For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 09, 2021

Ellie, you have no idea how DARK and FORBODING the house really is. Gordon does. :/

Elly tells Gordon the way it should be with his parents, but her thought bubble in the last panel lets the reader know she is not really that ignorant.

hang in there, Gordon

I still don’t think she should have ratted on him.

Elly, it is dark inside you. You know something is wrong but don’t know what it is. Listen to your guts. You’ve proven time and again you are not good at reading people. You tend to be oblivious except where your children are concerned. You are also naive to think all parents are like you and John, that Gordon would only get a lecture and a consequence like you and John would. You need to take a closer look – Gordon hiding in your car, being quiet as if facing something bad, and does not say much. Not a typical kid like Mike when he gets in trouble – blame others, complain about the unfairness of it all, etc. Learn to read other people, Elly, and the world while you are at it.

I maintain that parents like that lack self-esteem or have mental problems. They don’t know how to relate to their children, just want to dominate.

Tomorrow’s strip: the Patterson’s visit Gordon in foster care, as his parents rot in prison after they’e found guilty of felony child abuse.

Gordon believes that Elly’s talking to his parents will just make things worse for him. He could be right.…

The question for tomorrow is, will Gordon be spotting any bruises, or will he be taking some sick days off from school. (Unfortunately, I’ve seen both when I was in high school.)

While my parents’ home was a haven for a lot of our friends, my mother was naive and didn’t believe how bad it could be. One time my husband & I were talking to my mother. My brother & his wife were there, too. We were going to celebrate our 15th anniversary with a big ‘do. My mother asked if we were going to invite my husband’s parents (who lived far away). My husband said that his dad was too ill to travel, and “my mother & I don’t have a great relationshiip”. My mother sweetly said, “You HAVE to invite her. All mothers love their children.” That’s when my husband dropped a huge truth bomb on my mother, letting her knew exactly how he grew up (his mother was abusive). My mother said, “If I had grown up like that, I think I’d have a drinking problem.” My husband said, “I do.” My brother said, “…but I’ve never seen you with a drink…ohmigod!” as the truth dawned on him. His wife, who had grown up in very similar circumstances as my husband, just smiled & nodded. My mother swore that, from that moment on, she’d be the mother my husband never had. In 2018, right before my mother died, my husband thanked her for doing just that.

Sad how child abuse never seems to end. I guess there will always be grown people that feel inferior so they take it out on the kids and that makes them feel superior. Just like men who beat their wives, all it proves is that they are truly inferior,

She just sent this kid into the meat grinder.

Lynn’s Comments:

This strip left readers wondering and imagining what was happening behind those closed doors. Not showing anything more was a good thing—it kept the strip from becoming too negative, and it gave readers the opportunity to think about what goes on in their own neighbourhoods. You can suspect something is happening, but you might never know for sure.

tomorrow Gord won’t show up for school, when they check on him, discover he’s in the hospital after ‘falling down the stairs’.

Seriously, no damage to the car, a harmless prank, why tell his parents at all.

If I came home and all the lights in the house were on, something was very wrong.

It was kinda around this point that Gordon kinda became their kid.

I read all these comments, and what I learned early in life, was that there are consequences for your actions. If one of my kids friends did what Gordon did, they would never be allowed at my house again. What if he had backed over the dog,or a person. Plus, the fact that he didn’t respect someone else’s property is a deal breaker.

Always the dilemma—intervene or not?

The house is bright because you lit the match…

I’m closing my eyes. Tell me when it’s over!

Speaking as a victim of horrible child abuse…the parents will always put on a good “public” face. And if you dare tell what is really going on in your “happy” home…you’ll get an extra beating and will be branded a liar.

After years of abuse at the hands of his father and stepmother, a classmate of mine shot and killed them. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The last I heard, he is doing well, married, and a father. I’m so happy for him.

One of the things my abusive 1st husband learned quickly was how to beat me without leaving marks. This was after I had him arrested for beating me in the face and the cops had photos.

Put Gordon on the auction block, or his parents will sell him to the Pattersons. Since he damaged Elly’s property, might as well become Elly’s property himself.

When I was young I watched my neighbors dad hit his son over the back with a 2 X 4

Lynn’s website had some unpublished strips. Some of them were where she felt the story fell flat on its face, others she said were too inappropriate for a family strip, such as one where Michael hit another boy. John saw it, grabbed Michael and gave Michael several hard whacks on his rear end, shouting “THAT will teach you to never hit people!”

Another strip that got cut (but did not seem as controversial) was where Michael flies cross-country as an unaccompanied minor. Prior to his flight he was talking to Lawrence.

Lawrence: “So you are going on a plane, all by yourself. How come?”

Michael: “I am going to visit my grandparents and they live in Alberta.”

Lawrence: “That is too bad. Whenever I want to visit my grandparents, all I need to do is catch the bus crosstown!”

Lynn’s Notes: I elected to pigeonhole this one on account of the punchline. I felt like Steven Bochco with the amount of characters in the strip and I was juggling enough as is! I ultimately decided that both of Connie’s parents were dead by the time Lawrence was born; as a result Lawrence never met his maternal grandparents.