For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 24, 2021

the wagon vaguely resembles a Volvo, but with Mike there it looks like a Mini.

let’s commence with the car’s outside first, shall we?

You walked right into that one, Michael!

Good one Sir

He’ll really get to know the beast when he starts having to “feed” it.

Shouldn’t he learn how to feed the car first

It goes with the territory Michael.

Well played, John. Well played.

Wow, he’s tall.

Guess ‘Mike’ won’t be so quick to make a comment like that again ! ! !

Station wagon? Excuse me while I time-warp back to the previous century. Even then teenage boys wouldn’t be caught dead driving the family station wagon.

One must obey the person who hold the keys. If one wishes to drive oneself with those keys.

Either Michael is now a giant or that is the tiniest station wagon I’ve ever seen.

If this wasn’t a hand drawn cartoon strip the mismatch in size could be attributed to a wide-angle lens.

HA!! That’s what Michael gets for trying to be grown! He’ll also soon learn that driving cars is cool, but it’s a royal PITA when it’s time to fix them!

Noone drives a station wagon anymore

Hmm, my dad had me washing the car with him when I was old enough to walk…lol

When I was about 15, I figured out that offering to back the car out of the garage and wash it and vac the interior got my Dad used to handing me the keys. HE was HAPPY to do so for my clean-ups, but the ease of getting the keys did not transfer automatically. OH, we had a clean car!

Holy CR@P! Mike looks like he’s 7’5" tall there… ;-)

Wax On, Wax Off.

Wax on. Wax off. Learn to appreciate the object of your desire by working on it and for it.

Sure, Mike, but first… you have to get a job so you can afford your own damn insurance and gasoline, and put enough away for the inevitable traffic tickets and for the deductible when you wreck the car.

Please don’t plug in the vac (last panel)

Around here, many of the gas stations have car washes attached. They’re usually freebies. Can’t remember the last time I saw anyone washing a car.

as a birthday gift for my husband one year i completely his vehicle, inside and out, myself.

Clever. :-)

Lynn’s Comments: In the last panel, I think I drew Michael too big. His legs are too long and his waist comes up to the roof of the car!

I used to wash and wax my parent’s station wagon. Man, a 66 Chevy Impala was big!

just an observation: that kid drinks a LOT of soda!

Something is OFF!

Good one dad.

Michael should be able to try out for the NBA in the last panel. After that, he can get whatever car he wants and still have plenty left over to afford the insurance. John and Elly will be pleased too. That is point of having a child, to see that it becomes a monetary success, to provide for you in your old age, and to boast to other couples how their kids are failures by comparison.

Holy carp! Clown cars come in station wagon? Or is that a mini cooper clubman?

My brother and I (when we were little) washed mom’s car with Spic and Span – ended up being a dull green. Some years later, that eventually became my first car – a 1958 hand me down which finally died like the Blues Mobile in the summer of 75. It was a great car.

This is not surprising. Many famous leaders had to get such lessons before they became leaders. A good example was Frederick the Great, who as a child was put to work shoveling manure with the peasants. As a teenager he joined the Prussian Army with the rank of private. Being a prince in those days was something far different than what we associate the term with today.

Then Mike will learn to respect after cleaning up outside and inside, to keep it clean.

Dad sure knows how to make the young lad work.

I’d rather a small car; it’s easier to clean and I hardly ever have passengers.

I love it when they bring that kid back down to earth.

The way this one is drawn today, Michael will not even FIT in the driver’s seat.

Hey John time to read the Emancipation Proclamation and realize what you are doing is wrong. Michael is not your sla…

Oh wait, this is Canada and it is legal there. My bad!

Just like the Jeepers character in the classic motion picture, Las Vegas Hillbillys (sic), Dad here is practical minded!

John Patterson, you fork-tongued bastard! I hope all the old folks will be laughing with you when Elly’s dead and Michael chucks you in a rest home! You better not ever need blood from him.

Still think a car is worth it?