For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 16, 2020

the townsfolk are all unaware that Fiona is just John’s cousin visiting (who claimed to be helping taking care of the baby)

THIS is what I was warning everyone about — and it gets worse before it gets better. Mercifully, it’s a short part of the overall arc!

I remember a story in church about gossip. A woman is outside gardening when she sees one of the neighborhood husbands arrive home in the middle of the day accompanied by a young woman. She jumps on the phone and calls all her friends to spread the news. So as the gossip spreads through the neighborhood about the “affair” and the “divorce”, the woman who started the whole thing finds out the young woman is the husband’s niece who’s moved to town to attend college. She goes to confession to tell the priest what she did, and for her penance the priest tells her to get a feather pillow, stand up on a hill, rip open the pillow, let the feathers scatter and then go and pick every feather up. She tells him that’s impossible, and he says that’s how gossip works. Once the words are out of your mouth, you can’t get them back.

Before e-mail and texts the main forms of communication was: “Telephone” (before cell phones), “telegraph”, and “tell a women.”

Jean, you’ve got a big mouth. You ought be fired. If Johns ever finds out it was you who started the rumor, I hope he fires you. He told you in confidence – it is assumed in professional relationships. He expects you to keep everything inside the office. You could have caused them to actually divorce. I know Elly is confident enough to know it to be a gossip but will ask John about the “apartment”.

This is why good news newspapers always fail, no one cares about good news, they want the DIRT!!

I’m reminded of the scene from “Grease” when Rizzo is walking through the drive-in movie while the “news” about her is passing her.

The terms “busybodies” and “wagging tongues” come to mind.

Lynn’s Comments:

Gossiping was an area where I could really let out a good rant! For Better or For Worse became a bit of a forum for this sort of thing.

If it were me, and I heard a rumor that John and Elly were getting a divorce, I’d say “What took them so long?”

Oh yes gossip! It’s a wonderful thing!

Elly will feel better when she hears John got Fiona her own place.

Yet another example of why social gathering is a bad thing. Gossip is just another viral form. ☺

Oh-oh, I heard it through the grape vine….

How prophetic that this strip became a reality.

However, it won’t happen that way at all…

stay tuned…

Elly won’t jump to conclusions and

John will tell her in his own words what he did…

Only a few more days of Fiona. Get ready to celebrate!

To me, it seems incredible that anyone could call a woman and tell her that she’d ‘just heard the bad news about her husband getting a divorce and leaving her’ for another woman. I can’t imagine anyone doing that…

John’s funeral will be next Tuesday. Further details and arrangements will be announced later.

And things go even faster and these days.

“Believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear.”

- Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong

The rumor mill is in overdrive!

That ought to puta scare in her. Slippers, honey?