For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 26, 2022

Hang in there, Mikey.

He’s lost? How long has he lived there?

How can you tell when a pay phone is filthy? By the amount of black you get on your nose from using one.

So what is mom supposed to do?

For once mike is right, when you’re in trouble, only mom can rescue you.

You really will not be in much trouble. You just will not get to use the car again.

did they not have collect calling in Canada in the 90s?

did John splurge and get a CD changer on that car or did Mike have to blast Informer by Snow on a tape deck?

This is kind of strange and maybe my memory is faulty, but if this is dated in 1993, and Michael is at a gas station, couldn’t you still get free complimentary road maps from gas stations back then? (I’ve still got a tattered road map from Texaco in the bottom of the glove compartment.) If not, then just ask the station attendant, I am sure the attendant should know where they work.

When in doubt call Mom

And when Mike finally gets home, will John and Elly become Ward and June Cleaver?

You know—John scolding and lecturing, and Elly hovering like a helicopter?

Or maybe, the other was around.

“Mommy mommy mommy mommy wah wah wah I’m an irresponsible little boy…”

I guess nobody here ever got lost when they first started to drive

The fact that this strip is a reflection of Lynn Johnston’s own family has always caused a lot of tension between her ex-husband Rod and their kids.…

Panel 4: Such a gloating look on his face… Needs to be smacked upside the head…

Lynn’s Comments:

With cell phones and GPS, we don’t have these problems today, but when this strip was drawn, the discovery of a roadside pay phone was a blessing.

I’m sensing a lifeline, but one with a hook on the end of it. Still, any port in a storm.

Luck of the draw, Michael. I guess you finally found your dime.

A friend and her husband bought a house out in the county, and her husband (city slicker) had trouble finding it. She told him to pick a landmark near their home. He got lost, of course. She asked him why he didn’t use his landmark to find his way. He said he did, but someone moved the cows. After she stopped laughing, she told him to get a new landmark, like a barn.

It is always Mom.

If Mike hears his dad’s voice on the other end, he’s all but guaranteed to have a heart attack.

Elly comes in her car and she leads Mike back to the house at 15MPH.

And the next morning at breakfast,the empty seat reminds them that they forgot to pick up Lizz.

Anyone else remember Thomas Guides? Huge map books that covered every street in a city. We always had one in the car.

Hooray for Moms everywhere!!!

If he can ask for a phone, why can’t he ask for directions?

He is never going to live this down. In the present, I would bet they even told Robin and Meredith about this incident. Just one of those embarrassing family stories.

Mom to the rescue!

Michael could have been trapped behind a picket of truck drivers protesting mandates in Canada.

Poor Mike, it’s like he’s running to Stalin seeking protection from Hitler!

Until you start driving yourself, you mostly just look at the sites as you go by not at how you get to them, and at night everything is completely different, than day time land marks.