791: Leaving

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Leaving

Title text: What'll I say -- "I was staring at some cat vomit when I got the news?"

Explanation

The caption below the frame tells us that Cueball is afraid that if someone were to die unexpectedly, then he is afraid that he will not be able to forget the last thing he said to that person. In the comic panel, Cueball has observed a mess on the floor, presumably cat vomit. He asks the second, off panel, character who is leaving to "pick up some spray cleaner that works on cat vomit." Cueball suddenly realizes that should the off-panel character die on that errand that this would be the last thing he said to them. Panicking slightly, Cueball interrupts their departure and says something more appropriate as last words - "You are in my heart always." The off-panel character is confused by this statement, not being aware of Cueball's fear.

In the title text, Cueball is realizing that if he hadn't have made this last-minute addition, and this person dies, his last memory of them might instead be that he was staring at cat vomit when he heard. This thought might in fact be the thought that prompted him to make his parting comment.

Transcript

[Cueball looks down at a puddle on the floor and speaks to someone out-of-panel.]

Cueball: Hey, while you're out, can you pick up some spray cleaner that works on cat vomit?

Voice: Can do!

Voice: Bye!

[Cueball extends his arm and faces the leaving person.]

Cueball: ...Wait!

Voice: Yes?

Cueball: Uh. ...You are in my heart always.

Voice: ...?

Sometimes, when people leave, I'm seized by a sudden fear that they'll die while they're out, and I'll never forget the last thing I said to them.

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Discussion

RIP, dearly beloved wife who died in a freak accident with a supermarket shelf while trying to buy spray cleaner. Davidy²²[talk] 02:18, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

She is survived by lonely dude staring at cat vomit. Cflare (talk) 20:58, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

While - after getting the bad news - he raced down the flight of stairs, tripping, falling, rolling, and breaking his neck against the wall at the end of the stairs, the cat was cleaning itself. When it heard the impact downstairs it jumped startled, went over into the patch of sun, laid down, and said, "Meow!" It survived them both... 162.158.90.192 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Just added a description of the title text, but wanteed to make sure that it was satisfactory before removing the incomplete tag. 108.162.216.232 21:47, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

... Does the blob of vomit have a catface? 162.158.111.235 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Conversely, this makes me want to start saying really weird things to people before they leave. —Kazvorpal (talk) 21:38, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

"I will never forget the last thing I said to her. Maybe if I hadn't asked for that, she wouldn't have gotten into a fight with a murderer over the last bottle of spray cleaner."