Francoise versus Elizabeth and other no-win situations.

We start this week with Liz and Anthony talking in the awkward, not-at-all-comfortable-with-the-other-person way they do when his daughter Francie shows up. It would seem that in the four months since Liz took her for ice cream, the little girl has taken a mild dislike to her and, what's more, says so. We know that it's a clear case of Lynn trying to answer her critics by showing Liz win over the child but let's look at how this would play out in the real world. First off, Francie is a little kid and naturally regards any sudden change in her surroundings as a threat. Simply put, she thinks Liz is trying to take her daddy away from her and leave her with nothing. Second, Grandma Caine baby-sits her when Anthony is at work. If Liz thinks that his parents are fond of the pallid ninny who got her hooks so deep into their boy, he was willing to work as a book-keeper in a garage forever AND destroy his marriage so he could prove his love to her, she's as daffy as a crack-house rat. Her grandparents may not say anything in her presence but she probably realizes that Liz is a suped-bad person. There's another set of old people who make her distrust Liz: John and Elly Patterson. To Anthony, his child is one of the few good thiongs that came out of his marriage. To the Pattersaints, she's an unwelcome reminder of Therese's existence. This is why it would be preferable in the long run for the child to carry the day. After all, if Liz gets to marry Anthony, her step-daughter will end up being treated like something Elly dug out of her ear because her screwed-up vision of Utopia didn't go exactly as planned. And in the fact that her misery will increase when Liz has a real child and you've got a child whose existence will be an unending stream of suffering. If the kid carries the day and Liz goes away, Daddy will be angry at her for a long time but at least she won't suffer the indignity of living in the shadows of the Pattersons.