Proof Positive · No. 25

Screen Time

The daily comic from Hooray News, by Frankie Ragan. November 9, 2026.

Four panels on a back porch. Goldie and Ansel stand on either side of Breaking News, their motionless tortoise. Ansel says he ran some numbers and the tortoise will probably outlive them. Goldie, chin in hand, asks if they should put him in the will. Ansel, studying the tortoise with a small smirk, says he's thinking executor, because the tortoise would never rush the paperwork.

Four-panel comic set in a kitchen. Goldie says she's putting her coffee back in the microwave, and Ansel points out it's the seventh time. He notes she hasn't taken a sip. She calmly says she can't drink it now because it has been through too much. Ansel shrugs, smirking, and tells her to hand it over, he'll be gentle.

Four-panel strip in a kitchen. Goldie comes home from the store holding a shopping bag and tells Ansel she ran into the Hendersons and said they should get together sometime. Ansel, holding his mug, repeats 'Sometime' with a flat look. When she says it's just a nice thing to say, he asks when she first said it to them. Goldie shrugs with a small smirk and answers '2009. We're still penciled in,' while Ansel stares at her, wide-eyed.

Four panels of Goldie and Ansel sitting up in bed in pajamas. Goldie asks if the glass of water in her hand is okay to drink and says it has sat there all night. Ansel raises a finger and says the water has been around four billion years. Goldie smirks and tells him to drink it, then. Ansel eyes the glass sideways and says he'll get a fresh one. Goldie, smirking, says it's the same water.

Four panels in a plant nursery greenhouse. Goldie, in overalls and holding a watering can, tells her husband Ansel about an easy plant for a customer: it likes routine, needs little, just steady attention. Ansel, looking pleased, says she's describing him. Goldie gives him a sideways look and says she's describing a peace lily. Ansel shrugs and says he'll take it.

A four-panel comic at the kitchen table on Goldie and Ansel's 24th anniversary, both holding coffee mugs. Goldie smiles and says it's been twenty-four years; Ansel says he reread their vows. She gives him a sideways look and asks if he was looking for loopholes. He says it's a habit but he found one thing: the vows end 'till death' with no extension. Goldie, hand on hip, asks who he would even ask. Ansel calmly answers that he left a message.

Four panels in a kitchen. Goldie reads her screen-time report on her phone while Ansel leans in with his mug and guesses her time is mostly the plant app. She says it's for work, and he mocks the nine hours of 'what's this one.' Goldie then scrolls to his entry and reads that he spent three hours on the calculator. In the last panel Ansel, flat-faced, mutters that it was mostly tip, and that it was a nine-dollar soup, while Goldie smirks.

Read the transcript

PANEL 1. Kitchen. Goldie looks at her phone, smiling. Ansel leans in with his mug, smirking.
GOLDIE: Oh, my screen time report came.
ANSEL: Let me guess. The plant app.

PANEL 2. Goldie gives him a side-eye. Ansel, lidded and smug, keeps looking at her phone.
GOLDIE: It's for work.
ANSEL: Nine hours of "what's this one."

PANEL 3. Goldie scrolls, eyebrows up, wide-eyed. Ansel's smirk is gone and he looks down into his mug.
GOLDIE: Huh. Yours says calculator.
GOLDIE: Three hours.

PANEL 4. Goldie smirks, one eyebrow arched. Ansel stares straight ahead, flat-faced.
ANSEL: ...That's mostly tip.
ANSEL: It was a nine-dollar soup.

Start your day with four reasons to smile.