It Must Be Nice to Be Little: Browse The Strips

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Our town was so small that a kid could be found in minutes. A short walk or a phone call would produce the offender and it was always a short walk home. Even so, I worried when one of my children was out of sight for too long. One day, I went looking for Katie. She had been in the back yard with a couple of neighbour kids, but had disappeared. I went out and found her playing in the house across the lane. Three children under the age of five had been left in the care of an eight year old while her parents had gone down to the pub. The eight year old was holding a rifle which had been removed from its mount on the wall and her little brother was singing; "I know where the bullets are! I know where the bullets are!" I brought Katie home. I told her she had done nothing wrong. I said her friends were welcome to come to our house at any time, but she was never to go there again. It wasn't the kids I didn't trust- it was some of the parents!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My parents had much less control over my brother and me than I had over my children. Mom and Dad both worked in our shop on Upper Lonsdale - a good half hour walk from home. Al and I were on our own a lot. We could do just about anything as long as dinner was ready by 6:00 and nothing in the house was busted or burning. I became the cook at about age 10 and Al just had to keep out of my way. Life was complicated. I knew what it was like to be "grown up" in my head and a kid in stature!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When I was 12, I saved up enough money to take my family to Vancouver for dinner and a movie. It was my Christmas present to them. It cost everything I had been able to save. It cost me $12.00. We took the bus and ate at a Hastings street beanery. We saw "Danny Kaye in Hans Christian Anderson" and I paid for everything. My parents were so proud. It was the first "big" present I ever gave- and I still think of it as one of my best!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This happened to me outside Woodward's Department store when I was small. My folks were standing close to the curb, watching for the bus to come. I was next to the window checking out the Christmas display and watching the Salvation Army Santa. He wasn't doing much, so I started to ask him questions (not in a disrespectful way) and he barked at me! This was very un-Santa like behaviour. My mom explained that this wasn't the real Santa, just a helper in a red suit and beard. Even then I was aware of bad advertising and felt that Santa should know he was being misrepresented!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When we began to question the logistics of Santa, the folks left it up to us to find explanations. By then, our reasoning far surpassed anything the folks could conjure. We came up with complicated intercontinental business dealings and covert works with the military. We decided what could be done by magic and was actually done by hand. We talked about houses without chimneys, apartment buildings and all the other obstacles to delivery and figured stuff just "went in". We knew one thing for sure: as long as we believed in Santa, he would come.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I stole a small purse once. I took it from Orek's department store in North Vancouver. I wanted it, I didn't have the money and I took it when no one was looking. When I got it home, I hid it in my closet so nobody would find it and ask where I got it from. I knew better. I had been given all the lectures. I was in the church choir and Brownies and I certainly knew the commandment "Thou shalt not steal"...but, I did it anyway. I never returned it. I was too embarrassed to do so. I kept it without ever using it, as a reminder of something I'd done for the fun of it, but had never enjoyed. I had it until I left home, and the guilt still lingers.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Whenever I was with a group of kids, the temptation to shoplift was greater. There was a thrill to be shared and safety in numbers. My chums were more likely to talk about it than to actually do it, but once in awhile, one of us would give in. After a hasty escape and covert examination of the booty, the accusations would come and the "winner" reduced to the level of common thief. I remember sneaking back into Orek's department store to return an object after we had stolen it- and I have to say, this was more fun than taking it!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I have been tempted to take something from a store and on two occasions I admit to having done so! It's such an easy thing to do, sometimes: no supervision, no cameras, nothing to stop you but your conscience. My conscience has stopped me from doing a lot of things. I'm grateful to have one - and whether it's a quality that's learned or a gift from birth, everyone must have one. I tried to make sure that my kids knew the difference between right and wrong but even with the most rigorous explanations, they still had to find out for themselves what it was like to deal with guilt and retribution.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When I was about six, I took a small purse from a local variety store. I also confess: when I was about 35, I stole a skipping rope from Ikea. I don't know why I did it. I had the opportunity and I thought my daughter would play with it. I ran to the car, hiding it in my other packages and drove away like a thief with a prize. It was exciting, actually. I didn't need or want this thing, but I got away with an illegal act and it was fun. At least until I got home. By then, the thrill had been replaced by a litany that played over and over in my head; "What did you do that for, you idiot?!" I mailed the skipping rope back to the store with a note to say that I had taken it by mistake; that I'd forgotten to pay for it. I never heard from Ikea- but I didn't want their thanks. The sense of relief was all that I needed!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I enjoyed spinning this story along for a while. December is always a difficult month when it comes to money- and the temptation to take things to give as gifts to others is very strong. I hoped that by showing how hard it was for Michael to live with his conscience I might deter another young person from doing some "Christmas shoplifting". This story was based on a true incident. Aaron had taken a toy from the Hudson's Bay store and confessed when I asked him where the money had come from to buy it.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The woman took the toy, laughed, put it back on the shelf and in front of Aaron said "No problem. Kids take stuff all the time!" I was livid. Here was an opportunity to teach a child about honesty and she passed it off as if it was nothing.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When a child - or anyone - rights a wrong, they need recognition. To have Michael return the scarf without some praise for his honesty would have been wrong. For every manager who would punish a gesture like this, there are many more who will acknowledge the courage required when a thief returns what was taken and is ready to face the music! In this case, Michael faced both his mother and the store manager proving he had "strength of character"!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The thing about writing a sit-com style of strip is that secondary characters have to be there on hand to deliver "straight lines" These comments they would likely NOT say in real life, but do so here, in order to make the dialogue interesting. Quotes like Lawrence's here are added so the reader can weigh the outcome: Since I got away with it, would I have taken the stolen article back or would I have been nuts to do so?

