For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 02, 2024

You took my words out my hands Rhetta.

That’s a good analogy…

Rhetta is sure keeping a firm hand on Edgar. I wonder if she has been talking to April?

Mike wasn’t there that day—his story would be based solely on hearsay. BTW, Farley’s death WAS April’s fault—hers and her parents’, who were too busy showing off their vacation photos to watch her!

For much of my life I chose to keep awful secrets, and when I talked about them it was no fun at all. Didn’t change much, though, except it made depression less severe.

Milborough (a suburb of Toronto) is quite the wilderness, isn’t it?

Not true. Sometimes things are added in surgery. About 52% of the time, actually.

Rhetta was a good match, but lost out with Mike. Some other lucky guy must have won her later!

Hemingway always said you should write about what you know.

Panel 4: “Come out” …… As in “remove“… maybe a frontal lobotomy?

Smart girl!

Rhetta has a point.

Rhetta has a point…

That is so nice and thoughtful! Mike is lucky to have a girlfriend like Rhetta who can comfort him in one of his darkest hours. But I think that demographics plays a huge part. I live in NYC (Far Rockaway, Queens to be exact). And the general atmosphere is one of hustle and bustle since NYC is sort of like the center of the world with the stock exchange and all, being here. Up in Canada and many other places (even big cities), the atmosphere isn’t as congested and competitive. So the attitude to compete and win isn’t as much. But then again, big cities like Chicago and Boston, ARE very competitive. Just in a different way. Oh well. That’s just my take on it.

They still haven’t had that area fenced off??

And they’re sitting in muddy muck

Oh good heavens, Rhetta is making sense. Michael, you better follow her advice while you can.

it IS all April’s fault

Truth be told! I don’t know, in today’s society there could be charges of child neglect being she left the house unsupervised and endangered herself. Even cruelty to animals. Not, how great Farley was to save her!

WOW! She’s a smart girl.

(^.^)

Hmm, this could be nice.

Oooh! Chills! Did you really just say that? Brain Salad Surgery Indeed!

I rented a room from a couple in Santa Cruz for a year. I lost track of them until I found the man had written a book. It was about how his wife got cancer and neither doctors nor spiritual healers could do anything about it.

I had known her well and liked her. I was so overwhemed with sadness I could not finish reading the book. It must have killed him to write it.

Mike is not very good at skipping stones. You have to side-arm it, Mike, or it just goes straight into the water.

Well said, Rhetta.

Marry her Michael!

Or when something needs to be put back together…

Let’s face it. It IS April’s fault, but at her age, it wouldn’t be fair to emphasize it. Three-year-olds aren’t known for good judgement (or four, I can’t remember).

Listen to her. Mikey.

It was technically April’s fault, but much more so Ellie’s, for being so neglectful and losing track of her toddler during a torrential downpour. Hopefully, that’s a conversation Ellie has had with Aypo (“It wasn’t your fault, it was mine.”) Actually, they all seemed kind of blasé about Farley’s death, in the immediate aftermath.

Pen-is-headed Farley killer!

Pen-is-headed Farley killer!

Michael misunderstands her and takes it out.

The interesting part of this comic strip is that Michael mentions April’s reaction with bad dreams and blaming herself. You would think this is a lifetime trauma that April will never forget. And yet, in 4 years, when April visits the Farley tree, she doesn’t remember it at all, and Elizabeth has to remind her what happened.

Listen to your girlfriend, Mike. She’s smarter than you here.

This was April’s story. Michael should seek her permission to write about when she comes of age. Otherwise, it would be crass for him to profit off someone else’s experience.