The Vera Shield Saga, Part I

Welcome to the new plot of the quarter: Vera Shields! After the wonderful Ella Byrd went down to Florida, this unusually reserved and guarded young lady moved in. She works for a Donald Trump-type who used to live in Charterstone and knows Mary Worth quite well, and it's through these two that Vera got a new apartment. (Her other one, we were shown, was akin to a type of condemned motel that gets used in horror films.)

Vera is going through a very emotionally traumatic period in her life. (Transition periods suck, don't they?) She's also a introvert, because she spends half the comic thinking, rather than talking to people. And she only thinks the things that she really means and says something else. Aw! Whatever happened before caused her to lose great wealth and now she has to start from the bottom all over again. Only this time, she's in Charterstone Condominiums.

Which brings us to Ms. Worth herself... She just cannot possibly fathom why Vera won't open up to her. After all, they are new neighbors! Why wouldn't Vera just pour out her heart and soul? After a unsuccessful afternoon of emotional interrogation, Mary decides to invite the poor depressed person to the Charterstone Pool Party. Vera, having lived there for about a day, told Mary "no, thanks," saying that she has "other" things to do. Mary is confused. What could be more important than hanging out with her?

Much to the gossiper's surprise, Vera shows up. While this took about a week in comic-strip time, if it were a real conversation, Vera's appearance would probably be only about 2, 3 minutes tops. She said "hi," then said she had work to do. As you can see from the comic above, she probably left quickly because the Terrible Three are a bunch of self-absorbed gossip junkies that love nothing more than meddling in other people's business. Oh my word, Vera is a normal person! There's nothing wrong with her. They say we all suffer a depressive episode in our lives, right? So that's normal. We all have setbacks? Check. Vera Shields is a normal character! Oh, I'm going to love it when Mary comes to that revelation...