(Strip Number 4101, Original Publication Date, 9 December 1981)
Panel 1: We find ourselves back at the Pattermanse; as Elly helps Mike with his winter clothes, she asks him why he's so late. He says that he had another detention.
Panel 2: It seems that they were having a dress rehearsal and Mike asked how it could be a dress rehearsal since no one was wearing a dress.
Panel 3: As a result, Mrs Hardacre made him stay behind and put away all the costumes.
Panel 4: His conclusion is that she's just got no sense of human.
Summary: What she's got is the same hang-up as Elly: the need to not let small children see her laugh lest she no longer be thought of as an authority figure. Outside the classroom, she's probably quite the cut-up but in front of her children, she's Old Lady Iron-britches with no sense of humor. It's the way she was trained to teach and it gets results so, despite privately regretting that the Michaels of the world have to wait until she's no longer in charge of them to see her softer side, wouldn't have changed a thing.