Did they have two cars?
It’s suburban US in the 80s, so I guess: probably.
Dad takes public transit to work.
I haven’t found any evidence of that from some quick searching. There are a few strips of him getting out of the car in a big coat and a fedora with noone else in it, another where Calvin causing his mum to take him to school in the car makes his dad late for work, and another where Calvin take the car’s tyre off to make a swing makes his dad late…
There were a bunch of strips about him being an avid cyclist, so maybe he bike commuted? Of course, maybe they have two cars, as is also common.
But then why would his mum using the car delay him
From a Watsonian perspective, maybe the weather was inhospitable in some fashion, or the bike was in need of repairs, or this was before they got a second car, or the second car was in the shop.
From a Doyleist (Wattersonian?) perspective, Watterson probably forgot.


