(Strip Number 4081, Original Publication Date, 16 October 1981)
Panel 1: We find ourselves watching Tentacle-fingered Connie and Elly drinking coffee; Connie says that the way she sees it, Michael has a new friend and Lawrence feels lost and left out.
Panel 2: She goes on to say that Ted, who's a doctor, can't figure out why he's taking it so hard; that's because he's a bit of a thickie who can't step inside Lawrence's head and realize that, as a child, he sees life as a zero-sum game.
Panel 3: Since Elly is also a dumbass who doesn't see that Lawrence thinks that Gordon's rise MUST mean his fall, she says that Connie's being Ted every day for weeks....
Panel 4: ...so maybe it's not a friend he's felt he's lost, it's her.
Summary: Wow! What a ringing endorsement for befriending the Pattersons! Not only does she take the heat off of Mike for being a selfish, greedy, heartless idiot, she also dismisses Connie's need to have a love life with someone who she dislikes; she wants to have Phil be Lawrence's step-dad so he can be punished for not deferring to her worthless advice. She might as well have asked Connie where Ted was when she needed him.