#174: Batchula

Arthur Trope Presents: The Inscrutables
No. 174
“Batchula”

If you’re friends w Syd on FB, you’ve seen her pics of Zihuatanejo, the Firefly Sanctuary, every meal they ate, etc. The running joke in her comments is the lack of Artie among all the selfies. The kids these days are calling selfies with no one in them ‘vampire selfies’. So that’s a real meme, vampire selfies. Artie’s not in any of the pics bc his upper lip’s still swollen like a pufferfish from the gum graft surgery. Artie thought the comments on Syd’s FB page were pretty funny though, which is where #174 comes from. No real drama to report with this one. Except Inky’s back & his polished versions have been winning decisively in the focus groups over the straight pencil sketches. Artie’s just been taking pictures of his notebook pages with his phone in Mexico & sending them in so you can imagine how much work it is for Inky to clean them up. So there’s that + the rest of Slothrop’s three-pronged strategy are starting to fall apart. He’s still consoling himself in his office with the door closed and the CalfKing2 cranked up to 10. He got one of the Deluxe units with the heaters & the higher settings. Artie & Syd are on their way back to Seattle now via Scottsdale, AZ where they’re catching the last Mariners game of the Cactus League season vs the Angels. Artie says he just splurged on season tickets for the M’s & invited me to the opening day game against the Red Sox. I swear, they must’ve won the lottery and not told me, but I’m in. -Ed.