The Encyclopedia Brown Encyclopedia

Sarah Jenkins wanted to hire the Brown Detective Agency to check out if an antique map for sale was authentic. At some point recently in these books, the customer base for Encyclopedia has shifted from “please figure out who stole my shit” to “please tell me if the shit I’m going to buy is worth my money.” Encyclopedia has gone from boy detective to boy appraiser.

Anyway, Sarah was part of a new group called the Lost and Found Club. All of its members were interested in explorers and old maps. They thought “Explorers Club” was a boring name. High school senior Nate Switcher had recently gotten in touch with the club to tell them that he had a map drawn by a Spanish mapmaker who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his 1492 voyage. He claimed that he bought it at a flea market while he was on vacation in Spain with his family.

Some random teenager claimed to have owned a 500+-year-old map? Yeah, that sounds legit. Buy it, Sarah. Buy it!

Encyclopedia and Sarah went to see Nate and his map. He unrolled a map that was stained yellow, and Sarah was not impressed. The map appeared to show just a few islands and the words “Atlantic Ocean” written in big fancy letters. Nate explained that Columbus only saw a few islands in what is now called the Caribbean, so North or South America wouldn’t be on a map from 1492. Of course, Nate explained, the Americas didn’t earn their name until 1507 when German cartographer labeled the new continents “America” after explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

That explanation seemed to placate Sarah and Nate seemed to know what he was talking about, but Encyclopedia told her to hold on to her money because “Atlantic Ocean” was written in English.

Here’s yet another example of someone one year away from earning a high school degree from the Idaville school system who probably didn’t deserve one. He went through all of the trouble about learning about the history of the Columbus voyage, how America got its name and making this map. I don’t know how he made the map look old, but I would image it would be pretty labor-intensive. But when it came to actually creating this map, this dipshit used English.

English!

Despite the fact that Columbus sailed for Spain, the mapmaker in Nate’s own story was Spanish and he bought it while he was in Spain. How did it not occur to this dipshit not to use Spanish?

Not only do I worry about the education these kids are getting in the high school, I also worry that attending this school will make Encyclopedia dumb.

Chip Caswell’s liked collecting baseball souvenirs. In addition to that, he had kept every ticket stub from every game he had ever been to. That’s why he was excited that a sports museum was opening in Idaville. It doesn’t really make sense that such a museum would open in a small town in Idaville, which had no connection to professional sports. What made even less sense was the fact that there was going to be a spot in the main hall for a kid to donate something. The donator’s name would be put on a plaque put on display.

I don’t even understand why a museum would do this, but there’s no point in me trying to figure out why anyone in this town does anything.

Chip said that museum personnel would be examining donations at noon that day. He assumed that there would be a long line of kids, so he wanted to hire Encyclopedia to see what the kids had so that Chip would know what to offer. So Chip was hiring Encyclopedia as some sort of errand boy. Only, it didn’t really make sense, because Chip went with Encyclopedia. Why would he need Encyclopedia to scope out the competition if he was going as well? I guess Encyclopedia wasn’t about to question it. He got paid either way.

When they got to the museum, there was only one kid there; Tiger member Sammy Jackson. He had a baseball glove that said “Bad Motherf***er.” No, I’m kidding; just a little Samuel L. Jackson humor for everyone.

Sammy explained that there had been a long line, but everyone left once they saw what he brought. He had a baseball signed by Babe Ruth. Not just any baseball; Ruth had hit this particular ball for a homerun.

Sammy told the story of how his great-uncle got the ball. He lived near Yankee Stadium and went to every Yankee game he could. In that particular game, Ruth had already hit two homers. The Yankees were up by three runs by the bottom of the ninth. Even though the game was a foregone conclusion at that point, his great-uncle stayed until the end. In fact, he was one of the few remaining fans in his section. After getting two strikes, Ruth hit a homer that bounced off a seat near his great-uncle, right into his hands. While the homer itself didn’t decide the game, it was Ruth’s third of the game.

Sammy said that his great-uncle had recently passed away and left him that ball. He admitted that he wasn’t as big of baseball fan as his great-uncle, so he thought the ball should go in the museum.

Chip was ready to give up and let Sammy have his fame, but Encyclopedia suspected that the ball was fake. According to Sammy’s story, the Yankees were up by three runs when Ruth hit the homerun in the bottom of the ninth. But when the home team is ahead, they don’t bat in the ninth inning.

