(Strip Number 1252, Original Publication Date, 6 February 1988)
Panel 1: We put sort of a capper on the school day when Mike says that he almost regrets not spending the night at school.
Panel 2: He then says that it was scary when the lights went out because it was like an air raid or something.
Panel 3: He then says that things like that change people because in an emergency, people act differently than they normally do.
Panel 4: He reveals a lot about himself and what he's come to expect when he says that just for a while, everyone cared about everyone else.
Summary: This is because he seems to have grown up with the expectation that in the normal course of events, no one seems to want to care about him or his concerns. Every time he's threatened with violence or told to go away when he just wants to be near Elly convinces him that people are built to be indifferent to one another.