking the claim.

Hey, the kids around here are starting to get ready for college, already. I’m anxious to see what Bernice, Delta, Crystal, Knute, and Tiffany are going to be doing. And Gunther and Rosa’s cliffhanger really has me curious.

Ann Eiffle will be the claims adjustor

Sheriff Joe in AZ makes them wear pink, with black & white stripes.

Nothing like a good friend to think the worst of you.

Ann Eiffel.

Plus, he knows about TJ’s past behavior and sneakiness. If he didn’t know about that, he wouldn’t suspect TJ of an ulterior motive at all.

Gotta love those Electric Pink jumpsuits! ;)

Had a big LOL about “‘French Fraud Potatoes’”… ;)

Short Night! See y’all sometime Sunday… ;)-——————————————————————————-“Man is but earth; ’Tis true; but earth is the centre. That man who dwells upon himself, who is always conversant in himself, rests in his true centre.”(John Donne, 1571?-1631)

this is trash