Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for October 25, 2024

Five isn’t enough but it’s a start.

Rosalyn should up the ante even more…..

That promise is broken since Calvin continues to cause trouble in the next Rosalyn strip

Stolen test notes and being locked out of the house in back-to-back visits. Ouch.

Wow, Mom actually got through to him. And Calvin seems genuinely sorry. We don’t see that every day.

As usual, he got away with it!!!

The crucible of fond memories

Five?? Five HUNDRED couldn’t guarantee a next time!! BTW, why does Mom always dress like such a frump whenever she goes out with Dad?

In panel 3, the difference in size is extreme. He’s the height of her knee. Is that a design choice?

It’s things like this that make raising kids so expensive.

Just as I predicted (except for a copy of a key to the front door) ! !

Only $5.00? You got off lucky, Mr. Calvin’s Dad. If I were Rosalyn I’d have asked for $50 and still never babysat for this kid again.

Today’s strip is very good. As I remembered earlier this week, Mom expresses her anger in a way which shows her concern for Calvin. She stresses the point that Rosalyn is supposed to be there to protect Calvin.

Of course, Rosalyn often gives Calvin the opposite impression. At their first meeting, Calvin told her, “You’re not my Mom. I don’t have to do what you say.” Rosalyn sweetly asked Calvin to look by the phone and tell her what he found there. Calvin said, “A list of numbers to call in an emergency.” Rosalyn grabbed Calvin by the lapels and said, “You wouldn’t want me to have to call any of those numbers, would you?” Calvin decided to go to bed early.

In the arc where Calvin stole Rosalyn’s study notes, Rosalyn was pounding on the bathroom door and saying, “Let me in or your parents will never find your remains.” Hobbes commented to Calvin, “Boy! Some babysitter!” It’s hardly surprising that Calvin and Hobbes felt safer with Rosalyn locked outside.

Thus Rosyln becomes a shrewd businesswoman because of her experiences babysitting Calvin.

“It was all a misunderstanding! An innocent mistake!”

That reminds me of one of my favourite episodes of the Canadian animated series Total Dramarama which is called “Stingin’ In The Rain”. I think that I described the episode this summer when something reminded me of it but I will do so again now due to a similar quote.

Courtney is upset that she cannot find the coin which she is sure that she brought to school for Show & Tell. She questions her classmates about it and then searches their cupboards and then questions them again while shining a torch in their faces. She is then persuaded that none of her classmates stole her coin so it must have been a burglar.

A storm comes and the window is broken. The teacher, Chef Hatchet, goes outside to mend the window but gets the idea of using his drill to steal honey from a bees nest. The bees all sting him during the rainstorm hence the title “Stingin’ In The Rain.” Meanwhile, a plumber whom Chef has called arrives and the kids think she is the burglar. They set a series of Home Alone-style traps for her. They also call the military base down the road – which features in many episodes – and tell them a burglar is breaking into the school.

The military come and break into the school through another window. They arrest the plumber, handcuff her and search her. They do not find Courtney’s coin but a business card which identifies the woman as a plumber. A bee-stung Chef comes into the school and confirms that she is the plumber he called. Then Courtney’s Mom arrives.

“Mom! What are you doing here?”

“I hope I’m in time, dear. You forgot your coin for Show & Tell.”

In the final scene, it is Courtney who is being taken away in handcuffs. Her words are very similar to Calvin’s in today’s strip.

“Please! It was just a misunderstanding! Mom!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, dear! Don’t worry. We’ll visit you.”

Courtney’s parents wouldn’t have to pay many visits. She was back at school two episodes later.

Money talks, some girls will do anything for money.

Love the drawing of Mum in the first panel. And kudos for getting through to Calvin. It won’t last off course. But, nice try.

Only five?

It’s rare for Calvin to feel guilty about something he did

$5 in 1994 is $10.64 today. She deserves a LOT more than that!

You had a great time, Calvin. Great memories to look back on some day. I’ll bet her boyfriend is still laughing.

They should offer more than a $5, like $500!

I find it impossible to believe that a belt is not in order to teach this brat the lesson he so richly deserves.

