Thanks for all the FDK!
DW, I had thought he was at least mentioned more, as well.
Bellarase, your fanfic explanation does make sense. Ralph would not be a pleasant person to be around, but he does make for some interesting fanfic.
Michael, interesting speculation about Lois going to the Board of Health. That may well have happened, but I purposely did not mention anything about it in the story. I wanted this story to be a first for me -- a story set in the L&C-verse in which not only are neither of the show's title characters present, but none of the regular cast is even alluded to.
MozartMaid, thank you for pointing out my favourite line of the ficlet. And you nailed the intended tone of voice for that sentence right on the head!
Iolanthe, wow! Having a piece of fanfic promoted to canon status in the mind of a fan is one of the greatest compliments possible! Thank you!
AntiKryptonite, I did feel like I needed to shower after writing this to wash off all the slime I felt from stepping into Ralph's POV.
But never say 'never' for your own writing! I would never have ventured a piece like this myself a year ago. (Oops...Did I just break my own advice?
)
And thank you for recalling my Cat piece. The funny thing is, Cat and Ralph are my two least favourite characters. But I'm not proud -- I will take whatever crumbs my muse throws my way. And she threw me some Cat and Ralph crumbs.
Kathy, thanks for taking the time to read the story, even though you probably knew the punchline. (I first got the idea that Ralph the restauranteur might also be Ralph the reporter during the Kerth ceremony, and I speculated as such in the chat room before I realized that there might be a story idea lurking in this new expansion of our tried-and-true 1+1=1 equation.)
Joy,
Lynn
