For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 24, 2019

Can you say, “Don’t smoke around gasoline?” Apparently no one on this boat can.

By the way, I got a call from Wile E. Coyote about this comic strip.

This is why my preferred means of power on the water is SAIL power.

that’s what you get, Fred, for smoking over a gas tank with some gas molecules still wafting around: a blacked face with (hopefully) no eyebrows singed off… oh, and a trip to the laundromat for your shirt (which Harriet will NOT do herself for you said she doesn’t know a thing about machinery)

too bad Michael didn’t eventually marry Martha. he could have taken her away from her dopey father and loud mouthed mother.

Nor a full deck, it would appear…

Can’t ignite gas fumes with a cig. Now, if you were lighting the cigarette with a match….

Start swimming Michael, swim for your life.

Martha’s family is definitely of the dysfunctional sort… her dad isn’t too bright, both parents like to argue, and her brother likes to put people down. This explains her behaviour in the story arc from a couple of years ago:

https://www.gocomics.com/forbetterorforworse/2017/11/23

She came across as indecisive and impulsive, almost flighty. She would walk around slouching with her eyes directed downward. Notice in that strip how she looked up at Michael as though making eye contact was difficult.

Martha most likely suffers from low self-esteem and lack of confidence, thanks to her family. Poor thing.

Martha, the Fan Club still loves you.

You got that right, Mike.

Some people speculated the problem wasn’t lack of fuel, but an electrical problem. This was implied by the sound when he tried to start the engine.

If it is an electrical problem, those fumes he ignited might have come from the battery.

There’s a danger the cigarette could have fallen. That didn’t happen, though.

And Martha will grow up to be just like her parents. Why are children so surprised when they start becoming just like their parents, unless you’re adopted of course.

A firefighter told me many years ago to only wear cotton to bed unless I slept naked. He’d seen to many polyester and nylon nightgowns MELTED on to the skin from a fire. Only 100% cotton sheets, by the way.

He’s darned lucky that’s all that happened! The entire boat could have gone up.

They are out of gas for sure now.

And I think Michael is out of luck when it comes to choosing a girlfriend.

That artwork is great

Well, at least you get a chance to see her parents make a few mistakes. It will lower the bar of expectations later when you claim to have run out of gas, or had engine trouble, at the drive in(wink).

Right, Michael. And right there is where Martha’s loud mouthed brother gets it from.

A cigarette and a disconnected fuel line will do it every time.

That “mff…puff” sound (inhaling and exhaling) cracked me up. In another strip someone had made the “oark” (up chucking) sound. I LMAO. :~D

Wile E. Coyote is his spirit animal.

https://fborfw.com/strip_fix/saturday-august-24-2019/

Lynn’s Comments: I had a lot of fun drawing this strip!

They’re lucky it was only a FOOOM!. That flash didn’t have enough gas in it and had someplace to go. A bit more confinement and that boat would be a large collection of small pieces, along with serious injuries.

His cord does’t quite reach the outlet.

Did you folks notice that Mom still has her hands on her hips and big brother Stan is still feeding his face?