Sammy admitted that the ball wasn’t from Babe Ruth, but from the back of his closet. He put the fake autograph on the ball in hopes of scaring everyone from trying to submit their own item from the museum.

What was Sammy’s plan here? Oh sure, he lied to get rid of the competition, but his baseball was still subject to the approval of the museum personnel. One would hope that someone in charge of accepting entries into a sports museum would be able to tell the difference between an 80-year-old baseball signed by Babe Ruth and some other baseball with “Babe Ruth” scrawled on it by some kid. If not, then I’m guessing this museum would be filled with fake sports memorabilia. Actually, the idea of Idaville opening a fake sports memorabilia museum wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

But assuming this particular museum, for some reason, had its shit together, there would be no way that they would have accepted this baseball. They’d also wonder why Sammy was the only one in line when there had been so many children in line earlier. I would think they would just reschedule.

I wonder why Chip, who was supposedly a huge baseball fan, didn’t think it was odd that the baseball game in Sammy’s story had the winning home team batting in the bottom of the ninth. Sammy may have faked the baseball, but it sounds like Chip had been faking his interest in baseball this entire time.

The town was getting ready for the Idaville Fair, which meant that either someone was getting ready to cheat at some contest, or someone was about to steal something. The latter turned out to be true and Encyclopedia had no problem spotting the victim of the latest petty crime. He noticed a high school student setting up one of the concession stands who seemed to be in a grouchy mood.

Encyclopedia went over to her stand to see if she was okay. She introduced herself as Mindy Harmon, and she said told him that she knew of him because younger her sister, Carrie, spoke about him a lot. She even had a case for him to solve. Mindy paid Encyclopedia a quarter, and he sat down to hear her story. As he was doing so, Mindy’s dog, Cooper, barked at him. Mindy hushed Cooper and explained that he always barked at strangers, but didn’t seem to scare them much.

Mindy explained that someone had stolen a large box of stuffed animals that were supposed to be meant for prizes for one of the games. She had gone to her car to unload some stuff, and when she returned, she saw that the box was gone. She was depending on Cooper to guard the booth, but he obviously didn’t do a very good job. Encyclopedia asked when she noticed the box was missing, and Mindy answered that that had been an hour earlier.

There was no one around who would have seen who might have taken the box. Encyclopedia asked Mindy if she had seen anything suspicious, and she answered that she hadn’t, but did see Biff Bumpkin watching her from a distance before the box disappeared, but he was gone after that. She didn’t know Biff very well, personally, but she knew that he didn’t have the best reputation. I’m not sure why that didn’t raise a red flag in her head.

So to review; Mindy was setting up a booth for the Idaville Fair. She noticed some creepy kid watching her from afar, but she didn’t think twice about him. She left a box of toys unattended, hoping that her easy-to-quell dog would guard the toys from her. When Mindy returned, the box was gone as was the creepy kid. But she didn’t suspect the creepy kid, nor did she alert the authorities – or anyone – about the theft until about an hour later when the resident 10-year-old boy detective happened to pass by. Had Encyclopedia not run into her, she’d still be quietly skulking about her stolen toys completely flummoxed about what could have happened to them.

This Mindy doesn’t sound too bright.

Biff happened to live around the corner from the fair, so Encyclopedia suggested that he and Mindy speak to him. Mindy agreed and asked another volunteer to keep an eye on her booth. If she had asked someone to keep an eye on her crap in the first place, they wouldn’t be in this mess. Also, before heading to Biff’s, it might make sense to ask these nearby volunteers if they had seen who took the toys. It just seems like a wiser tack to build some evidence before confronting the accused.

Biff claimed that he didn’t steal the box of stuffed animals. He went so far to even say that he had no use for stuffed animals. Biff then motioned to Cooper and patted the dog on the head.

Encyclopedia pointed out that Cooper barks at strangers, and that Cooper wasn’t barking because he was already familiar with Biff when he stole the stuffed animals. Biff confessed immediately and explained that he was going to use the stuffed animals to impress the ladies by pretending to have won them.

Well, at least Biff had a decent motive. That almost never happens.

But I have no idea why Biff gave up so easily. He could have explained that he was good with dogs or that he knew Cooper because he had seen him around town with Mindy’s sister Carrie.

“Dollar” Bill Pesada earned his nickname because he was careful with his money and was always on the lookout for good investments. He hired Encyclopedia to check out a tip on a possible investment opportunity.

