honk: It's good to be back. Wearing my baseball cap backwards. It's a little too warm for flannel. As for the 'real' Luke, I don't think warm weather or a hot kitchen ever bothered him. He puts his flannel shirts in the freezer overnight. By the time he's ready to wear them, they're ice cold and great for flannel kite flying.
Presents, Precedents and Invisible Cake
Sookie: "Sometimes I feel like Bonnie Swanson from The Family Guy: pregnant forever."
Lorelai: "The baby is due any day now. Speaking of, do you want to come over to my house tonight? Rory and I are watching all four
Aliens movies."
Sookie: "You tried that joke the last two times I was pregnant. Lorelai, you have to think up some new material."
Lorelai: "I promise I will. Next time you're with child I'll...Sookie, look out!"
Sookie: "Ohhh, yuck! And I'm wearing open toed sandals!"
Lorelai: "I never knew I'd say this, but I miss the days when Kirk was the official Stars Hollow Dog Walker. The new guy just doesn't pick up after his charges.."
At Weston's...
Fran's Evil Niece (telepathically, sinisterly): "Give me your credit card!"
Sookie: "So, how is Rory doing?"
Lorelai (filching some icing): "Fine. Why do you ask?"
Sookie (gingerly): "She's studying for finals, she didn't get that New York Times internship. It's a very stressful time. She isn't going to..you know.."
Lorelai: "Going to what?"
Lorelai: "Oh, my God! You think she's going to turn into Schmorry! How can you say that? Do you want to jinx it?"
Sookie: "No, I don't! I just think...there's been so many precedents. Anything can set her off now. And she's so close..."
Sookie: "Her future is gonna come a-knockin'. I don't want the future to be wearing white coats and carrying a strait jacket."
Lorelai: "Rory is fine, Sook. She'll sail through finals and graduation without a problem. If you want to talk crazy, Fran's Evil Niece put the mental whammy on me. I just paid for a cake I didn't take out of the store."
Across town...
Liz: "Luke! I'm so happy to see you! I've been lifting weights, getting into shape. Here, let me lift you."
Luke: "Liz, don't...don't do that."
Liz: "Are you here to shop for April? If so, I've got some great stuff just past the 'Guest Starring Danny Strong' letters."
Luke: "Nope. April has had a mental breakdown. She was studying the Periodic Table and her brain fizzed."
Liz: "I'm sorry to hear that, Luke."
Luke: "I'm not. If life was a television show her arrival would be the Jump the Shark moment."
Liz: "Personally I think annoying brother-in-law characters can put the kaibosh on even the strongest show."
Luke: "Got anything that would be good for Rory?"
Liz: "Time out, big brother. These trinkets are for girl scouts and Ren Faire afficionados. You gotta get Rory something big. She's graduating from Yale."
Luke: "I like trinkets."
Luke: "Like this. The earrings are okay but the thing that they're hanging on...could be useful for her."
Liz: "Luke, have you been sampling imported beers again? You know how Pakistani beer makes you queasy."
Luke: "I have not been sampling beers...ooh, look. So-so earrings but neat hanging tree."
Liz: "Ya have to think big, Lucas. This is Rory. You practically helped Lorelai raise her."
Luke: "She has wealthy grandparents and a rich dad. I'll leave it to them to buy her shiny things. Besides, when she graduated Chilton, there was a Schmorry incident...and the very expensive stereo system I bought Rory wound up floating in Long Island Sound. So...I go small but sentimental with her gifts."
Liz: "Do you think there may be a Schmorry incident this time?"
Luke: "I hope not. The mere thought of it makes me lightheaded...no, that would be all the mead I drank. Have to steady myself..."
TO BE CONTINUED....Can Rory go through Yale graduation and job searching at the same time without having a Schmorry episode? I was hoping it would be true but the title of an upcoming installment is Schmorry's Last Bulldog Hurrah so that kills the suspense. Please stay tuned.