Heat Source
Cidu Bill on Jan 3rd 2010
Okay, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d have my 16-year-old and his heat source out of there so fast it would make their heads spin.
Filed in Bill Bickel, Zits, comic strips, comics, humor | 32 responses so far
Marshal Jan 4th 2010 at 12:15 am 1
Is that Sara or one of the others?
Cidu Bill Jan 4th 2010 at 12:17 am 2
Presumably Sara — especially since her arm’s draped around Jeremy
Cornbread Jan 4th 2010 at 12:22 am 3
They’re obviously not doing anything wrong (except maybe wasting gas). I think most parents of teenagers these days would be okay with some innocent snuggling with clothes on, though they may need some time to get used to the idea. But then, I’m closer to being a teenager than being a parent, so my view may be skewed.
As I once pointed out after I started dating my first boyfriend, there’s nothing inherently sexual about a bed (which we snuggled on, without my parents caring), nor in this case a car seat, any more than the dining room table that’s a more traditional studying place.
Cidu Bill Jan 4th 2010 at 12:41 am 4
It’s not what’s they’re sitting or reclining on as much as the closed doors. I’m a parent, but I’m not so old that I don’t remember being a teenager.
And just for the record, I hope they’re not wasting gas, because if they’re hanging out in the bus with the doors and windows closed and the motor on, Jeremy’s parents are going to find a couple of dead bodies in tomorrow’s strip.
Maybe if this were Funky Winkerbean…
Charlene Jan 4th 2010 at 01:12 am 5
Bill, CO poisoning isn’t a danger, ever, when a properly maintained vehicle is running outdoors as this one is. The danger arises when the vehicle is in an enclosed space such as a garage where the exhaust can’t dissipate and enters the vehicle through the air vents.
The scenario in this comic would only be dangerous if the the exhaust pipe was cracked and leaking CO directly into the passenger cabin., but even in that case idling would still be no more dangerous than driving.
Kate C Jan 4th 2010 at 01:20 am 6
Someone’s gonna have to explain this one to me, “Flatterer?”
Rob W Jan 4th 2010 at 01:45 am 7
She’s being sarcastic since he seems to be saying that she’s there to keep him warm, not because she’s special to him.
chuckers Jan 4th 2010 at 05:16 am 8
Well, apparently Mom can’t see into the van based on how she is holding her hands up against the frosted windows, trying to see in. If she finds out about the heat source, she might just take the same sort of actions you would, Bill.
yellojkt Jan 4th 2010 at 06:14 am 9
If my van is rockin’ don’t come knockin’.
As a parent I would have hustled both kids into the house. If they want to ’study’ together they should go park in an empty orange grove like I used to.
Dan Jan 4th 2010 at 07:18 am 10
I’m sure the van’s not running, else we’d see exhaust coming out the back (since it’s obviously so cold that Jeremy’s Unsightly Mom’s breath can be seen).
labradog Jan 4th 2010 at 07:30 am 11
Well, aren’t you a friggin’ bow-tie daddy?
mitch4 Jan 4th 2010 at 08:31 am 12
Thanks, Kate and Rob. That makes more sense than my first reading which was that Jeremy is indirectly calling her “hot” in the sense of sexy/attractive, and she actually is a bit flattered.
Nicole Jan 4th 2010 at 08:34 am 13
Heat source … Hot… Jeremy is flattering Sara by calleing her hot.
Barrett Chase Jan 4th 2010 at 08:49 am 14
Listen, if your 16-year-old has a van, they’re going to boink in it. That’s just an obvious fact of life. So any parent whose kid drives a van must be okay with them boinking in the van, because otherwise, there’d be no van to boink in. Either that or there’s some serious denial going on.
Jeff S. Jan 4th 2010 at 10:13 am 15
The deadpan look on her face tells she’s being sarcastic. If she truly was flattered, she would be smiling… reacting in a different way.
Nicole Jan 4th 2010 at 10:26 am 16
Jeff S. — you are right… she is totally being sarcastic …. Jeremy is giving her this off hand compliment … that may be something of a sexual come on, and she isn’t biting.
I said MAY BE a sexual come on
Frank the curmudgeon Jan 4th 2010 at 11:29 am 17
Looks like they actually are studying. @CIDU BILL Are they any more at risque than in the basement playroom? @Charlene There is a question as to how well maintained the 20-50 year old Bus is.
Tim Jan 4th 2010 at 12:06 pm 18
At least this isn’t part of the naked “Love Isn’t” series.
DPWally Jan 4th 2010 at 12:33 pm 19
Charlene: “properly maintained vehicle” is the important phrase. The strip has never given us any reason to believe the vehicle is properly maintained, or that it’s possible to properly maintain a vehicle that old and that poorly-made.
Someone from my high school died that way. She and her boyfriend parked his truck at the end of an isolated lane, left the engine on for heat, and died of CO poisoning. (The local newspaper didn’t say what they were doing, but described the street as a “lovers lane”.)
