And with the troubles at school behind us, I’m moving back to the Andi subplot a little bit. It’s been awhile, so here’s some refresher links: The last time we saw Andi, scheduling a meeting with Lillian. The only time we’ve seen Andi’s mother before now.
In other news, I want to announce two things. The first is that I want to share this ADORABLE Selkie Sculpy, sent to me by Ellen:
Thank you, Ellen!
Second item is that I have decided to open up a Patreon to support my webcomics.
For anyone who may not be aware, Patreon is a website that allows supporters to pledge amounts of their choosing to be donated once a month. You can make monthly pledges for as little as $1, or at any amount you wish to pledge. I’ve set up a few milestones and goals for pledges per month and total overall pledges which can get you some extra content from me in exchange for your ongoing support.
This is somewhat of an experimental thing for me, I’m excited to see where it goes. If it goes well enough, I could even afford to make Selkie and Sue and Kathryn my full-time job and create strips five or even seven days a week.
Have a look-see, and even if you can’t pledge know that I am grateful to every single reader for continuing to follow my work and read my stories. Thank you for visiting and supporting what I do, in each and every way.
Just saw what I posted on strip we last saw Andi on. I stand by the comment this won’t end well.
Seeing as she’s not doing it for the sake of the kid, and doing it due to her obsession, I tend to agree.
Panel 5: uhhm. I think the dialogue has got slightly reversed.
Thank you, yes I messed up the speech bubbles in this initial version. It will be fixed with the coloring update in a bit.
Hey, not sure if this is intentional or just beta or…
But the speech bubbles in panel 5 are a little confusing. I’m guessing that Andi is saying the “here for a favor” bit, and her mom is saying the “how have you been” thing, but it looks like the opposite is true (mom saying here for favor, Andi asking how are things)
Also love the comic, long time reader (started reading after I follow a link some years ago from Dominic Deegan, never looked back 😉 )
See this is why my icon is a slow poke. It took me so long to write that I ended up posting after someone else, even though there where no comments when I started.
oh well. Such is life.
Isn’t she the woman who convinced her to give Amanda up?
Yes, she is.
So that’s why she looks like that. I bet she said “it’s for the best. Think of your future”. Because having a baby only seems to “ruin” women’s lives. -_-
It depends on the woman (or girl) who has the baby. Sometimes it’s not so to help the mother, but to protect the baby. I can name a quite a few instances (a couple in my family) where the babies probably would have had a better shot at a decent childhood in an adoptive home than with their natural parents. Whether or not Andi turns out to be one of those types of “mothers”—versus a victim of being pressured into a bad decision—is about to be seen.
Considering in the old comic Andi is saying she doesn’t want to be pregnant, she doesn’t want a baby but Todd would love it, it’s not her mother giving the baby up but Andi. Ideally she should have womaned up and let Todd have the child and broken up with him if she couldn’t stand kids, but people are selfish sometimes. It’s pretty obvious Andi didn’t have her life together if she waited to go into LABOR before deciding she really doesn’t want this baby…
That kid is going to need DECADES of therapy.
She already does. But now Todd and Selkie will, too.
I wonder why Andi is even doing this? It hardly seems coincidental that after so many years she’s finally seeking out Amanda when she and Todd had (somewhat recently) broken up. Either she’s doing it because she feels free from Todd and doesn’t think he will find out—or worse, she is hoping to use Amanda to try to get Todd back.
Well, I had to guess it is a combination of good motivations and bad ones, and mostly just human ones.
So, all along the issue of giving up a baby and lying about it has got to have been haunting Andi. Even if Todd doesn’t actually know, its a guilty poison secret that must have contributed to their breakup. Andi feels terrible and she wants to feel better, so she looks into what happened to the baby. Then at the very least she can find out how her child was adopted by a wonderful loving family and is now happy and well, and no doubt better off than she would have been with a reluctant teen mom. Maybe she can even come clean to Todd with this, at least for her own peace of mind. And who knows, maybe if she admits what she did he will forgive her and all the magic will come back and happiness and love will follow. Perhaps motivations that are manipulative and full of wishful thinking, but hardly evil.
So, she does this and she finds out that is not what happened at all. Her kid was adopted to an abusive family and returned to state custody and now has tons of problems. It isn’t like this is the usual trajectory of an adoption or that Andi had the slightest reason to think Amanda was once again without a family.
So, at that point, what do you do? Walk away? THAT would be pretty monstrous.
