(Strip Number 720, Original Publication Date, 4 October 1984)
Panel 1: We start things off peacefully enough when Elly tells Michael to wash his face before dinner because Phil and Georgia are coming over.
Panel 2: His telling her "later" is somehow both unexpected and alarming despite it being both typical of a poorly raised child like him and eminently predictable.
Panel 3: This example of a jackass stirring up the shit to see what happens sets Elly on a rant about his attitude as she sends him to wash his face immediately.
Panel 4: As he enjoys the tantrum he hoped for, Michael thought-bubbles that he can get a lot of mileage out of a one-word answer.
Summary: Elly never seems to have realized that she'd given birth to a shit-disturber. Always and ever, she expected that he wouldn't try to push her buttons and always and ever she let her buttons GET pushed because of her poor impulse control.