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Lynn's Comments: In retaliation for the store manager's off-handed response, I did this short storyline about theft, guilt and honesty and sent it in. As Farley Mowat said (when I asked him if everything he wrote in his books was true), "If it didn't happen, it SHOULD have!" My thoughts exactly!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I got into trouble for this story line, too; people who read the comics to their children didn't want to have to explain the origin of the Santa species. But, I figured if the kid was old enough to read and understand the comics page, he likely had the Santa thing figured out anyway. Not so, apparently!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I remember lying on the couch the day before Christmas, watching the clock. My dad walked in to the living room and bragged that he knew how to make the time go faster. I said I didn't believe him and the game was on. He took me to the basement and had me help him empty the "clinkers" from the wood and coal furnace. He let me relight the fire and watch the rolled newspapers and kindling ignite. We refilled the small metal humidifier and made space in the coal bin for another load. After a bath and a snack, the clock had moved an hour. He was right. My dad had made the time go faster!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Lynn's Comments: As a teenager, I often worked at Woodwards - a big department store in Vancouver. Every Christmas, at the last possible moment, anxious men would come into the store, desperately looking for "the right thing" for wives and girlfriends. Because my dad was a jeweller, I was most comfortable in the watch and jewellery department- which was the first place these crazed gents would go. Being a "shopper", I always looked around the store to see what perfect gifts I could find- for a mom or a girlfriend. I could always suggest something better than the fast "OK, that gew-gah looks good- I'll take it!" I was often given "time out" to take people to other departments where I'd point out a beautiful purse, glove and scarf set or unique linens or cookware. So many times, these men would return after Christmas and thank me for the ideas and it made me feel great! Who knew that in a few more decades, "professional shopper" would become a career!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I don't know about you ladies out there, but I'd much rather get a food processor for Christmas than a nightgown that was chosen by my husband!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I love having adult children. They tell me the truth NOW about things I suspected when they were little. I just found out that both kids knew exactly where to find my hidden cache of Yuletide gifts. Even worse, they actually unwrapped and carefully rewrapped them! The one concession was that Katie admitted to being disappointed on Christmas morning when she unwrapped gifts that were no longer a surprise. As her grandfather was fond of saying: "Cheaters never prosper!"

Monday, December 19, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Getting the kids ready for tree cutting trip took almost as much time as the event itself. Bundling them into layer after layer of winter duds followed by a drive out into the bush was a challenge. Follow this with a tiring search for the right tree and you have a cold and hungry family ready to take down the first semi suitable shrub in the area.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The annual trek into the bush to get our Christmas tree was a Lynn Lake ritual. The trouble was that the good trees were only visible in the summer. You'd have to tag the tree and hope someone else didn't cut it down before you did! December temperatures would often dip below -39C so you had to know where you were going and take your tree fast - before you froze to the spot where you were standing. A frozen trunk wasn't always the easiest thing to chop or saw through, either!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Kids are always excited about Christmas. Moms spend so much time preparing for the big day that their fun only lasts for a few hours on the morning of the 25th- before the great feast! Moms don't get the same bang for the buck as the rest of the clan, whereas Dads are far more into "Santa Claus" than they let on. Even though he knew what was in most of them, I would find my husband sniffing and shaking the boxes under the tree when he thought nobody was looking.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My brother and I were allowed to open one gift and our stocking if we got up before our parents did. Naturally, we were up before 6am, whispering in the dark as we sniffed out the right gift to open. Our dad, not wanting to miss any of the fun, was soon sitting under the tree next to us, waiting for Mom to make the coffee. Nothing could be opened until she had a coffee in her hand. Even now, the smell of fresh brewed coffee on Christmas morning signals that it's time for the greed-fest to begin.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When our kids were little, I wished that my parents didn't live so far away. Christmas time, especially, would have been better if the other set of "grands" had been there to share it with. The telephone was the next best thing and the bill became our annual gifts to each other.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Every year, New Year's Eve was celebrated in a private home; all of us taking turns hosting the event. We had a pretty nice rec room downstairs: a bar, big bathroom, two large couches to sleep on and lots of chairs. When it was our turn to have the big bash, I decorated as best I could with whatever was available at the local shops and applied my mother in law's recipe for a good time: "make sure everyone is a little sauced before you serve the food".

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Lynn's Comments: In reality, it was I who felt uncomfortable in a crowd. My husband fit nicely into any large group and could dig into any conversation easily. If the gathering was at our place, I knew my role. But if it was elsewhere, however, I would rather help the hostess in the kitchen than try and fit in with the guests. Despite the public speaking and all the travelling I do, I'm still out of my element when I'm in a crowd!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I enjoy company, but I always seem to make too much food. I make hors d'oeuvres, salads, mixed drinks and have munchies on hand, so when it comes time for dinner, everyone is too full to eat anything. I always have a ton of perishable leftovers, which then go into the fridge to die. Party food is only good when there's a party!