Keera Jan 4th 2010 at 01:20 pm 20
Frank, was that a deliberate misspelling of “risk”?
Cidu Bill Jan 4th 2010 at 01:39 pm 21
Frank the C, I wouldn’t allow my 16-year-old son and his girlfriend free rein of the playroom with the doors closed either. The reality is, if they’re going to do it, they’re going to find a way to do it — but parents don’t have to make it easy, and that includes allowing the kid and the kid’s significant other excessive privacy.
And a father of boys, I’ve decided that the responsible rule of thumb is “Act as if the girl’s my daughter rather than the boy my son.” I guess you can make arguments for calling this sexist or anti-sexist, but it seems right to me.
Cidu Bill Jan 4th 2010 at 01:42 pm 22
When I was in sixth grade, the (married) older brother of a classmate died (along with his girlfriend) in an incident identical to the one DPWally describes. Our teacher found it necessary to share every last detail with the class — and not, by the way, because she wanted to warn of of the hazards of CO2 poisoning, but because this was just the sort of delightful woman she was.
Nicole Jan 4th 2010 at 02:43 pm 23
CIDU Bill @ 21 “The reality is, if they’re going to do it, they’re going to find a way to do it — but parents don’t have to make it easy, and that includes allowing the kid and the kid’s significant other excessive privacy. ”
I actually have very mixed feelings about this, in general I think that 16 year olds are not emotionally ready to have sex. But if they are going to have sex (which we all seem to think they will) I would much rather have them do it somewhere safe and using proper precations, than parked in some back alley, to be arrested or possibly assaulted … or die by CO poisoning.
But this raises the question: “Why aren’t they emotionally ready to have sex ?” Clearly we as a species are physically able to have sex and bear children at a young age. Are we retarding the development of our children in some way ? Why have puberty at an age that is not ready to handle the responsibilty of sex and child rearing.
Yes, I know that puberty in girls is occuring at a younger and younger age due to pseudo estrogens in the environment — but I am sure that most women would reach puberty naturally by the age of 16 without the chemicals we are putting in the environment .
Cidu Bill Jan 4th 2010 at 03:06 pm 24
Nicole, we’re in agreement here: My “talk” was along the lines of “You’re too young so you shouldn’t do it; but if you’re going to anyway, don’t be stupid about it.” Of course, the risk here is that, like Ginger, all they hear is “blahblahblahblah do it; blahblahblah do it blahblahblah.”
Barb Jan 4th 2010 at 04:11 pm 25
My mother in law was so afraid of her youngest son (not my husband BTW) dying in just the manner described by several in this thread (she lived in Michigan) that she gave him carte blanche to the family room anytime he wanted to have a girlfriend over. Not sure if he extended that privilege to his daughter when she was still living at home! Somehow things aren’t the same as in the 70s!
paperboy Jan 4th 2010 at 04:25 pm 26
CIDU Bill#21- “Act as if the girl’s my daughter rather than the boy my son.” You are a d@mn good parent in my book, for what it’s worth.
Jeff S. Jan 4th 2010 at 05:49 pm 27
There’s nothing like having your 16 yr old son come into the room and say, “Dad, your going to get a call from my girlfriend’s mother any minute now. We ‘did it’, and her mom found out.”
I literally had a pain shoot into my lower back that hit me so hard, I had to lie on the floor to relax enough to talk to him about it. At least they listened enough to use protection, so all I had to do was just die from embarrassment when she called and not have to explain how my son was going to do his part in raising a child.
Cidu Bill Jan 4th 2010 at 06:05 pm 28
Jeff, I’m not sure why it was in your place to “die of embarrassment” — her daughter clearly had a role in this as well.
Tullia Jan 4th 2010 at 09:23 pm 29
All I gotta say is: man, I would not put up with being in that position if I were Sara. No, I mean her physical position. I sat in the standard insane young-people postures way back when (lying on the floor with legs propped at full length on the wall, triple-wrapping my legs around each other, etc.), and Sara’s position looks uncomfortable. It looks especially so given that her back is pressed to the side of the van, itself uncomfortable, and it’s cold outside.
And yeah, I’d tell them to get their butts in the house, too. If nothing else, I too believe kids might have sex in such a situation, and I would doubt that they’d be in that van with birth control, proper care for their extremities, care for curious neighbours peering in … I think some 16-year-olds could have sex without breaking their brains, but a van’s not a good place for it.
buzz Jan 5th 2010 at 12:52 am 30
I have no doubt Connie yanked ‘em both out muy pronto.
The Bad Seed Jan 5th 2010 at 01:55 am 31
By the way, if they were indeed breathing heavily because of passion and/or physical activity, the CO would poison them even faster. Is it too “airplane food” to end this post with a joke about how they would at least die with smiles on their faces?
paperboy Jan 5th 2010 at 01:48 pm 32
Where else would the smile be?