Grandpa Jim Has a Stroke Part I

Today on For Better or For Worse was very difficult to snark. Left on a cliffhanger like it was, you don’t know if grandpa Jim is dead or not, so you can’t take it any too far, without making your character seem inhuman and uncaring. I suspected that Grandpa Jim was not dead, really for no other reason than it would not give Lynn the opportunity to give Jim a grand exit as she did for Marian years ago, where Marian met with everyone and gave out kind words and doled out generous old woman wisdom left and right. Jim has to have his chance to dole it out also. Plus, we have to get Phil and Georgia back for an appearance, and it wouldn’t do if the occasion was Jim’s funeral.

The only thing I really snarked was Elizabeth not visiting grandpa Jim in the last 3 months, since it was one of the things she said in the monthly letters she wanted to do in the South. A little research uncovered that Elizabeth has not been to his apartment in any of the archive strips. By the way, the Shaking Tent ceremony, I described is once again, an actual Ojibway tradition for dealing with sicknesses that are believed to come from unnatural causes and not natural ones.

With tomorrow’s strip we have Elly announcing it is a stroke. We know that it will be because Elly is always right. There are a number of other problems which can cause unconsciousness, so it doesn’t have to be a stroke, but it will be. The only question now is how long with Lynn write the recovery time taking? Judging from Elly’s menopause, I would say forever.