Pushing 40: Browse The Strips

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Lynn's Comments: This scenario dates back to my own childhood. My brother and I would torment each other by simply staring. This "game" even had a name: it was "Seeing" (from the lament, "Daddy! She's seeing at me!") This could get intensely annoying, and when my brother finally broke down and asked Dad to intervene, he got into the act. He invented the "one eye see," the "two eye half see," the "blinking see," and so on. With Dad ready to play the game along with us, the sport quickly lost its competitive sting and we gave it up. That is until I told my kids about it--and the tradition carried on.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Lynn's Comments: The cherry tree in our front yard on Fifth Street was tall and sturdy, and one branch afforded us a great view of the neighbours' houses. Every time we hid up there, we hoped to see something important, something about which we could tell the police. If we didn't see anything, it didn't matter. Alan and I could always make something up.

Friday, July 15, 2016

Lynn's Comments: While writing this short vignette, I remembered very clearly the vigils we made in our cherry tree. I could feel the branches, smell the leaves, sense the movement of the tree, and anticipate the pummeling my mother would give us if she caught us up there. A cartoonist has to have a good memory and an even better sense of "what if?"

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Lynn's Comments: This vignette had its roots in another story from my childhood: Across the lane from our house on 5th Street, lived the Doucette family. Their back yard faced ours, and Teddy Doucette was one of my adventurous buddies. His sister, Annette, was a teenager a few years older than we were, and everything she did was of great interest to us. The Doucettes had a small wartime house much like ours, but their attic had an outside access with a ladder going up to it--a wonderful place to play and hide. The floors in their house were thin and made of painted wooden slats. The attic was directly above. In the ceiling of Annette's bedroom, a small knot had been carefully pried open, and from inside the attic, Teddy and I could spy into her room. We could see only a very small area, but the thought of watching her unseen was great fun. (Continued tomorrow).

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Lynn's Comments: (Continued from yesterday)--What we didn't know was that Annette could hear us in the attic. She had just entered her room when Teddy shifted his weight on the attic floor to get a better look. Suddenly, Annette looked up at the knothole and saw an eye looking back at her. We knew we had a matter of seconds to descend the outside ladder and escape. We just made it to the bottom when both Annette and her dad came roaring out of the house! Teddy and I ran as fast as we could, our legs pumping like mad down the lane and to temporary safety. It was exhilarating and well worth the tongue-lashing we received when we got back home. Teddy was sent to bed without supper. I was sent to my room until my dad came home.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Lynn's Comments: (Continued from yesterday)--I don't remember what my dad did. He was never much of a disciplinarian. All I can tell you is that he lived vicariously through my brother and me, and if he'd been our age, he would have been in that attic right along with us!