A Letter from Lynn: A Strange Encounter

I called up my friend, Steve, last night. He’s a successful musician, and has been a close friend of my son, Aaron, since they were three years old. We got to talking about the “old days”, and he reminded me of a story I thought might be fun to pass on:

Steve had moved to Nanaimo, British Columbia from Ontario, and since Aaron was living in Vancouver, it was easier than ever for them to stay in touch. One day, Aaron was visiting when Steve, searching the very new internet, found a site dedicated to For Better or for Worse. It was a really nice site. He saw some interesting comments and some respectful criticism, and he thought he’d get in touch with the guys who were writing it. He sent a pleasant note to say he was a friend of mine, he liked the site, and would they mind if he sent a link on to me.

The response was amazing. The guys who ran the site sent back a tirade of crude and ugly insults, saying there was no way Steve could know me, and to just #*&%%%#! – off!! Steve was astounded. Aaron decided to up the ante, so he wrote them a note of his own.”Hi”, he said, “You just got a message from Steve who is a friend of mine. He does know Lynn Johnston and so do I – I’m her son!” The response from the “fan” site was even more disgusting! They swore, and insulted him, and had a fine time with this piece of news.

“If you are truly Lynn’s son,” they said, “who was in panel three of the Sunday strip which ran on August somethingorother, and what was the punchline?” Aaron wrote back; “Darned if I know!” After all, he was my kid! He rarely read the work on my desk, and didn’t read the books until he had moved away from home! Both witty and wickedly creative, Aaron and Steve happily bantered with the “appreciation guys” until it got boring. They laughed about this for days.

Steve said he never went back to the site, and wondered what had happened to the two fans who had started it. If only they had believed Steve and Aaron!

Lynn J.