I doubt very much she even knows about Amanda’s history with Selkie. It’s not like the orphanage would tell her who specifically Amanda had conflicts with.
Within the limits of the situation Andi quite definitely got herself into, she is doing the only decent thing she can do.
And honestly, other than lying to Todd (pretty terrible) what did she do that was so bad? She had no reason at all to think her actions put Amanda in jeopardy.
Andi is obviously not very mature, or at least she hasn’t been shown to be, so I don’t see this going well.
My girlfriend’s mother has basically acted like she’s 14 her whole adult life, and after her divorce (when my girlfriend was THIRTEEN and her younger sister was TEN) my girlfriend basically had to raise herself as well as her younger sister while their mom “got over the divorce” by going out with friends all the time, or sulking in her room. She’s not a bad person by any means, she’s actually very sweet and pleasant. She’s just a terrible mom.
I see Andi being VERY SIMILAR in the maturity department, and that doesn’t bode well for a kid that has not only has a troubled past, but is very obviously going to have behavioral issues and will need an extremely stable home life and a strong foundation for proper rules and behavior after she’s adopted.
I feel like Andi has little to no experience with children of ANY age, not to mention the fact that she called adoption “babysitting another person’s kid” while also knowing fully well that Todd and ALL of his siblings were adopted, AND that she gave her own child up for adoption. That wasn’t just a cheap shot, that was downright cruel.
And now she’s going to suddenly appear back in that child’s life. There are two ways that I can see this going.
A) Andi visiting Amanda but not telling her that they’re related, maybe even saying that she “knew her mom” and that she just wanted to visit her and see how she was doing.
B) Andi revealing that she gave Amanda up for adoption like 10 years ago, and then Amanda will eventually find out that her biological father adopted a child /other than his own daughter/. Which will cause so much hurt and anger in a child that already has been abused and abandoned.
C) Andi will petition to adopt Amanda, which I guess in itself could lead to a heartwarming tale of a mother and daughter being reunited and them having problems but eventually getting along really well and Andi getting to have the child she wasn’t able to, and Amanda finally having a family, etc etc etc.
But then Todd will be all: WTF Andi why would you just go out and adopt a kid out of the blue are you trying to mess with me?
Andi: *explains the whole situation*
Todd: *absolutely furious, heartbroken, hurt, etc etc etc*
But then Todd will insist on seeing and forming a relationship with his biological daughter, which will probably rekindle the rivalry between Amanda and Selkie, in which Amanda might point out that Todd is her “real dad” and Selkie will feel as if Todd might dump her back at the orphanage to be with Amanda and Andi and have a “real family”.
Which obviously wouldn’t happen, but it’ll cause Selkie a lot of worry and heartache.
Any way it goes down, there are going to be a lot of hurt and angry feelings involved.
Not to mention the fact that I really do believe that Andi is mentally and emotionally unprepared for the responsibility of being a mother, let alone a single mom.
I’ve seen two types of immature people have children. Those that grow up and those that don’t. My mom used to insist having a child was *great* because it made you responsible but that really isn’t true (and—while I love my mom—her parenting style somewhat reflected it 😉 ).
Yes, you have more responsibilities, but whether you choose to fully take them on to be a real parent depends on what values you’ve learned and actually believe in—regardless of whether or not you have been acting mature to that point.
Andi may be a terrible parent. We haven’t seen her in a very flattering light to this point, and as I said before her motivations probably aren’t honest… I wouldn’t be surprised if she thinks of contacting Todd after she has Amanda…
However, she may get her sh*t together if/when Amanda ends up in her care. Once you have a child you’re entire ideals on how to be a good parent can completely change…especially when you really *intend* to be a good parent.
Either way I’m sure it’ll involve explosions, power battles, and a general turning both of their lives upside down and inside out. Whether there will be repair from that “storm damage” or not is totally on Andi’s shoulders and depends on whether she ends up with character growth or not. I’ve seen it turn out both ways in RL people. Usually, it turns out terribly for the kids, but sometimes there is a very special diamond-in-the-ruff type of person who becomes stronger than everyone realizes once they have a parent.
I think it’s because she realized she screwed up all those years ago and is trying to do SOMEthing to mitigate it. Andi gave up her baby believing the baby would have a better life with two parents who were ready for kids. She didn’t tell Todd because she knew Todd wouldn’t agree. My bet is that if she was told Amanda had been adopted and was with a loving family, she’d go to Todd and admit what happened, but include that the child had a loving family who was more ready to deal with parenthood than the two of them were when Amanda was born. It wouldn’t fix the underlying problem between them by a long shot, but it would start the process of healing it.
