Calvin Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t put much imagination into my name—
    Me: I was born on the same day that Bill Watterson published his very last comic strip?
    Susie: You’ve mentioned that.
    Me: My gramps gave me a stuffed tiger called Hobbes? I’m hyperactive and pathologically imaginative? And then, even more amazing, a girl lives two doors down and her name is Susie!
    Susie: I see. So my existence is merely an extension of your imaginary life.
    I lay back on my pillows. I could hear Hobbes purring like a lawn mower.
    Me: Maybe once you create an idea and millions of people are loving that idea, when you get brilliance and love all mixed up like that, it makes something that has to go somewhere. It impacts reality, like a meteorite hitting Earth. Bang! I think the universe just couldn’t let Calvin go.
    Susie: I’m sure they have a pill for that.
    Me: I don’t want to go on medication. I’m going to do something that will make me better, that will make Bill Watterson make me better.
    Susie: Medication will make you better.
    Me: I’ve asked Bill for one more comic strip, with Calvin, at age seventeen, in his right mind. No Hobbes.
    Hobbes: Hey!
    Me: I’m going to do something that will make him want to draw that comic for me.
    Susie: So what is this thing you’re going to do?
    Me: What was the last thing Calvin said? He was outside in the snow, and he said, let’s go exploring.
    Susie: I remember.
    Me: I’m going exploring. I’m going on a winter hike.
    Susie: When? What about school?
    Me: I told you, I can’t go back.
    Susie: So you’re going to let Maurice and all the ignorant people destroy your life? You’re going to let them decide what you think of yourself and what you can do? Okay. Fine. Where are you hiking? Out of town?
    Me: Out of the province.
    Susie:
    Me: Out of the country.
    Susie:
    Me: I’m going to walk to Cleveland, where Bill Watterson is reported to live.
    Susie: Cleveland? From Leamington?
    I nodded.
    Susie (her voice becoming a bit intense): So you think that if you do this thing, Bill Watterson is going to make another Calvin comic when so far nobody else has managed to convince him? Not other famous comic artists, not his publishers, not his millions of fans? You think that you walking around Lake Erie is going to change his mind?
    Me: Yeah, except for one thing. I’m not walking around the lake.
    Susie: How are you going to walk to Cleveland if you don’t walk around the lake?
    Me: I’m walking across the lake.
    Susie:
    Me (grinning):
    Susie (whispering): You think you’re Jesus …
    Me: On the ice! On the ice! How crazy do you think I am?
    Susie: Crazy enough to be in a hospital ward for crazy people. Did you know that every year people die on Lake Erie in the winter?
    I was losing her. I could hear Hobbes laughing in some out-of-my-vision corner of the room.
    Me: It’s been below freezing for a month, and—
    Susie: You’re trying to kill yourself!
    Me: Sooz, you have to do something big to get something big. Everyone wants more Calvin comics, but they don’t need it. Not like me. And even if they did, they don’t need it enough to do anything. Face it—nobody has tried very hard. This will be a pilgrimage, you know?
    Susie: A pilgrimage to kill yourself. Besides, it’s—it’s manipulative.
    Me: I’m not manipulating him. I’m just showing him how much I need him. People write letters to Bill, but nobody’s done a pilgrimage.
    Susie: And you think he’ll be waiting on the other side? With this comic?
    Me: That’s the idea.
    Susie stood staring at me, her eyes almost as big as her whole face.
    Susie: Okay. Okay. Since your brain has lost all reason, let’s remember at least that Bill’s brain is not to be messed with.
    Me: Maybe. But you never know about a brain like that. Bill is a genius.
    Susie: He worked hard.
    Me: What are the odds that you get both, genius and the