Peanuts by Charles Schulz for March 09, 1958
March 08, 1958
March 10, 1958
Transcript:
Zip! A hockey puck slides across the ice past Charlie Brown: "!" Shermy and Pig-Pen stand opposite him on the frozen pond. "GOAL!" Pig-Pen shouts.<br> <br> Shermy demands, "What's the matter with you, anyway?!" Pig-Pen berates him; "You let it go right through you!!" They stand on either side of Charlie Brown and he looks from one to the other.<br> <br> "Go on home, Charlie Brown! We don't want you on our side!" Shermy announces.<br> <br> "Rats!" Charlie Brown clutches his hockey stick.<br> <br> "I can't do anything right!" He says as he skulks off.<br> <br> "I can't play hockey, I can't play checkers, I can't fly kites, I can't do anything right!" he grumbles as he sits on the curb.<br> <br> "What's the matter, Charlie Brown?" Lucy asks as she approaches. He sits with his chin in his hands and says, "Oh, I don't know..I'm depressed ...I don't feel good..I think maybe I'm getting the Asian flu.."<br> <br> "THE ASIAN FLU?! That's been over for six months!" Lucy declares.<br> <br> "HA HA HA HA! What a guy!! Everyone else got the Asian flu six months ago, and HE'S just getting it now! HA HA HA!" Lucy laughs as she walks off.<br> <br> "Good grief! I can't even get SICK right!" He thinks glumly.<br> <br>
The Asian flu alluded to was an H2N2 strain originating in Guizhou, China, which killed some two million people worldwide, with 69,800 deaths in the US alone. It was already on the wane in the US by 1958 though.