For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for April 03, 2020

how neighborly

You have casseroles just laying around waiting to be given away?

She made a casserole at 2 AM?? Or did she make one for dinner earlier and stored the leftover in the fridge? Yeah. Nosy neighbor.

We have not seen Agnes and Nigel since the story two years ago when they sold Phil and Georgia their house. Apparently Nigel and Agnes moved across the street from the Pattersons.

While the idea of taking someone a casserole at 2 am in the morning is pretty whacky, there are a number of good reasons not to be visiting.

1. You have an ambulance which implies someone has been hurt or injured.

2. You have a police car which implies someone has broken the law and maybe someone is getting arrested.

3. You have a pizza delivery man whom I am going to guess is out later than most pizza places do delivery. Oftentimes in those kinds of situations, you might suspect that the pizza delivery vehicle is a cover for something else.

4, Plus if Agnes is aware that Elly was pregnant and past her due date, there is also a strong possibility that being forced to give birth at home has had unfortunate complications requiring medical attention and a police presence. That’s not something you want to walk in on.

Fortunately for Agnes, she has read the script and knows that everything is perfectly fine and a casserole would be welcome at 2 am for the people who did not manage to get any pizza before Michael ate it all.

One always has a casserole at the ready!

I’m sure they need a casserole when there is a pizza delivery truck there! Oh wait, they actually could use one now…

In the freezer.

It is such a lovely neighbourhood thing to do. There was ever a certain sort of woman who had an extra casserole in the freezer in case it was needed. Does that sort still exist, I wonder?

Good neighbors like her are hard to find these days.

There is nothing so appreciated in a family emergency as a casserole. Well, except maybe a batch of cookies.

Another ongoing comic joke, but I never saw this happen, even when my family lived in a small town in Illinois.

Lynn’s Comments:

The nosy neighbour might have played a larger role, but there was already too much going on in the strip.

Even busy-bodies need to put their best foot forward, in the pursuit of the latest gossip. :)

So what casserole goes well with pizza?

Any resemblance between these two and Bewitched’s Gladys and Abner Kravitz is probably intentional.

Long ago I had a neighbor, whose idea of neighborliness was to crack open a fresh bottle of whiskey during trying moments like this. I miss him.

No thanks; had pizza!!!

Isn’t there a terrible ice/snow storm going on? how is she going over there in slippers? what a dedicated helpful/nosy neighbor! lol

It is a woman and a mother thing. They know new mothers have no energy to cook, and their husbands have no talent to cook. OK, I know some guy is going to disagree and say he is a great cook, but on average, men are useless in the kitchen as the average women has no idea what end of a hammer to use. That is the way we were made. Each’s one’s strength offset’s the other’s weakness. It has worked that way since mankind discovered fire ( thanks to lightening). Why rock the boat if it works.

That really sounds like something my mother would do … but then neighbors did things like that back in those days.

Why would she dress in a robe and slippers when it was cold bad snowstorm outside?

He looks like he could scare the hell out of someone at 2 am in morning yet he probably the nicest neighbor You would wantAt a time like this

The last panel shows that the storm is still going on. I believe it was icy rain rather than snow, so it would be very cold for Agnes to walk over there in her robe and slippers.

some people will do anything to learn the latest gossip.

Well there’s something about a new baby, isn’t there? She would have known that the little one was due. Okay, so 2:00 AM is extreme, but honestly, a neighbor close by is better than gossip at a distance. I would rather my neighbor come over, and be friendly, than talk about me without any inkling about what I was going through. And there is this—a neighbor bearing gifts is not going to stab you too soon afterwards. If they give you a casserole, surely kind words will follow.

Good looking out. I send cookies and see who returns the favor and who keeps our PLATE.