June Is Raining All Over

I cheered myself up on a dark, dreary first day of June with summer-related specials. Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over is a trio of Chuck Jones-directed shorts with mild late spring/early summer themes. Bugs recalls his childhood days being chased by a pop gun-wielding Elmer in the first short. In the second, Bugs has to escape Marvin the Martian and his new pet, Hugo the Abominable Snowman. Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner are spotlighted in the third, as they enjoy the first chase of June in the desert.

Garfield's having less luck in the wilderness in Garfield In the Rough. Jon is taking him and Odie camping, much to the pampered puss' annoyance. He's more of a hotel-and-room-service kind of cat. Things get really hairy in the woods when they hear that a black panther is loose in the area, and they could end up being its next victim!

Work was surprisingly quiet for the first day of the month. It was steady, but nowhere near as bad as it could have been. I think the weather scared a lot of people off. It was wet this morning, but by 11 AM, it was just cloudy and unusually chilly for early June. Certainly an improvement over hot and humid, but not very seasonal.

The clouds were starting to build as I rode home. Thankfully, they waited until I was long in the bathtub to burst. I needed a bath rather badly, especially after yesterday. It felt absolutely marvelous, listening to an Anne Murray standards CD while laughing over Calvin & Hobbes comic books as the rain pitter-pattered on the roof.

I was in the mood for something light and fun after my refreshing bath. I went with the Marx Brothers movie At the Circus as I made a spring vegetables omelet for dinner and a banana-chocolate chip cake for dessert. Harpo and Chico work for a small circus whose owner (Kenny Baker) loses the 10,000 dollars he needs to pay the bills. Chico hires lawyer Groucho to find the money. While Chico and Harpo chase the circus strongman, Groucho attempts to get the money from the bosom of the circus' acrobat (Eve Arden). Groucho finally tricks the owner's haughty aunt (Margaret Dumont) into having the circus at her big party for the cream of the Newport crop. But when the goons who stole the money let a gorilla loose on the show, they quickly learn that no one monkeys around with the Marx Brothers and gets away with it!

Not one of the better Marx Brothers efforts. Some nice routines (including Harpo and Chico destroying the strongman's room) and Groucho's classic "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" number makes up for the cardboard young lovers and their dull songs.

And I'm hoping to finish out my epic fanfiction either tonight or tomorrow night. The rest of the staff of the Monongahela Inn arrives in the nick of time to distract Pruitt into falling off the roof and into the arms of the military. Turns out he would have been out of office anyway. The Revolutionary War has begun. While most of the men are rejected for being too old or injured, Scott has refitted Pavla's ship as a battle cruiser and joined the war, with C.J and the rest of the Crimson Blade's men as his crew. Victor plans on turning the inn into a rest home for soldiers looking for a room and entertainment on their way to and from the front. Elizabeth watches as Scott and Victor ride off to Fort Pitt, wondering when she'll ever see them again...

And we fade into 1942. Hilary has joined Maple and Betty in telling this lengthy story. Betty wishes the story were true...and then we discover that Scott, Victor, and Jeff were listening in, too. Scott has been re-assigned to co-manage the stations with Victor. The story ends as each of the ladies walk off with their prospective partners.

I guess, like Linda Young said in her story Redemption, this is my way of giving a more positive ending to a story that deserved much, much better than it got. For one thing, I realized watching "And If I Die Before I Sleep" that I really wish Scott and Victor got to work together more often. No wonder the actors who played them are friends in real life - they're hilarious together. This is sort of my attempt to address some things I wish had happened....and just have a lot of fun with the characters.