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42 See You in the Funny Papers The dog’s breath hangs like a frosty conversation balloon in a cartoon about a woman and her dog who go for a walk on New Year’s Eve. This particular woman (a single gal, of course) wears sweat pants, flannel coat, and a stocking cap pulled over her ears. She wonders what the dog might say if the dog could talk (because often dogs can and do talk in comic strips, but sometimes they just bubble up thoughts). The woman asks her dog to speak, to say a few words (because perhaps he is just waiting to be asked). But he just looks at her in that baleful way and goes back to sniffing sidewalk cracks. If the dog is having a thought, she is not privy to it. The woman supposes she should assume the fuming, whimsical pose, with asterisks and exclamation points hovering over her head. After all, she is in the pitiable position of talking to an ink-spotted animal on the eve of the new year while other characters might be wearing lampshades on their heads or blowing toy kazoos with champagne fizzing crazily all over the place, the cork ricocheting off all the walls and dangling chandeliers. However, this woman will not spare a thought balloon for such a petty thing. She is glad for the dog, talking or not, and every exquisitely drawn star of the night. ...

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