Bugs Meany was offering shares in a diamond mine. At this point, I’d have to wonder how business-savvy Dollar Bill really was. I don’t know the first thing about telling a good investment from a bad one, but I’d have to say that any investment where Bugs was involved would be a bad one. Just look at the kid’s history. He was constantly stealing and trying to defraud children with bad trades.

Even without hearing anything about this mine, I’m would be willing to go out on a limb and advise against this investment. But Dollar Bill, the sixth-grader who was so good with money they called him Dollar Bill, wasn’t so discriminating. Not only did he not immediately reject the thought of investing in something supposedly belonging to Bugs, he spent a quarter to find out if it was a legitimate opportunity or not.

Despite his nickname, Dollar Bill had a shitty business sense. That’s basically what I’m trying to say.

The two found Bugs in front of the Tigers’ clubhouse, pitching his diamond mine to a group of children. While the details weren’t fully explained, it seemed as if Bugs was selling shares on behalf of his cousin, who owned the mine. Bugs said that some of the diamonds were so large that it couldn’t even be used for an engagement ring because anyone that wore it wouldn’t be able to lift her hand.

Encyclopedia, who knows pretty much everything, could have chimed in and mentioned that the largest rough gem-quality ever discovered was over 3,000 carats, which works out to just under a pound and a half. So right away, it should be obvious that Bugs was full of shit.

Bugs explained that he understood that it could be difficult to convince them that this mine was real, so his cousin sent Bugs a sample to show off to possible investors. The diamond Bugs held was about the size of a golf ball. He said his cousin didn’t mind sending that one to Bugs because that was one of the smaller ones compared to the ones they were finding in this mine.

Dollar Bill asked if he could hold it, but Bugs refused. Bugs explained that if he let Dollar Bill touch it, then everyone would want to. He said that someone could drop the diamond or damage it. It would be completely useless if it was ruined.

As if the supposed size of these diamonds wasn’t enough of a tip-off, Encyclopedia knew that Bugs was lying. Since diamonds are the hardest substance in nature, Bugs wouldn’t need to worry if someone dropped the diamond. Nothing those kids could have done would have damaged it.

Dollar Bill learned an important lesson that he should have learned a while ago; Bugs Meany’s an ass.

It was a hot summer day in Idaville. Sally Kimball was complaining that they weren’t at the beach to cool off. Encyclopedia should have just let her go; she served no purpose in these stories anyway.

Penny Nichols came by and put a quarter down in front of Encyclopedia and Sally and told them that Wilford Wiggins was holding a meeting about his latest business opportunity. Now, it’s not explained what Penny’s motive for going to the Brown Detective Agency was. She didn’t mention that she was excited at the prospect of being rich, nor did she mention any concern for her peers getting swindled. It was just, “Here’s a quarter… Wilford’s holding a meeting.” Why exactly was Encyclopedia being hired? Encyclopedia seemed to assume that he was getting hired to prove that Wilford’s opportunity was another scam, but Penny never specified.

At the meeting, Wilford talked about his uncle who lived on the southern tip of South America. The previous week, he was cooling off on the beach when he noticed a sea chest wash up onto the shore. In the chest were a bunch of gold coins and tools. His uncle figured that if this chest had washed up ashore that a ship must have sunk in the area, so there must have been more chests like that to be found. His uncle had said that a bunch of ships had sunk in the area in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, and they must be loaded with gold and treasures.

Now, at this point, Wilford still hadn’t made a pitch. However, Penny chimed in and asked, “Wouldn’t it be easier for your uncle to borrow money from grown-ups he knows?”

Once again, a conversation that Penny was involved in skipped a step. Wilford made no mention of wanting to borrow money for something, yet Penny asked her question as if he had. Granted, it was obvious that that was what Wilford was working up to. Maybe Penny was a good person to have around. She was one of those “let’s cut the crap, what do you want?” people, only actually saying that. Except, I’m kind of curious why his uncle needed money. I guess it’s for diving equipment?

Wilford explained that his uncle was worried that if he told his friends about the shipwreck that they would just beat him to it. He asked his nephew – and not his American sibling, the nephew’s parent, who would likely have more money – for some financing. Wilford had to pass, because he claimed that his money was tied up in oil wells, but he went one better. He asked children for funds. “Oh good,” his uncle must have said, “That seems like a smart and effective way of getting money.”

Encyclopedia didn’t believe any of it.

