Wait a minute. Why is Lyssa telling the camp director that she’s Reade? What’s in the can?* Camp Runamucca employs Neanderthals? Would you use that outhouse?
Guess we’ll find out the answers to some of those questions next time!
Next time might be on Thursday, but it’s more likely it’ll be Monday. We’re in the final week of rehearsal (we open Friday! Yikes!), and what little brain I have left is focusing on the show. I’ll keep you posted. So far it’s a lot of fun, and a lot of work. Just like Groovy, Kinda!
*I bet you’ve got a good idea about that one.
Seriously? Okay, whatever chaos they’re about to unleash on these camp jerks is entirely deserved. You do not get to ignore and dismiss the safety of two campers like that. Frankly, they should be put out of business.
I was going to have the Director point out that Biff and Bradley’s families were large contributors to the running of Camp Runamucca, but the writing went in another direction.
Yeah, that’s no way to run a camp full of kids. Somebody needs to be taught a lesson.
Time for good ol’ pirate justice, I guess. You can’t say they didn’t give the principal a chance to set things right.
That’s what Lyssa wanted to do. Well, she gave them a chance.
Now it’s the pirate’s turn.
Wow, this strikes such a chord right now. There’s a debate going on over here about bullying, and the gross neglect of authority figures in cases like this. And alot of heartbreaking stories about ruined lives and suicides have cropped up. So I say to hell with the consequences. Let’em have it!
It is another beautiful page, though. Love the third panel in particular, and how it connotes a flashlight in a dark room. So cool. Also, why is Lyssa posing as Reade? Kind of seems like they figured what the camp authority’s response would be, and wanted to give them a chance to do the right thing, but knew they wouldn’t.
There has been a long held belief that interfering with bullying would make things worse. In part, because it was “good” for the bullied person to “learn their place”, and because they had to resolve it for themselves, or they would be weakened in some vague way. Another part was the idea that if the authority figure stepped in, the bullies would just come down harder on the victim, as revenge.
Of course, this was also in light of the idea that the bullies were well adjusted members of society, acting out proper justice on non-conforming misfits, who needed to be shown the error of their ways, via a good pounding.
Schools, camps, sport activities, all have a strong need to force their charges to conform to some standard. Might makes right, and all that.
Best way to deal with a bully is to out-bully them.
When my son was picked on by an older kid at a day camp I paid the little snot a “visit”. Pulling up on my Harley was a good start. I told him who I was and that if he touched my son I would kick his sorry ass up and down the street. I then said if his parents didn’t like it I’d kick their asses, too.
My son said whenever he entered a room where the “bully” was he (the bully) would get up and leave.
Problem solved…
That’s a great story, Richie. Best of all, it worked.
Thanks, Charlie.
Perhaps not my finest hour, but I remembered being bullied as a kid and didn’t want my son to have to deal with it as well…
I’m sure there’s a bunch of people who would decry your action for what they think are good reasons, but frankly, I LIKE it. You didn’t hurt anyone in actual fact, but you made a bully realize that consequences can be scary. And that’s the biggest problem with most bullies – they’ve learned that there aren’t any consequences. They can do whatever they like and the worst that will happen is someone will “talk to them.”
That said, it’s a bit difficult to come up with consequences that work but that don’t step over the line themselves. Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” (the novel, not the movie, though it tried) talked about this in one of those classroom flashbacks. But the solution in the novel was public flogging, which isn’t really what I’d consider a viable option. They compared it to housebreaking a puppy. “You scold him so that he knows he’s in trouble, you rub his nose in it so that he will know what trouble you mean, you
paddle him so that he darn well won’t do it again — and you have to do it right away!” Is there an answer better than a simple scold and less traumatic than a flogging?
Thanks, and don’t think I didn’t give it some serious thought.
I finally realized the kid wasn’t going to go tell his parents some grown-up threatened him because he would then have to admit he was picking on a smaller kid…
It’s about the safety of the campers. Both mental and physical. Parents are trusting the employees of Camp Runamucca to keep their kids safe.
Sure, accidents will happen. But this isn’t an accident. Those two should’ve been kicked out long ago. Years ago.
Lyssa has more than one reason to wish that the Director had expelled those two. That’s all I can say at the moment.
The Director has forgotten the most important lesson-to keep the kids safe. Chances are this isn’t the first time something like this has been “brushed under the rug.”
But Lyssa’s going to make darn sure that it’s the last.
We know that Eleanor can be very dangerous when angry. This camp admin/campers are going to find out Lyssa and her crew will do.
BTW, is there any of blowing up the picture easily?
Unfortunately, there isn’t a way of blowing up the picture. I post it at 780 dpi, which isn’t very big.
But, you can see a much larger version (and cut up for mobile devices) over at the Groovy, Kinda Tapastic site.
It makes for an interesting difference in the reading experience, I’ve found. “I, Mummy” does it too.
Eleanor would’ve blown up a building or two before she talked with the Director. Lyssa will (we hope) be a little more circumspect.
“Main telephone line. Do not cut.” Charlie, you’re killing me again. ^^
He-hee! I’m glad you like it. Yeah, when that image came to me, I knew I had to do it.
I’m sure they also have huge air ducts that people can comfortably crawl through in an emergency.
And a small, unguarded thermal exhaust shaft.
Hey, a trope is a trope. Who are we to argue? ^^