Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for October 16, 2024

What’s the number for 911?…..

The rescue squad is gonna love this. “Hi. Yeah. We’re being told what to do by our babysitter. Please help us!”

more stuffed animals rescuing Calvin?

Forget the rescue squad… call the Brute Squad.

Busted!

The facial expressions in each and every panel of this strip are clear demonstrations of the great artistry of Watterson – and hysterical to boot.

Who might be the rescue squad, QUICK GET ME MY CAPE!

She doesn’t want to be disturbed while she’s yapping on the phone, complaining to her BF about Calvin. BTW, haven’t Mom and Dad noticed that their phone bills are higher the nights Rosalyn is there?

Is Calvin intending to call the Rescue Squad via the landline that’s downstairs? Or with a megaphone out the window?

Better calls Stoopendous Man.

Nail the window and lock the door before it’s too late. This is your last chance.

She was fed up ages ago.

Whoa! Totally uncool! Calvin wasn’t even doing anything! He was just having fun in his room, not bothering anyone! Now I’m beginning to see why he doesn’t like Roselyn.

One time our son threatened to call DCFS because we wouldn’t let him watch tv until after his homework was done.

My wife pointed to the fridge and said, “There’s the number. They could use a good laugh.”

Yes, for Rosly

It is nice to be important……….but more important to be nice!!!

Preventive strategy. Get him before he gets going.

While I was assigned to patrol division, I was dispatched to a domestic cll. When I got there, the woman demanded I arrest her 12 year old daughter for not washing the dishes when she was told to do so.

I explained that failure to wash dishes and not doing the was told to do, did not constitute arrestable offenses. She told me I didn’t know what I was doing and they were criminal offenses.

I took a deep breath and told her, that no, I wasn’t going to arrest the girl. That if she wanted to discipline her daughter, that was her prerogative, so long as the girl wasn’t abused, or neglected.

As I left, I could hear the woman yelling at the girl and the girl yelling back. We didn’t have to return, so I suppose they worked it out somehow.

Be thankful, Calvin. At 6:30 you probably at least had supper.

I babysat a “Calvin” back in the 1970’s. Going rate was .50 cents/hour—I got $5. And after the black-eye incident, I just quit saying yes at all. Then the bribes came……..I have often wondered what ever became of that kid!

If you treated her better, she’d treat you better.

In these times, Calvin would SWAT her.

Rosalyn is one of the few that are Calvin’s equal; some he wins and some she does!

Just another fun evening with Calvin. What could go wrong ??? ;-)

I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure that the parents set bedtime and the babysitter carries out their instructions. I guess it’s possible that Calvin’s parents set a 6:30 bedtime themselves in an attempt to forestall trouble, but if so, and if we assume Calvin’s surprise in the third panel is genuine, then the parents clearly let him believe his bedtime was later than he intended, which doesn’t seem right on many levels.

A more likely explanation is that Rosalyn is setting bedtime herself. That seems to be going well beyond a babysitter’s authority. Although, since we know that every other babysitter flat out refuses to take the Calvin job, and since we also know that she knows that Calvin’s parents know that she regularly puts up with much more challenging behavior than she could reasonably be expected to, it stands to reason that she’s been able to leverage her willingness to keep coming back into much more autonomy that she’d have anywhere else.

Even though this strip was originally published quite a while ago, I doubt Calvin would know about the black lagoon. The move about the creature from that body of water came out in 1954 and I’ve never seen it on TV.

She probably got paid triple and all in advance

(I also missed the last few strips so they may have had that conversation)

I have the complete Calvin and Hobbes books and this is a CLASSIC

Would the Parents even approve of Rosalyn sending Calvin to bed really early like that?

Oh, yes she will!

If you grab a tiger by the tail you’d better have a plan for dealing with its teeth.

She asks for every bit she gets.