The Bill

For that matter, both of my baby-gets-the-bill images owe a debt to Edward Sorel's The Bill.

In the late 1970's my wife and I, newly married and poor as churchmice, were visiting my sister in New York City. We walked past Graham Gallery which had a Sorel exhibit up at the time. My heart shot into my throat. I had seen very little original cartoon art at the time, and here, by chance!, was an entire show by one of my heroes.

I remember quaking as we walked through the show, each drawing more amazing than the last. We lingered in front of The Bill. The energy and fury of the line was mermerizing. It was $600, money we did not have. We moved on.

A week later Lynn said to me, "Do you ever think about that drawing we saw in New York?"

"Every day," I said.

She said, "I called the gallery today. They said we could pay for it over six months."

I swallowed hard.

"I told them we'd take it," she said.

It hangs in my house today, the best money I have ever spent.