Window #11
Dave changes things up a bit in this issue by making the entire thing about one story. That cover page sums it up pretty well, as one of the bigger girls at Dave’s school tries to get a Tamagotchi from a smaller girl and her friend. The smaller girls make it clear that the device isn’t with them at school, things escalate for the poor girl on the cover (things get even worse than that for her), and somebody in authority is finally called in. I was a little annoyed at the lack of resolution until I realized that bullies and beatings like this rarely got satisfying resolutions when I was in school either. Teachers would get both sides of the story, one of those sides would be completely fabricated, and the frazzled teacher would have too much going on to make an accurate call, so they would usually split the difference. Dave wasn’t physically present in this issue, so I’m left wondering how he pieced this together. Did he get the accounts of the girls involved? Bits and pieces from various teachers who observed certain parts of this exchange? Either way it does an excellent job of summing up the chances these kids have of getting things decided fairly. It’s probably best to get them used to such disappointments at an early age, he says pessimistically. These books remain hard to find, but if you can’t they’re generally only a buck of two, so be on the lookout.
