2. Booze good, drugs bad (Part II) – SEE SAW Comics, Webcomics from the Sequential Artists Workshop

2. Booze good, drugs bad (Part II)

An ornate pink heart reads, "St. Paul, Minnesota 1962." It hangs over a drawing of a reddish-brown building with smoking chimneys and surrounded by evergreen trees. Lynn narrates: "Giving birth on Valentine's Day at a Salvation Army home for single mothers* must have seemed a cruel joke to Pam. The man who got her pregnant disappeared and she never saw him again. *Stately Booth Memorial Hospital, a.k.a 'Watermelon Hill' - a nickname meant as a diss to the young women with round bellies that roamed its grounds. The vaguely sinister mansion served as both a home and birth facility. I would've liked knowing all of that and more, but the only thing I was told as a kid was: A young Lynn looks at someone off-panel, who says, "Your birthmother was a nurse and your birthfather had a Ph.D. in history.*" (*The latter turned out to be utterly false.) Lynn replies, "Are they still alive?" She looks slightly shocked and dismayed. The next panel is a close up of presumably her adoptive mother's eyes, which are brown and look angry, eyebrows furrowed. Lynn as narrator continues, "My questions went unanswered. I only knew my natural parents had been grown-ups. It wasn't the teen-in-trouble scenario, which made me wonder if they were dead. Or maybe I was the product of an affair. Who knew?"

Lynn narrates, "I hate the term 'birthmother.' Reminds me too much of 'brood mare.' I wouldn't mind 'first mother' so much if my Mom hadn't been the second of six children, a fact that probably still chaps her hide in the afterlife. Her main complaint was that there were baby portraits of her big sister Doris, but none of her. Calling Pam a first mother would make Mom a second mother and I do not wish to be haunted by the ghost of Lorraine any more than I already am." Lynn's mom wears her hair in 50s style curls. She wears a pearl necklace and earrings and a blue evening gown. She holds a dirty martini to her lips. Her brows are slightly furrowed as she says, "When the second baby turns up there isn't the time or money for photos. Or much else." Lynn continues, "So there was Pam, (well, my idea of her anyway)" A made-up Florence Stuart book cover, which reads, "Was young Nurse Winters enough of a woman to make the man she loved forget his past? RUNAWAY NURSE by Florence Stuart." A woman with red hair and a nurse's uniform looks down towards her shoulder, while behind her a man and woman are dressed in formal wear and stand close together. (narration continued) "and there was Mom (Lorraine)." Lorraine, still dressed in pearls and the blue dress, holds a clutch and a light blue scarf in her arms, which she crosses loosely in front of her. She is smiling in a way that feels forced. She thinks, "Oh great. Chicken Kiev again. Mary." Above her head, the words "Found at" and "luncheon" are cut off.

Lynn narrates, "When a child placement specialist called my folks to say they had a baby girl born on Valentine's Day for them to adopt, Mom immediately had a song for me." Lorraine holds a baby Lynn with wild orange hair in her arms, holding a spoon to Lynn's mouth. She says, "There's a song for everything, you know." Lorraine is turned around, burping baby Lynn, who looks unhappy. Lorraine sings, "Sweet comic valentine..." The narration continues: "Sometimes she'd sing it with all the over-the-top theatrical melodrama she could muster. She'd always been in chorale groups. Displays of affection made her cringe, maybe due to the stoic midwestern Swedish family she came from. She used humor to dilute the mush to great effect." Lorraine, back in her evening gown get-up, spreads her arms wide with finger-guns. She belts, "Stay little valentine, staaaay..." Narration: "But she had a song for me! Necessary info in lieu of non-existent hugs and I love yous. The song was 'My Funny Valentine*' (*Note: If you need to look it up, go for the Chet Baker version.) and as I grew older I imagined it revealed what she could not say. That I was admirable and she loved me, even if my looks were laughable and unphotographable with my messed up stack of red hair and violet eyes. I looked like a baby orangutan." Baby Lynn looks over Lorraine's shoulder with open mouth and spiked up orange hair.

Published On: November 2, 2023

Lynn as a young girl wears a pink dance dress, with spaghetti straps and decorative bows, and white tights with the black tap shoes from before. Her hair is tied up in a pony tail with a white ribbon. Her hands are on her hips. She thinks to herself, "shuffle, ball change," "whoops," "step, ball change, step, ball change." An arrow points out that she is "mostly copying the other girls."

