13

WHEN ORDERING FROM A FAST-FOOD RESTAURANT, TRY TO DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT BEFORE YOU GET TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I figured since Dad reads the comics, I might as well write a few that were specifically targeted at him.

AFTER YOU'RE DONE WITH YOUR SHOWER, PLEASE RINSE YOUR HAIR OFF THE SOAP! I would've written a bunch of comics last night, but Sweetie was driving me crazy and I couldn't concentrate. While I was drawing, the dog was sitting on my pillow licking his paws and his tail, and he was really getting into it. Whenever Sweetie does that, I have to remember to

flip the pillow over when I go to bed. Last night I forgot, and when I lay down I put my head right on the wet spot. Speaking of licking, Sweetie finally kissed Dad last night. It's probably because Dad had potato chips on his breath, and I think dogs have an automatic response to that sort of thing. I didn't have the heart to tell Dad that Sweetie had just spent the past half hour on my pillow licking his rear end. Anyway, I'm hoping I can write a few more comics tonight, because I'm not gonna be able to get any work done tomorrow. Tomorrow's the Fourth of July, and Mom is making the whole family go to the town pool.

I tried to get out of it, mostly because I want to make it through the summer without having to walk past the shower guys. But I think Mom's still hoping to have one perfect family day this summer, so there's no use fighting it. Monday My Fourth of July started out pretty rough. When I got to the pool, I tried to get through the locker room as quickly as I could. But the shower guys were really chatty, and they didn't make it easy on me. nkledc. Then Mom told me she left her sunglasses out in the car, so I had to go BACK through the shower area to

the parking lot. I wore Mom's sunglasses on the return trip to make it clear I wasn't interested in conversation, but that didn't work out so good, either. HEY, GREG, WHERE'D YOU GET THOSE COOL SHADES? Seriously, I wish those guys would just take a shower at home before they came to the pool. Because once you see somebody like that, you can never look at them the same way again.

After I got past the locker room, things didn't get a whole lot better. The scene was just about how I remembered it, except more crowded. I guess everyone had the same idea to spend the Fourth at the pool. The only time the pool cleared out was when the lifeguard called a fifteen-minute rest break and all