For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for June 11, 2009

This is the same kid who snuck out in the middle of the night, over to a friend’s to use the washroom, and back in again, and thought nothing of it?

no thunder that night, and he wasn’t alone. it’s amazing how two people can egg each other on to do things neither would consider if they were apart.

Nice of to check if mommy is afraid of thunder.

sneaking out was easy for me as a kid, nobody cared where I went or when I would come back or how long I was gone. I swear sometimes I think that they wished that I never would have come back. Now that I think about it I think that, that was their way of guilt-tripping me. And I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

So brave of him to want to protect mommy.

yyyguy, an idea also found in the 1965 classic The Sound Of Music (you remember the scenes from Liesl’s climbing into Maria’s room through the window until the Captain’s interruption of her burst-out of ” Favourite Things “?)

Elly should say, oh yeah I was scared Michael, why don’t you get in bed and protect me?

i tried to run away when i was a little kid but i had togo back home i wasn’t allowed to cross the street by my self

bald - not only was I allowed to cross the busy street by myself as a child, my mother encouraged me to do it, in an unsafe manner! Also, much like wolf and martin, I too was told to ‘get out’ at around 7am and not allowed in till 6pm during summer holidays

I think Michael is very sweet. He could have expressed himself in many negative ways. Instead he puts it as checking if his mother is scared.

You guys make it sound like it was a bad thing to be playing outdoors all day in the summertime. I don’t know about you, but when the weather was good (in Anaheim that’s almost all the time) we didn’t want to be indoors. There was ‘way too much to do outside. Inside was boring and a punishment. We barely went in for lunch and out again as soon as we could wolf it down.

Ellie has John there. She should be afraid- he never hears a thing!

Very cute.

i wish i could draw like this… funny my younger sister did the same thing last night :) nice cover michael!

I was scared beyond belief of thunder and lightning until I was 18 and moved to the west coast. Now I miss it and relish the few storms we get

I’ve loved this strip for a long, long time! It’s so real! I jump when a loud clap of thunder occurs. And I’m not afraid of thunder; it’s just noise. But it makes my cat nervous … unless he’s protecting me?!?

howtheduck, I think the vertical lines are those of the bug-screen (btw, Michael has to pull down two sashes to close the window).

AllanVS I’m sorry your mother had no more concern for you than that, and this sounds like abuse and neglect to me. Were you even being fed during those hours? This is a rotten thing to do to a kid. Sure we all loved playing outside during the summer but to not be allowed back in to eat and use the bathroom would be horrible.

Thanks for the smile, Lynn!