The Good Guys:
1. Tony Blue is a mutual friend of Matt & Paul. Tony is about Matt's age. Tony is quite artistic himself in the areas of painting and dramatic expression. Tony is Matt's respite-maker. When Life gets a little rough, Tony takes Matt off to the side somewhere and says, "Let's think about this calmly and quietly."
2. Lila Easter loves being with the twins, Pansie & Aurora Marks. Being in the sixth grade herself, she enjoys both of them for very different reasons. Pansie is Lila's ballast of wisdom and maturity, but Aurora is Lila's fun-loving, caution-to-the-wind, free-thinker.
3. Eva Friendly is one of Artista Marks' close friends. The younger of the two by about three years, Eva is blue, according to the Social Color-Coding Scale. This makes her a bit clingy at times. Eva always needs to know that "everything is okay" in the relationship. Ultimately, Eva is the strong right arm that Artista needs "when the going gets rough."
4. Joe Spencil is that good friend from high school that Matt got to know pretty well while wrestling over the Algebra and Trig homework many nights during the school week pretty much every week throughout their mutual high school careers. Joe wasn't as strong a believer in Jesus like Matt was, but his pragmatism as it related to spiritual matters helped Matt to become a thinking Christian, not just a Pollyanna. Joe is often gone on long trips, due to work responsibilities, but when he drops back into Matt's life for a week or two at a time, the impact is long-lasting.
The Bad Guys:
1. Runfro Allatsgood is Andy Attelpate's "pinch-hitter." Andy "shoe-horned" a phrase into his contract that he gets "every Wednesday off" to spend with his buddy, Oden since Wednesday is the weekly holiday that honors Oden. When he comes back to work every Thursday, smelling like a skunk, Runfro, just shakes his head, pushing past him on his way back to his "normal life," saying, "I can't even." What does Runfro do to Matt on Wednesday? More than "Andy could think about doing in a month of Sundays." Surgical doubts are Runfro's specialty.
2. HeDonna Sparks has known the Marks twins, who have been her classmates, since Kindergarten, but she likes to hang out with Aurora. "Aurora's more fun!" is her daily catch-all phrase. HeDonna & Aurora have garnered many nicknames, like "Mutt & Jeff" or "Riff & Raff" or "Flotsam & Jetsam." The bottom line is that nobody seems to know where the mischievous ideas of one ends and the underhanded ideas of the other one begins. The point is that it makes little difference since together they create the results of "Gasoline & Sparks."
3. Julian Narajandros is the right-hand man of the planet's self-appoint "king," Diotrephes Broadway. He's all about living in the limelight of popularity, whichever way it may shine. Julian doesn't worry too much about his looks because he is a GRUNT, doing what he is told, saying what the master says, and ultimately getting paid handsomely for it.
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