My question was how this heavy treasure chest full of tools and gold was able to wash ashore. It’s not as if it had been floating around was destined to make its way to the shore eventually. That think would have sunk to ocean floor and stayed there. But that was hardly the most obvious thing that didn’t make sense in Wilford’s story.

If it was summer in Idaville, that meant that it was winter in South America. This uncle in the southern tip wouldn’t be needing to cool off at the beach.

How is Encyclopedia the only person in this entire group that knows this? That is the sort of thing that should be taught in elementary school. Do the people in Idaville just not pay taxes? Because it’s been proven that their schools suck almost as badly as their police.

Charlie Stewart stopped by the Brown Detective Agency. He said that the reason for his visit was because, “Duke Kelly, one of Bugs Meany’s Tigers, is selling what he says are the largest shark teeth ever. If it is true, I just have to have one. It would be the star in my collection.” This was the first mention of Charlie’s tooth collection since a story published in 1968. I had assumed that the author had stopped playing that element up because of how disturbing it is.

If I had been Encyclopedia, I would have said the following:

“First of all, Charlie, you don’t need to explain to me that Duke Kelly is one of Bugs Meany’s Tigers. I have a lot of experience dealing with him. We have a lot of experience dealing with him. I mean, he once shot you in the foot and then I had him enter your empty house to fetch one of your old shoes in hopes that it would prove that he was the one who shot you.

“By repeating the fact that Duke Kelly is one of Bugs Meany’s Tigers, you’re unintentionally acknowledging the fact that whatever it is that he’s selling is most likely fake. As one of my closer friends, you should know this already.”

But if Encyclopedia told everyone to stop trusting the Tigers, he’d be out of a steady stream of money. Charlie hired Encyclopedia, and they headed to the marina to listen to Duke’s sales pitch.

He explained that his uncle was a deep-sea fisherman who had recently hooked an enormous shark on one of his lines. He went on to say that the shark thrashed for hours and there were a few times when he thought the line was going to break. He was finally able to get the shark up onto the deck of his boat. The sharks thrashing did a lot of damage to the boat. After the shark stopped moving, Duke’s uncle looked into the shark’s mouth and surmised that it was old because its teeth were large and jagged. With as much stuff a shark chews on in the course of its like, it would make sense that older sharks would have damaged teeth. Duke finished the story by saying that his uncle had sent him a box of these teeth for him to sell.

Duke allowed everyone a close-up look, and Charlie was impressed. It was just want his collection needed.

Yeah, the teeth were fake. Encyclopedia knew that because sharks, unlike most other animals, don’t have one set of teeth for their entire adult life. In reality, new teeth grow in every month to replace ones that have worn or fallen out. When Encyclopedia confronted Duke with these facts, Duke explained that he had actually carved the teeth out of wood and painted it white.

Of all of the people in Idaville to know that sharks get new teeth on a monthly basis, you would think that Charlie, who devoted a big chunk of his childhood to his interest in animal teeth, would have known this. In addition to that, was he unable to tell the difference between a tooth and a small bit of wood painted white? Either Charlie’s an idiot, or Duke is a skilled craftsman. If it’s the latter, then Duke is wasting his talents because there’s a future for him in woodworking. It’s most likely the former though. Charlie’s probably just a gullible idiot.

Ginger Bailey hired Encyclopedia to figure out who stole her groceries. She had gone to the supermarket to pick up items for her block’s Fourth of July barbecue. After making her purchase, she realized that she had forgotten to buy mustard. So she left her bags of groceries on a counter near the front door and went to buy some mustard. In a town where anything not nailed down is generally regarded as open season, Ginger left this bag near the door where anyone could just easily swipe it on their way out of the store never to be seen again.

Smart move, Ginger.

None of the employees were able to help her and since no businesses in Idaville believed in surveillance cameras – even though this story was published in 2010 – she had to depend on the lucky assumptions of a 10-year-old know-it-all to find out who took her groceries. Luckily for her and her case, there was a Tiger member in the store at the time. Since Rusty Malone was there we can just assume that he took the groceries and we could just go on with our lives. All Encyclopedia had to do was find some weird way of pinning the blame on Rusty.

They went to the Tigers’ clubhouse where they saw Rusty doing push-ups, counting “98 … 99 … 100.” Ginger spotted her bag of groceries. Ginger and Rusty started arguing about the groceries. Ginger said that she saw him at the grocery store, but he wasn’t buying any groceries. Rusty said that he had purchased the groceries earlier.