Now, however, she’s found out that Amanda is at a city orphanage, and probably thinks the girl’s been there her whole life. Never mind that when Andi gave her up, Josephine told her the baby would be adopted quickly and have a family. This isn’t what Andi wanted for her daughter, and the best way she can think to fix it is to go get Amanda and give her the family she deserves.
And I doubt she’s given much thought to what she’ll tell Todd since she found out Amanda’s at the orphanage.
Given that I blame Grandmother Josephine MUCH more than I blame Teenage Andi for what happened, this should get interesting.
I uh… don’t remember naming Andi’s mom Josephine. Did I mention that somewhere before?
I ask because I actually couldn’t find my notes on the matter when writing this strip or when tagging her by name, and I don’t recall giving her a proper name from memory so I named her Patricia at the eleventh hour. If I’ve referred to her as Josephine previously, do you happen to remember where?
She strikes me as a Josephine though
…It was a VERY long day at work yesterday and my memory insisted the tag said Josephine and I didn’t want to scroll up to double check. Whoopsie. Teach me to post when my brain’s in full Mush Mode.
Uh oh. I was hoping this subplot would go away.
Incidentally, this has been bugging me: how old are Todd and Andi, approximately? Did she get pregnant right out of high school, or…?
I think they are in their mid-20s.
Maybe late 20s, early 30s… I don’t see many 24-26 year old singles adopting kids…
Imagine Todd’s reaction when he finds out his biological daughter picks on his adopted daughter.
Guess we will see if blood is thicker than water. There’s 2 wrong ways and a right way to handle it. Wrong ways;
Todd doesn’t care about Amanda because he was also adopted and sees more of a connection with Selkie, in which case he is a horrible person.
Todd doesn’t care about Selkie anymore because Amanda is his ‘real’ child in which case he is still s horrible person.
Right way;
Be involved in both girls lives and try and sort out their problems together. Not immediately jumping to assumptions that Amanda is an evil spoiled brat who just enjoys hurting people. Really trying to get to the root of things and explaining why tormenting Selkie is wrong. And understanding that finding out he unintentionally gave her up and adopted someone she dislikes is REALLY gonna hurt her regardless of circumstances and he needs to deal with that.
Um, no Todd would be completely justified and not a horrible person to chose to not have anything to do with Amanda. Todd was lied to and robbed of his right to be Amanda’s father. Given the girls history, the truth of what Andi did the best thing for Amanda would be Todd just walking away.
Amanda needs stability and she not going to find that with the girl she hates from school as her sister and her biological parents consistently fighting or pretending to play nice.
When the question of why she was surrendered comes up what’s Todd going to do? Wear that blame even though he never had a choice? But if he tells the truth he’d ruin what little chance Andi has at building a relationship with Amanda.
If Andi is actually doing this for any other reason then trying to force Todd to come back to her she wont tell Amanda that Tood is her biological father. She wont force the scenario onto Todd, she will talk to him first if she has any morals at all.
But having said that Andi has given no indication that she is anything but self-centred and manipulative. What she did to Todd and Amanda was beyond disgusting and I have never been so quick to loath a character before. I’ve watched full on villains murder rape and steal and it has not triggered the kind of seething hatred I have for Andi.
I wouldn’t have the slightest problem with Todd staying away from Amanda. He doesn’t owe her anything. He had no knowledge of or choice in her life and next to no involvement at all. That puts his responsibility at next to none. Or, shall we say, about the same as any other kid in the orphanage: They’ve got problems, it would technically be possible for him to make those problems less, but there’s no reason to think he’s immoral for failing to do so.
Maybe it’d be different if Andi had discussed it with him in any way, if he knew his child was out there. But with the situation as it stands, there’s nothing that makes Todd horrible if he chooses to not form a relationship with Amanda.
I can’t say that I loathe (verb form, takes an E, like breath -> breathe) Andi, but I do think the actions that happened were pretty immoral. My vague memories, though, say that Andi was pressured into the situation, and that makes me judge her a little less harshly than I judge the one who pressured her. I really hate the fact that some people in real life are getting pressured to do things with their children that they would choose not to do if they weren’t pushed to the wall.
Yes! I’ve been looking forward to this arc–was half afraid the author might’ve dropped it altogether. Amanda definitely seems more hurt than evil; unlike Tommy, who “doesn’t think other kids are as big a deal”, Amanda just seems to be A) lashing out at the world and B) uneducated about how to properly deal with other people. In other words, suffering from a lack of loving parents. I hope things start to go well for her in this arc, although it could definitely throw a wrench into Todd’s gears if/when he finds out.
