Moron:

This isn't an answer to your question, just an observation.

Looking at the code you have, you might make things a bit simpler if you let the database do more of the work. All databases (that I'm familiar with) allow you to do a left join, so you can return all your data in one SQL statement, rather than two. Something like:

SELECT    L.key, L.blah1, R.key, R.blah2
FROM      FirstTable AS L
LEFT JOIN SecondTable AS R ON R.key = L.key
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Then you can read the result, placing all items in %abs, and also placing them into %ilb if the R.key column happens to be null--or more simply, not equal to L.key.

...roboticus