So to review, Rusty was saying that he went to the grocery store to buy everything he needed for a barbecue and then returned – and that was when Ginger saw him – but not to buy anything. He just went back because hanging out at the grocery store is fun, I suppose. Even if he hadn’t been there earlier, why would he go to the grocery store if he didn’t intend on buying anything?

Anyway, it just so happened that he bought the same exact things that Ginger did. Granted, since they were both preparing for a barbecue, they’d have similar items. But Ginger said that they were the same exact things that she bought. It’s a shame the receipt wasn’t in the bag. That would have had the time printed on it.

Encyclopedia asked why Rusty was out of breath and if it had anything to do with the fact that he had just run from the grocery store. Rusty said it was from the push-ups he had just done. In that case, Encyclopedia suggested that Rusty take a drink. He took a can of soda out of the grocery bag and offered to open it for Rusty. The Tiger said that he wasn’t interested in soda, but he looked nervous.

That’s when Encyclopedia knew Rusty was the thief. Rusty had claimed that he bought the groceries several hours earlier, but he said he wasn’t interested in the soda. Encyclopedia assumed that the only reason for that could have been because he didn’t want the soda to explode. If it exploded, that would be a tell-tale sign that it had just been shaken up while Rusty was running home.

Or maybe Rusty didn’t want any soda because he was saving it for the barbecue. Or he knew that water would be the best thing to drink after exercising. Or he did want soda, but he wanted a cold one that had already been in the fridge, not a warm one in the grocery bag.

Nah, just blame it on the kid and call it a day. Whatever.

The last time we met Ziggy Ketchum, he hired Encyclopedia to find an old sandwich that he had hidden among the hats that was sold at the department store where he worked. He was forgetful to the point that I would think would warrant the attention of a professional, though no one seemed to be all that concerned.

One day, Ziggy came to Encyclopedia, forgetting why he gone to hire him in the first place. Eventually, they got down to business when he remembered that someone had taken a tin of chocolate chip cookies that his grandmother had sent him. He had the tin with him on his front porch when Rocky Graham rode by on his bicycle. When Rocky saw Ziggy eating cookies, he stopped and asked Ziggy for a drink of water. Ziggy went inside, got some water and brought it out to Rocky. He drank it and went on his way. It wasn’t until Rocky left that Ziggy realized that his cookies were missing.

Encyclopedia decided that they should talk to Rocky about this. They found Rocky lounging around in his front yard. Right off the bat, Ziggy accused Rocky of taking his cookies. Encyclopedia played the good cop to Ziggy’s bad cop and said that he didn’t mean to accuse Rocky of anything. He just wanted his help.

Rocky said that he did notice someone suspicious around Ziggy’s house. He didn’t recognize him, and he wasn’t paying too close attention to him. He thought he saw him head towards the beach. Ziggy apologized for yelling at Rocky, and Rocky accepted the apology, saying that he just hoped that all of his chocolate chip cookies weren’t gone. Encyclopedia thanked Rocky for his help and making it obvious that he was the thief.

Encyclopedia and Ziggy didn’t specify what kind of cookies were stolen, but Rocky knew that they were chocolate chip cookies. How would he have known if he hadn’t stolen them?

Easy. Rocky walked up to Ziggy while he was eating the cookies. And when Ziggy went inside, he had left the cookies behind in Rocky’s plain sight. He had all that time to look at the cookies and take note of what kind they were. So Encyclopedia has absolutely no case.

That is not to say that Rocky didn’t take the cookies; because clearly, Rocky took the cookies. His story has a glaringly large hole in it.

Rocky was claiming that he saw someone suspicious near Ziggy’s house. He implied that he was the one who stole the tin of cookies, but when? The only time Ziggy was away from the tin was when he was inside getting Rocky a glass of water. It seemed as if Rocky was saying that this mystery person stole the cookies while Rocky was standing right there on the porch. However, Rocky never said that he saw this person take the tin. If this mystery person got that close to Rocky, he would have been able to speak to him; maybe saying something like, “Hey, could you not steal that tin right now? Because it’s totally going to seem like I stole it.” Or, failing that, offered Encyclopedia and Ziggy more of a description of the kid.

So while Rocky’s story points to him stealing the cookies, Encyclopedia jumps on the part of the story that, in no way, proves that he stole the cookies.

All of that could have been avoided if Ziggy had taken the tin of cookies inside with him when he got Rocky the water. Maybe it’s not fair to assume that the guy who was constantly stealing shit would steal the cookies, but there’s no reason to give him the opportunity.

