This is a clip job of previous posts and is meant to shed some light on a character who is a little hard to explain.
Below is the first appearance of Ernesto Lacuna, in the Post Magazine. I brought the stranger-than-Petey
little boy back a few times, and I gave him the strange attribute that
Petey thinks he may be imaginary. His name is a reference to Lacuna, a gap or missing section in a manuscript, text or piece of music,
and an obscure
musical pun on the name of Cuban composer
Ernesto Lacuona (boy,
this gets a laff every time, but you'll recognize
this). You'll notice he plays the oboe and Petey's got a trombone; this was later
reversed. Please excuse the awkward formatting.
Ernesto is one of my favorite characters to
write for. He's something of a Bond villain in embryo, as is evident
from his remark below about the extinct volcano, and he's enigmatic enough
that I can write dialog that doesn't always make sense as long as it's
vaguely threatening.
But
Ernesto's also unimpressive enough that he's hard to take seriously.
He's based on several kids I knew who wanted to grow up in a hurry under
the mistaken impression that adults have all the power. Ernesto belongs
to a group called Future Adults of America whose purpose is to
gradually take over the world so that they'll be running it by the time
they're in their forties, and he keeps trying to get Petey to attend FAA
meetings. Which, from Ernesto's description, is mostly an excuse to
issue position papers and to eat doughnuts. Disliking organized
activities and food with holes in it, Petey has declined so far. Maybe
he should go sometime, as it'd be fun to draw. This is the kind of idea I
love, as I can revisit it, explore it further and get a lot out of it.
And nothing's better than that when you're dealing with a daily strip.
During the Summer months, Ernesto barricades himself in a carrel fort in a remote corner of the
library. This Sunday strip above is the remnant
of a string of dailies featuring one of Ernesto's periodic decline-and-falls.
This time he was caught by the Future Adults of America appropriating a
box of doughnuts meant for fund-raising and subsequently kicked out. I
think he started a competing group but I forget what it was called.
Ernesto's actuality is best left unexamined, I think.
Maybe he's a wormholian who can slide between realities (I knew kids like this).
Or
maybe he's a projection of the zeitgeist. Whatever, he's good for laffs
when used sparingly. Some readers find him annoying, though he was a favorite of one of my best editors. Below is my favorite Ernesto
appearance (available in the first CdS book or in the Golden Treasury).
"Back
in her single days - before she met the man of her dreams - Beth "Bee"
Evans hated being forced to attend weddings solo. Determined to spare
her friends the same humiliation, she invites everyone on her list with a
guest. Much to her chagrin, however, Hannah, Vicki, Rob, Joe, and Nancy
insist upon attending Bee's lavish Chesapeake Bay nuptials alone. The
frustrated bride dubs them the "The Singles" and their collective
decision wreaks unintended havoc on her otherwise perfectly planned
wedding weekend."
