Of evil underbites and the prevention of fun.......

In an earlier post, I commented on certain facial expressions that Lynn liked to draw; I'd listed the Bug-Eyed Glare of Existential Horror, the Sticky-out Tongued Laugh of Malice and the Unhinged Jaws of Disproportionate Hostility; the neat thing about the new-ruins is that there's a new expression: the Scrunched-up Face of Rage; lately, it seems that we cannot go a week without seeing Elly with her eyes narrowed in anger sporting a severe and possibly evil underbite. The strange thing is the cause; we generally see this happen when the children are enjoying themselves. As howtheduck noted, the Elly of original history simply avoided having fun with the children based on the lunatic theory that her brain would erode and she'd become a babbling infant were she to do so; now, she seems to be actively trying to prevent them from having any fun at all. The reason, I think, is that since she's upset for no reason that she can articulate, the only way she can be less miserable is by spoiling other people's fun. The problem with this is that she ends up hating it when she wins; most of the Middle Years are spent watching Elly wring her hands and ask why it is that Michael sits in front of the box instead of reading or playing or taking an interest in the world. Since she doesn't want to face up to her responsibilities, she'd rather not admit that she was the mad scientist who made that monster.