The Whole Shebang

Dramatis Personae (some of this would be more obvious if I could work with colour, as some skin tones would indicate Ojibwe heritage, and Dawn's would have a golden hint):

Line 1: Dawn and Liz
Line 2: John (in canoe) with Paul's parents (later seen boogieing on the middle ground of L3P2), Mike (later seen dancing with Dee) with Meredith and Robin (later eating cake), Paul's brother on the shore (later as Paul's best man)
Line 3: add Elly, Melanie, and David (Dawn's never-seen husband, getting marshmallows with her) near April and Jesse playing music
Line 4: add Candace and Rudy, talking to the Cranes as Sophia toddles by. Andrew is in the background near Mel, and Phil and Georgia are talking to someone based off of a background character in a Hawk Creek strip.

There are a few other background forms for other unknown friends / family of Liz and Paul (presumably one is Kyle, Mel's husband).

A few end notes to Foob's Paradise:

• It's no accident that Mel is attending to a young child. Sometimes your family doesn't come together through biology.

• I don't intend to say canonically "what happens" in a Strip of Destiny, but what follows is what I think is likely:

Elly remains mostly "better". I don't know how likely it is that she'd be able to leave off meds, and I'm sure she continues to need therapy (perhaps a few extra sessions after April brings Ryan home :)

She does manage to learn not to say things as if she knows the only right way to do everything - regardless of what she thinks.

John can't imagine life without her, although he does like to spend a lot of time with his trains, especially once Robin gets old enough to play with them.

Elly occasionally mixes up things when dreaming about her past, but quickly realizes this when she wakes up. That explains any more continuity bloopers in the new-ruins. Yup. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.



Liz and Paul have a few kids. Sean is the cutest blond grass-dancer at the yearly pow-wow. (He's also the only blond grass-dancer at the pow-wow, but still.)








Candace and Rudy decide that Sophia completes their family. Liz and Paul's children are like out-of-town cousins to her as she grows up.









And speaking of minor characters, Francoise grows up knowing that both her parents love her. Her dad goes to great effort to try to make himself marketable to move and live near her. By the middle of elementary school, they all live in the same city, making her friend / school life much less complicated.

I expect Therese finds someone to share her life (and Francoise!) with, but she never has any more kids. And that works out just fine.

Anthony is very focused on his daughter and doesn't manage to have any romantic relationships until Francoise is at least off to university. I'm not sure he ever does.



Mike and Dee are OK. With Mike more helpful at home, Dee can relax and appreciate the good she does at her job more. It's still a slog some days (with certain customers), but she's no longer at wit's end.

Some years, Mike's writing jobs are pretty scarce, Dee's job is what keeps the family going, and he jokes that he's becoming a househusband. He writes some of this up as short articles and stories and sells it, though.

Mike never sells another novel.

Stone Season is made into a Lifetime TV movie. However, they change the setting to post-WWI instead of post-WWII to make the soddy house and lack of child welfare authorities more believable.


Michelle does become a vet. Valerie does go into medical research.










April struggles to get solid work, taking special courses in how to handle baby wildlife and such - she could tell you the "kind of cat food + stuff" recipe to make into a paste for songbird babies, for instance. But she wouldn't because she knows it would bore you. Eventually, she works permanently for the local wildlife rescue center. It is only part-time in the winter, so she gets other jobs, too.

She does eventually marry Ryan, in the revamped torn-up dress Dawn promised.

Nobody has their life all tied up in a pretty bow for them :-)