Notes on #17;
1. I came up with this idea months ago, but I had to do it now for this reason: it was 25 years ago, on February 12, 2000, that Charles Monroe Schulz left this world.
I found out the next morning. I woke up early that Sunday morning, drew a bath, and got the paper, got in the tub, and read Schulz’ last strip. It was the same goodbye letter as his final daily, published in December 1999, but with a collage of classic scenes surrounding it. Oddly enough, almost immediately after, the announcer on the jazz station playing in the background gave the news. As I say in the tub holding the funnies and started to cry. I’d been following Charlie Brown and Snoopy since I was four years old.
2. My original idea for this one ended with panel two, but I had a change of heart. I didn’t want to end with a bitter Charlie or with someone being mean to him. I had to give him some happiness.
In the end, Schulz also gave Charlie some happiness. He never flew the kite, kicked the football, won a baseball game or sat down to lunch with the little red haired girl. That wouldn’t be funny, after all. But he did enjoy a relationship with a girl who liked the way he danced, and his dog was always by his side.
3. So I’m sentimental, so sue me.
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