Whenever Newsletter 3-10

You may have noticed that Snapshots has lost some bite in recent months, and that is by design. The more cartoons I do about gay Siamese twins, the less I sell to Puritan Times (nearly every paper in America). Newspapers belong to the elderly, the only ones who have time to read them.

The problem is that the irreverence builds up inside and needs a crack. Not that crack, a wisecrack. In due course, I have launched "Snapshots After Dark" to encompass the racy stuff. See what you think.

Of course, I still get slapped for my sayings and Silly Questions. Recently I ran a one-liner that read, "If I remove my prosthetic leg and beat you with it, is that hitting or kicking?" Later that day, I received an e-mail headed, "Prosthetic Leg."

Uh-oh, I thought. Erect the flame-guard.

The letter started as expected, "As a handicapped man..." I went into scan mode, reading only for gist. To my surprise, the man was amused by the joke. He said that he used a similar line when people asked why he got the good parking spots: "Because I can take off my leg and hit you with it. Or would that be kicking?"

The man, Robert, commended the daily cartoon and LOL'ed and asked me to write back.

I didn't know what to make of it. A disabled man laughing at my jokes. It didn't seem right. I thanked Robert for his guts and asked if I could call him Bob.

He replied, "Only if I fall into the ocean."

Now, I knew the old quadriplegic Bob joke, but it had never been used on me by a real, live legless Bob!

Here's the weird part: Bob's willingness to laugh at his own hardship made me think twice about doing crass humor. Whatever compels me to do these jokes finally relaxed. Bob achieved what all the complainers could not: he made me look in the mirror.

I shared my revelation with Bob, told him of my intention to go straight, and asked what he thought about it.

His reply: "Don't you dare. I won't stand for it!"

And I think he meant it literally.