(Strip Number 1622, Original Publication Date, 11 July 1989)
Panel 1: Elly speaks fluent Lynnglish when she tells Mike that he loved being a big brother because every day, he taught Lizzie something new. This looks like a compliment until one remembers that Elly is convinced that she, John and the people she trusts as surrogates should do so because any other influence is bad, wrong and would lead to their not owning horses. Also, the historical record tells us that Michael still loathes the idea of having younger siblings as (like his mother before him) he thinks it means his enslavement to them.
Panel 2: We flash back to Michael being a detrimental influence when he opens kitchen drawers in such a manner as to create a really crappy staircase that can't work.
Panel 3: We see the result when Elly arrives too late to stop Lizzie from grabbing a box of cookies out of the cupboard.
Summary: What people lose sight of when watching Mike show Lizzie how to do stupid things is that he doesn't know that his mother is still pissed at him for being a jerk because he's fooled by Lynnglish.
