Ricco awoke again, this time slumped over at the kitchen booth.

"Damn decaf."

Ed was nearby, attempting to cook himself an omelet. He also appeared to be in his own little world.

"Ed, careful with the stove."

A 'thumbs up' was Ed's response before the stove burst into flames, immediately causing him to burst into panic.

Calmly, Ricco grabbed one of several fire extinguishers that were kept for just such an occasion, and put the stove out.

"...Nice try, as usual, Ed, but I'm sticking with cereal."

----

An hour later, Constance had finally awoken from her slumber and stumbled into the kitchen where Ed still stood in shock near the stove and Ricco calmly read the paper.

She took a look at Ed for a moment, attempting to process his odd, statue-like behavior, then realized it was his 9001st kitchen fire. After making a mental note to congratulate him later, she sat down across from her brother-in-law, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"So, how are you?"

"Mornin', Sunshine," Ricco began, completely ignoring the question. "Before you begin your typical day of slothful pleasures, I have a proposal."

From that, Constance could gather she was about to get a lecture.

"While you are my wife's sister and I would do anything for you...blah blah blah..." minutes later, one phrase stood out, "'you need to get a job.'"

"A 'what'?"

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Author guidance for This exercise

"Since a recent Web Publishing project has gotten me off my lazy rear and finally forced me into doing my comic (we'll see where it goes), I thought I'd do some brainstorming so any of my ideas stay recorded somewhere (plus, I'm running out of hard drive space--20GB, ftl)...."

Comic is hosted here: http://simaginary.darkbb.com/

updated May 24 '10 by Sagehill