I predict Brad will save Zane and get bitch-slapped for doing an unsafe rescue (with his instructor clulessly setting up their trucks for the firefighters.) I kind of expected Zane to get up and walk, but he hasn’t so far.
Trained dogs fetch and carry for disabled people----bring them the cordless phone, open doors, that sort of thing.
Yeah, that’s something I never understood. He explains the car accident by saying they were looking at colleges for him. But he first got involved with Bernice by asking her to tutor him because he couldn’t read. How can you apply to college if you’re illiterate? I’m not sneering at adult illiteracy, I’m genuinely interested to know. Can that really be done?
…I don’t suppose there’s any chance that he just couldn’t read the Roman Alphabet, is there? Maybe if he grew up in Russia, or Israel, or Greece, or something? :Grasping at straws:
Nooo! I just read the paper, and they have nothing about Bernice and Zane today! And Brad’s in it, but he’s laying on the couch! I don’t get it!
I’m not the least bit ashamed that I went straight to Luann as soon as I got my morning paper. 
Sunday comics for LuAnn (and other comics too) are often separate from the weekday storylines. Some people only get the Sunday paper (not every day), so going to the funnies and seeing a strip that’s obviously part of a storyline that you don’t know about is rather frustrating.
[spoiler] Well, according to today’s online strip, Zane wasn’t breathing when Brad dragged him out of the building…So you could say he’s been killed off, even if only temporarily.
“Eh, he’s only MOSTLY dead.” [/spoiler]
Ranchoth
Unless you’re distracted. They shouldn’t have been smooching while they were on the clock. Guess this is their punishment.
A friend’s brother was effectively illiterate…he read at maybe a second grade level, and he got through highschool and into his first year of college until anybody noticed. It’s possible.
I thought that Bernice was just going to tutor Zane in English for his GED test. His accident meant that he never graduated from high school. (That part didn’t really make sense to me, especially since his accident was in his senior year. Why wouldn’t his high school let him make up the missing classes after he recovered?)
I believe that Zane can read. How else could he get a job in a bookstore, for Pete’s sake?
Glad to see that Brad made it out OK. I think he’s in trouble, though.
I’m glad that the Sunday storyline is different than the weekday. My paper doesn’t carry Luann on Sunday.
I’ll put spoiler tags in case you have not caught today’s installment yet.
The entire building is on fire now? Flames are shooting out of the roof and everything! What’s it made of, balsa wood? Weren’t there any sprinklers? Looks like Borderline Books was penny-wise and pound-foolish when they decided not to install a telephone in Zane’s office, huh?
I’m sorry, but this story arc contains more holes than plot. Perhaps Zane and Bernice were so ahem into what they were doing that they couldn’t smell smoke, but what about Monroe the helper dog? No telephone (not even a cell phone), tiny high window, Bernice trying to pull Zane out of said window rather than going for help right away, Brad not following established proceedures at all–there were a lot of, IMO, unreasonable assumptions made in this story just to elevate Brad’s position in his sister’s eyes.
This whole tragedy could have been pretty much averted but for the lack of a (reasonably expected) dog bark or a (reasonably expected) telephone in the manager’s office.
I expected Luann to say, “Wait a minute, Bernice–you were making out?!?!”
I predict it will end with the manager of the bookstore visiting Zane and Bernice in the hospital and telling them, “I’m glad you two are OK, but since you burned down the whole store, endangered everybody’s lives, and cost the company millions in reconstruction, we can no longer keep you on as employees.”
Then the last panel he reenters the hospital room, points at them and says
KIDDING!
Jeez, Bernice, self-centered much?
Exactly what an assistance dog does depends on the individual person’s limitations, but there’s a lot a dog can be trained to do!
To use an example I’m familiar with, my BIL is a quadraplegic with limited use of his arms but no mobility below that. He has an assistance dog, a black Lab I’ll call A. BIL can’t sit up on his own, he wears a sort of high seatbelt to keep him upright in his wheelchair. Sometimes that slips and BIL slumps over. He can then give a command to A, and A will stand next to him and bark like crazy until someone comes to help. The same thing happens if BIL has muscle spasms or some other crisis, he gives the command and A starts barking. From a medical standpoint, that’s probably A’s most important job. However, he can also pick up small objects BIL drops or fetch small things he needs and can’t get himself. The doors at BIL’s house and office building have been modified so that A can open them for BIL - “modified” usually meaning that someone has hung a loop of rope on them which A can yank on like a pull toy. There are probably more things A does that I’m not aware of, because BIL lives on another continent from me, but this is what I’ve seen A do.
Because of his injury, BIL will never be fully independent. But his “partnership” with A keeps him from being fully dependent.
Dogs can be trained to do many other things for people with other needs, as well. For someone who doesn’t hear well, a dog can warn that the doorbell or the phone is ringing (think TTY machines before anyone asks!), an alarm has gone off, or even that the baby has woken from her nap. To me, one of the most interesting things dogs can be trained to do is to warn someone of an oncoming epileptic seizure. After living with an epileptic for a while, they pick up subtle clues that humans miss, and can warn their owners early enough that they have time to get to a safe place before the seizure begins.
End hijack. Zane’s awake in intensive care, for those of you who missed this morning’s strip.
Do you suppose that Zane is a “Star Wars” fan?
That’s what I thought. Either that or he’s a jerk.
God, I hate this strip with a PASSION. I hadn’t seen it in years until this thread came up. Now I’m clicking back on this and actually reading the #$%! thing on the Web site.
As a writer, I’m still amazed at how I can get suckered into this.
Brad’s in trouble! Brad’s in trouble!
Just when his sister was starting to respect him, too. I must admit, I could see this coming from miles away. Gotta keep the sibling rivalry status quo and all that, right?
Well, he shouldn’t have gone in unauthorized! Bernice was totally out of line, screaming at him to ‘go in or else’. An experienced EMT would have ordered her to calm down and let the experts handle it.
Well, it looks like I was wrong about Zane dying, and all is back to normal in the strip again…except for Luann’s obvious slow but steady decline into a major personality disorder. But that’s another topic. 
Yep, this strip has returned to status-quo’s-ville, all right. Brad’s messed up and is letting his “friend” T.J. get him into an even bigger mess. Ho hum.
Someone on rec.arts.comics.strips has conjectured that “Brad’s parade” will occur on September 11, and T.J. will just B.S. to Brad and Luann’s parents that “the city thought that Brad wasn’t the only hero who needed to be recognized!”
Perhaps Zane will use his magical influence to get Brad a parade and get Brad’s supervisor shipped off to Japan.