Enzo sits on the floor of his room shirtless, back turned to the reader. In front of him is a wall of floating shelves holding books and trinkets. Next to him is a clothes hamper. He is holding a book open. "April 27. Worked. Had an early work meeting. After work, chopped a bunch of Mexican sunflower to feed some plants in need. Enzo dug through his comic collection."

Lynn's brother Adam reaches into a crib and touches baby Lynn's eyes with his "grubby mitts." He says, "Open your eyes, baby sister!"

Enzo waits in a park for Kim to pick him up, on a strip of sidewalk surrounded by grass. He wears a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, all black or simply silhouetted. There are lamp posts and palm trees in the background. "April 20. Worked. Enz left school early, coughing a lot. Went to Mom's while Enz did mock trial. Picked him up from the park."

Vanessa sits on a couch hugging her knees to her chest. A man sits next to her. They both look solemn, and are colored entirely in blue, except for their brown hair.

Vanessa lies in a neon green hospital bed with her legs in stirrups. She is actively in labor. Two people hold onto her legs, encouraging her.

Lorraine wears a pink-orange Butterick 2920 dress and jewelry. She smiles and holds up a dirty martini. She says, "The doctor says it calms my nerves. We won't be out too late."

Kim sits at a desk but is turned to face the viewer. A PC, keyboard and mouse are on the desk, and there is a chair a couple feet away. She is wearing glasses and comfortable clothes. Her legs are crossed. She holds a pencil in one hand, and grabs her shoulder with the other. Her dog sits at her feet; his ear is turned inside out. She points out that he's worried. "April 14. Worked on final project for class all day. Neck hurt. Tony took this picture because Molly and I both looked a mess. Enzo got a bad report card yesterday so we laid out some repercussions."

Lynn, in black and white, chugs from a glass.

A cat sits at a window sill, looking boldly at the reader. The fronds of a palm tree are reflected in the window. "April 8. Thursday. Worked. Tony had a union meeting, via Zoom. I had a call w/ team member from class. Enzo had mock trial."

Derek, wearing an orange turtle neck, poses with his arms outstretched above his head and making peace signs. His eyes are closed and he is smiling; he appears smug. There are camera flashes surrounding him, and two people hold microphones up to him. He says, "Hey! There's nothin' wrong with crying. Or been' soft. Or pig boys. I'm still a nice guy and that's what matters."

A person dressed in a green park ranger uniform holds a boom box over a beaver's dam. It plays water sounds. A beaver works on the dam and thinks, "Whatever, I don't care where I build it."

A girl looks over at a dog, who sits behind a fence. A red sign reads "BAD DOG."

A reddish brown building with smoking chimneys.

Derek sleeps in a hammock. He says, "JFC. KMS."

"Rory runs in a field surrounded by palm trees and other foliage. Description: "April 2. Watched Rory. Worked."

Young Lynn gazes at herself in a full length mirror. She is wearing a blue dress and too-big blue heels. She appears pregnant.

Derek sits on the floor with one of his kids, who reads a book and looks slightly bored. The title reads "Escape." Derek is talking to his kid.

Kim sits at a picnic table amongst trees and foliage. Caption: "March 26-27. Worked. Enzo's mock trial team won circuits. A co-worker bought me pho for my bday. I ate it at the park on break."

"Women often say they become invisible as they get older." Vanessa walks in a crowd, sandwiched by two fashionable younger women walking in different directions.

Part of a hand-drawn and colored map, labeled: "The Southwest Corner of Minneapolis in the 1960s..."

A man, likely Tony, stands on a ladder against the roof of a house, positioned right by a satellite dish. The house door is open. Reeds in the corner add a sense of balance to the panel. Description reads: "March 20. Saturday. Worked. Two summer permaculture practicums are now being offered. It will focus on the installations of food forests. Might have to quit my job in order to take'm. Anxious about the financial hit but I'd have more time for art/comics."

A black and white image of a house, with trees in the front and back and a speech bubble that reads, "What's new?"

Three people sit at a round kitchen table on a checkered tile floor. They appear to be in conversation. Description reads: "March 14. Spent the night at moms place in Bradenton. Ann and Mariely are on the night shift so we visited with them when they got home in the morning. Afterwards we got takeout breakfast and walked in the woods. Drove home after and relaxed."

Derek dressed like Uncle Sam, in a triumphant pose

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