You don’t deserve yo have her back!
Well, as a person who is adopted, I’m willing to reserve judgement until I find out WHY she wants her back.
8 years. Unless she had been receiving psychological treatment, she has no alibi.
Hmm.. maybe Andi should have waited until AFTER the tea was ready? 🙂
nah, because then one of those two women has a weapon to throw at the other one… the grandmom forgoing “WTF! are you thinking about!! WHY NOW?” to her Daughter… or her Daughter for going on about how Amanda Could have had BOTH loving parents, BUT YOU convinced me to giver her up… how Could YOU?!?”… yeah, as others have posted before, this isn’t gonna end well… and at the least i expect that Selkie and Amanda ARE going to meet, with both them, and their parents both NOT knowing about the other until they’re face to face… and much hilarity ensues. i mean Todd will know that he is going to meet Andi and that she too has adopted a kid… Andi already knows about Selkie, and at school i’ll bet that Amanda will taunt her about getting adopted too… Amanda and Selkie won’t know anything about their parents prior relationship so it’ll come as quite a shock to them all when all four of them meet…
There is no way this is going to go comfortably. Amanda’s biological dad met her and didn’t…choose…her. He chose the girl she hates to be his daughter. Todd’s adopted daughter is picked on and bullied by his biological daughter. Andi doesn’t seem like the person who can properly handle the needs of a kid like Amanda…
…this arc is going to be unpleasant.
To be fair, Todd didn’t KNOW he was her father. I do see your point, though.
You think that’s going to matter to a kid? They’re still harboring fantasies about their real parents dropping by and saying it was all a mistake or something and whisking them away to the good life. The idea that the biological parent somehow failed to intuitively recognize his own daughter is going to eat at Amanda like poison. She’s probably going to even think it’s one more sign that she’s damaged or unworthy — and have the same kind of blow-up she did when she broke her handheld game console, only magnified.
I…I want to hope for the best. But with Amanda’s behavioral problems, and the fact that she was given up, I don’t foresee this going well. If Amanda didn’t want to go with Andi, I’d understand, having gone through a situation similar to this. Oof. We’re all going to needs hugs by the time this is over.
Really puts a different spin on comic 139 https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie139/
Oh wow, you’re quite right.
That… is the most subtle piece of foreshadowing I may have ever seen in my life. I think I just broke my brain a little. *jawdrop*
I’m hoping that what happens here is that Andi gets a wake-up call before she ever sees Amanda, let alone before anyone tells Amanda that her biological mother wants her back. Patricia doesn’t look too happy about the idea, so maybe so. I think she may mean well, but the “I want, I want” attitude is worrying. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to her that she may not be doing Amanda any favors, or that she’s not *entitled* to have her back/”claim” her like an object at the lost and found.
I wonder who is going to blow up more spectacularly…
Todd, learning that Andi lied to him all these years about the baby dying?
Or Selkie, learning that Amanda is Todd´s biological daughter?
I am curious if Agent Brown is already aware of the situation.
Should the hospital/birth flashback scenes show under the Andi tag?
I still feel that, realistically, any adoption agency would be so strict in their rules about people trying to claim their children back, they would require psychological evaluations, and multiple background and home checks before even being allowed to MEET their child. They would probably put them under the same or ever stronger scrutiny than regular adoption candidates.
I’m hoping for this. I’d like to think that Andi may try to run the Lillian gauntlet only to have Lillian be not fooled in the least about the stability of an environment Andi could provide.
Ooooo… I wonder if they knew Todd was Amanda’s father? Probably not given he didn’t have to sign away for her to go to the agency.
Honestly? Given the way birth parents come out of the woodwork post-adoption and often win their kids back—or at least put the adoptive family through hell—I’d be surprised if they give her too much trouble. If she has a steady income and nothing horrible on her record, they probably cannot legally turn her down. Birth parents usually have a lot more clout unless they have a criminal record.
Not to mention, Amanda’s living in an orphanage. It’s not like she’s being pulled away from foster parents.
Exactly! I really can’t see an orphanage/agency preventing a biological parent from taking back a child when the parent has nothing horrible in their background. Even if the people who run the agency are worried for the kid’s welfare, they wouldn’t easily have a leg to stand on unless that child was adopted out/fostered or the biological parents had a record.