St. Boniface Vikings (Part 1)

Life On the Fast Lane

It is Marva Lynn's birthday, so Kevin and Lisa prepare breakfast in bed for her. During the surprise Nolan thinks it is his birthday but quickly realizes he has forgotten Marva Lynn's birthday. He quickly hurries downstairs, jumps in his car and drives to the mall. At the mall, Nolan observes a bowling ball and gets an idea.

Back at the house Marva Lynn is on the phone with her twin sisters, Delphine and Walburga who remind her about Nolan's lousy gift giving history and planning on where to go for her birthday dinner. Cut back to the house where Nolan hides Marva Lynn's present and she informs him about dinner at The Singing Sirloin with the kids and her sisters. Nolan shudders at the thought of spending Marva Lynn's birthday dinner with Delphine and Walburga.

Later at the restaurant, Marva Lynn is happy with Kevin's present of "French" perfume and Lisa's dried macaroni and glue card of Marva Lynn as the Mona Lisa. She is impressed with them working hard to make her feel loved on her birthday. When it comes time for Nolan to give his present, Marva Lynn is offended when she sees a bowling ball fall on her cake, complete with drilled holes and Nolan's name engraved on it. Everyone including Kevin, Lisa and Marla Lynn are shocked by his behavior. However, Delphine and Walburga sit by smugly, due to their knowledge that Nolan was being thoughtless to their sister as usual. Marva Lynn is obviously outraged with Nolan for ruining her birthday and reminds him that not only has she never gone bowling in her life, but the ball is also inscribed with his name on it. Ignoring her outrage, he admires the beauty of the bowling ball and gives heavy hints that if she doesn't want it, he will gladly take it off her hands.

The next day at the Bowling Lane, Marva Lynn goes bowling by herself and clearly does not know what she is doing. Paul, Grady, Ed and Fran were bowling in the lane next to Marva Lynn, comes over and offers bowling lessons to her and she accepts.

Back at the house Nolan does his fatherly duties and provides pizza for dinner and puts the kids to bed. Later on with everyone asleep, Marva Lynn finally comes home. When Marva Lynn tells Nolan she will be going bowling again the next night he becomes suspicious but doesn't say anything to her about it.

Kevin comes in and asks Nolan to play catch. When playing catch in the backyard Nolan is too depressed and lost in thought to pay attention. Kevin panics and realizes that Lisa is right about their parents' marriage. When he tries to seek her help, Lisa doesn't help him as she revels in her own self pity. Kevin offers Nolan some advice and tells him to keep his mouth shut to Marva Lynn about the situation and maybe it won't get any worse. The next morning while Marva Lynn is making the kids lunches for school, Nolan tells her how much he likes her sandwiches and mentions he doesn't believe in keeping feelings bottled up inside and then walks out to go to work. Marva Lynn is touched by his words. Back to Nolan at high school, who is too preoccupied to eat his lunch as he believes it is the only thing he has left of Marva Lynn.

Cut to Nolan, who is looking depressed at work when Marva Lynn walks in and taps him on the shoulder surprising him and making him forget all his worries. As Nolan carries Marva Lynn in his arms off to the backseat of her car, he joyfully announces that, "he won't be back for ten minutes!"