Wow! They were NOT in the mood for Calvin’s “plausible” excuses this time!

Panel one: I’ve seen that look on my parents’ faces…my tushie is still sore…

Within a few year Rosalyn becomes an entrepreneur.

Cal’s future looks bleak

BTW, Roz isn’t buying Calvin’s apology. She’s just milking another sales opportunity, knowing that if she returns, she can name any price.

Five?…… better make it 50.

Call yourself Lucky, Calvin. Maybe there won’t be a second chance.

What? Roselyn isn’t doing this for charity?

She’s not fooled, Calvin is only pretending to be sorry

Five HUNDRED

Boy, has inflation hit hard! A $50 spot would help elevate the time spent in the yard, plus a month in Reform School for our misdemeanoring fool of a young man.

Five was a decent amount of money back then, almost 2 hours of minimum wage pay

Poor Rosalyn – at this rate she’ll be grey before she’s 20!

Promises, promises, I remember when tricky dicky promised to never run again.

As I recall, Rosalyn will ask for another advance the next time. Dad protests, and Mom overrides him: “Just pay her what it takes!” I would like to know how Calvin proposed to describe locking the babysitter outside for the entire evening was “a misunderstanding”.

Boy ! You work cheap ! ;-)

Just how red do you want this little critters butt?

Calvin should definitely be lucky he didn’t try some dangerous stunt (like riding the wagon down the stairs) or attempt to start a fire in the fireplace, then!

only $5? … or did she mean $5k?

Remember since Calvin does not age every time may be the first time.

Not enough money in the multiverse.

$5 was a bit of change back then… Dad need to think of it as ’Hazardous Duty Pay"…. LOL

In today’s money it would be and extra $50.00 taking into account about how prices have gone up.

It’s funny how some memories are ingrained in one’s head and some things bring them back…

I remember getting paid $5.00 for the whole evening of baby sitting for the very first time and that was in 1965. What ticked me off was that they “didn’t have any change” when the evening was done, and the father takes out $10.00, and seeing that bill I’m feeling all happy, and then he asks if I had change…as if I had a wallet full of money… (my thought at that time: WTF, people! You won’t see me sitting for you ever again!)…

But being a polite kid on the outside, I said I’ll come back tomorrow for the money, since they were neighbors two doors down. Anyhoo, they didn’t have the money the next day, since they “forgot” but I did get paid by the middle of the next week, after going there every day. I never baby sat for them again. Plus from that time on, no matter, who, I asked to be paid ahead of time, just like Rosalyn here.

And people wonder why families are having fewer (or zero) children.

Military pilots get ‘flight’ pay, soldiers get ‘combat’ pay, Rosalyn should get ‘hazard’ pay aka Calvin pay in addition to her baby sitting duty.

I know this was written over thirty years ago, but even then, five dollars wasn’t worth enough to go through all that $h!t.

An extra $500

I have to admit….back in the day I was a very busy teenage baby-sitter. Our large subdivision was a 60s haven of young families and the money to go out a couple of times a month. There was one family, however. Three kids, nearing jr high age, two boys and a girl. Quiet when mom and dad were there, so rambunctious when they left that at one point they all jumped me “all in good fun.” Nothing bad happened, but three to one was not for me. I was still upset when the parents got home. I still have a mental photograph of the shocked look on Mom’s face when I told them what happened and that I wouldn’t sit for them again. I’m not made of the same as Rosly, obviously.

If I were Rosalyn I would have put them on my banned list a long time ago

I wonder if it was ever explained as to WHY Rosalyn kept coming back for more “Calvin” abuse. Why didn’t she ever quit?

She should have a babysitter requirements for parents. I expect cash in advance, if your child is a brat and won’t listen to me;I charge double.

And no allowance for Calvin to cover what they had to pay Rosalyn. Like I said previously, this is likely the worst thing Calvin ever did.

Not just mean but dangerous. Sounds like someone running for president.

Mothers gestures are always in the best interest of the kids.

It’s a smart move, especially when the situation is in your favor

Extra 5K right?