That’s Really Cheap for Education These Days

So, one of the Pyes has sauntered back over to where the Kleebs are to demand money. It’s not entirely clear, but this suggests that everyone is still in the church, and perhaps in the same room. So it’s not really a kidnapping plot, despite the Pyes’ earlier protestations; it’s just a beating. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Mrs. Kleeb is really shocked by something, although I don’t think that she’d necessarily put it together that her son is being attacked from what she’s hearing. So either she’s shocked that someone would attempt to teach her son manners, or she’s shocked that she’s being spoken to by this unwashed hill person.

It’s hard to know exactly what Mr. Kleeb’s reaction is, since we only see him in profile; my reading of his body language in Panel 1 is “Oh, great, here we go again, why didn’t I find a blonde ‘actress’ to have an affair with while I still could have.” But upon hearing the cash demand in Panel 2, his chin grows, which probably means that he’s concerned, or at least, considering not rescuing his son.

Which is appalling behavior, given that he probably drops that much when he farts, but I suspect that the Kleebs are not the most generous people when it comes to sharing their assets with non-relatives.

The big surprise today is how much the Pyes are underselling themselves. $20,000 sounds like a lot to you and me, but the Kleebs gave Sturdy something like four businesses to run into the ground as a gift. Might as well ask for a couple hundred million. Then they could load up the truck and move to Beverly!

Speaking of the truck: Why don’t the Pyes just sell it if they need cash so bad? There’s a market for old-timey vehicles like that. I used to work for a guy who collected them, and he’d pay top dollar. (Much like the Kleebs, he was quite wealthy, and quite stupid. The company was really only in existence to provide him with attendees for his twice-a-year house parties, which were formal dress, mandatory for employees, and an opportunity for him to show off his antique cars and play with his train set for people who couldn’t leave. Strangely enough, he wasn’t even the reason I left that job after only nine months.)