Luv Luv and Brownie

Episode 100

Around the Bend

6 pages

Page 1. Panel 1: Luv Luv, holding a water bottle, smiles at Brownie as he loads their SUV with gear. Captions: "August 3. One year together." "They had planned this day for a long time. Horseshoe Reservoir. Their place." "Luv Luv hadn't checked his bag. She trusted him." Panel 2: Caption: "Forty minutes into the drive." Luv Luv asks, "You brought the pump, right?" Brownie glances over, startled. Panel 3: Brownie says, "I forgot the bag." She asks, "The pump?" He answers, "The whole bag. The pump, the fins. Everything." Caption: "For a moment, she said nothing." Panel 4: Caption: "They were still trying to save the day together." Brownie says, "We can find one." Both search their phones for a paddle board pump; every result says delivery only or no pickup.
Page 2. Panel 5: Luv Luv, on the phone in the car, asks, "A pump for an inflatable paddleboard. You have one there?" A voice on the phone answers, "Yes, we do." Panel 6: In a paddleboard shop, a clerk holding a hand pump says, "Oh. I misunderstood." Luv Luv closes her eyes, resigned. Panel 7: A phone shows a text message, "Yes, I'm home. You can come now," above a map with a route to a house. Caption: "Another twenty minutes. In another direction." Panel 8: At a house, a smiling woman sells them an electric pump on a table. Someone asks, "Is there anything wrong with it?" The woman says, "No." Luv Luv holds out cash, smiling. Caption: "It felt like a godsend."
Page 3. Panel 9: Their SUV kicks up dust on a road beside the lake. Caption: "About fifty minutes lost." An inset shows the new pump beside rolled boards, and the two of them in the car with small smiles. Caption: "The rest of the drive passed mostly in silence." Panel 10: At the shore, they unroll their boards. Luv Luv, in a sun hat, says, "We made it." Panel 11: Brownie struggles to fit the pump to a board's valve, saying, "There has to be—" while she watches, chin in hand. Panel 12: Caption: "They had to drive to find people." They ask an older couple in camp chairs. The man says, "Sorry. Nothing that fits that." Luv Luv, deflated, says, "No pump."
Page 4. Panel 13: Crackling red energy surrounds Luv Luv as she confronts Brownie: "Why didn't you check? We planned this. Today mattered. Do I have to think for both of us?" He raises his hands: "I forgot. I'm sorry." Panel 14: Captions: "For the first time, the turmoil inside her was out where he could see it." "The force of it frightened them both." She stares at her trembling hands, thinking, "What is happening to me?" He sits on the bumper, head down. Panel 15: Kneeling by the white and teal paddleboard with the pump attached, he says, "Wait. This one works." Panel 16: In the water, Luv Luv offers him the inflated board: "Take mine. It'll hold you better." Holding a smaller blue inflatable, he asks, "What about you?"
Page 5. Panel 17: Brownie stands paddling the white board while Luv Luv sits on the blue inflatable, faint red energy still around her. Caption: "Even with all that anger still moving through her, she wanted him beside her." Panel 18: Close on Luv Luv paddling. Captions: "Her body was still braced for something." "The lake moved gently around her." Panel 19: They drift side by side near the reeds; she looks down while he watches her. Panel 20: She says, "I wanted today to be good. So much. I got so angry I couldn't see anything else." He answers, "Me too."
Page 6. Panel 21: Resting on their boards, Luv Luv says, "I'm sorry for how I spoke to you." Brownie answers, "It hurt. I'm sorry I forgot the bag." Panel 22: Sparkling light surrounds them as Brownie reaches for her hand: "I love you." She smiles: "I love you too." Panel 23: A sequence as she relaxes: eyes closed, hands clasped, leaning together, laughing. Captions: "It took time." "Little by little, the tightness eased. Her hands opened." "In the spaces that turmoil left behind, she could feel his warmth." Panel 24: Driving home at sunset, she rests her hand on his shoulder and they smile at each other. Captions: "Their love had held through the hardest part of the day." "Now she could let herself rest in it." "It was still their anniversary. They had found each other again."

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