(Strip Number 317, Original Publication Date, 9 October 1982)
Panel 1: We find ourselves at the dinner table watching the Pattersons eat in a revolting manner; as they CHOMP-CHEW-GLUT-SHHHLLLUUP-SSHHHLLLLOOOO
Panel 2: This caused Phil to call an'tell her that she was dumb to go back to him in the first place.
Panel 3: Lawrence next relates that Connie told Phil that it was none of his business and that he said that yes, it was.
Panel 4: John's reaction to Lawrence's airing of his mother's dirty laundry is to ask Elly to remind him to never talk in front of the children.
Summary: Given that he talks in front of the patients as if they're department store mannequins, he's too late to worry about that. Also, Phil is acting like a Richards; that's because he seems to want to not only see Connie and Ted's thing crash and burn, he also yearns to cruelly refuse her when she grovels pathetically to be taken back. After all, Mike's ass-clownish behavior towards Martha and Rhetta comes from the same part of his genetic make-up as his dark hair.