Julie Benson liked to collect old things. When a local high school student, Gus Anthony, announced that he was going to be selling ancient Roman pots, Julie’s interest was piqued, but so was her skepticism. She wanted to hire Encyclopedia to tell her if the pots were authentic.

Encyclopedia gets hired for this sort of job a lot. I guess when fraud runs as rampant as it does in Idaville, that kind of service is necessary.

The two went to Gus’ house where he had several pots displayed in his backyard. No one questioned how this teenager got his hands on so many 2,000-year-old pottery pieces, or why he was selling them to children in his backyard, and not to museums or collectors.

Julie noted that the glazing was worn and that several pieces were chipped. That would be expected for millennia-old pottery. Gus picked up one piece and showed off the fact that it was dated. It read, “XXIII B.C.” He explained that the Romans used a different numbering system than we did, and that “XXIII B.C.” meant 23 B.C.

Julie said that Gus sounded like he knew what he was talking about, but Encyclopedia wasn’t convinced.

The book takes a very odd approach at explaining how Encyclopedia knew this. It says, “Encyclopedia knew that they never put B.C. on anything. B.C. was only created hundreds of years later as a way of distinguishing one era from another.” While that’s correct, it’s kind of a confusing explanation that leaves a lot of important, easier to understand information out.

The book could have said that “B.C.” was short for “Before Christ.” No one in 23 B.C. knew that they were roughly 23 years away from the birth of Jesus Christ, and they certainly had no way of knowing that that birth (give or take a few years) was going to one day become the beginning point for the era widely used in the western world.

I get the feeling that since this was a light-hearted children’s book free from any controversy or hot-button issues like religion, there was a conscious decision to not mention Jesus Christ, and I understand that. Look, people talk about keeping the Christ in Christmas, but I don’t need to get into any of that. However, I feel kind of strongly that we need to keep Christ in the explanation of the usage of the term B.C.

Anyway, when Encyclopedia pointed out Gus’ error, he admitted that the pots weren’t from ancient Rome. The story then explained that he had made the pots himself.

Clearly, this kid had a talent for making pottery. Apparently, it never occurred to Gus that he could use his talents for good, but instead he decided to use these talents to defraud children But with as much effort he put into the rouse, you would think he would have tripped upon the fact that the Romans in 23 B.C. wouldn’t have used “B.C.”

The Brown Detective Agency had an unlikely customer one morning; Bugs Meany. He was carrying a carton of eggs. He needed Encyclopedia to guard the eggs and to bring them to the intersection of Main and Elm Streets at 1 p.m. He explained that he’d ask one of his fellow Tigers, but they were all busy.

Encyclopedia opened the carton and it didn’t seem like there was anything special about them; it was a dozen normal looking eggs. He asked why Bugs needed him to bring those specific eggs to that specific location at that specific time, but Bugs answered that it was personal and it wasn’t important for Encyclopedia to know any of that for the job.

When Bugs left, Sally expressed her disbelief and said that she was sure something was up. Encyclopedia, whose naivety dripped through his pores, suggested that Bugs was trying to turn over a new leaf.

Encyclopedia showed up where he was supposed to and soon found out that, yep, it was a trick. Bugs appeared with an unnamed police officer and told some story about how he had seen Encyclopedia carrying a carton of eggs. He said that Encyclopedia looked suspicious, so he followed him and watched as he threw two eggs at windows of a house. Bugs said that Encyclopedia did that to create business for himself, so that his victims would hire him to find out who had done it.

Bugs even pulled out a bag that had pieces of the eggshell as evidence. I’m not sure how that would be evidence of anything, it wasn’t as if the police would be able to match the shells Bugs had with the eggs Encyclopedia had. Bugs’ stupidity knows no limits.

Encyclopedia pointed out that if he had just egged someone’s house, there would have been eggs missing from his carton. Since he was carrying a full carton, it couldn’t have been him. And since Bugs said he had followed him the whole time, Encyclopedia couldn’t have replaced those eggs without him knowing about it.

Bugs confessed to trying to frame Encyclopedia and he “had to clean both the windows at the house as punishment.” Well, yeah. I should freakin’ hope so. Someone egged that innocent person’s home. Either Bugs did it himself or he happened to have found a house that someone had egged and decided to use that fact for his latest attempt to try to frame Encyclopedia. The latter seems pretty far-fetched, so that means that Bugs egged this house.

His only punishment was that he had to clean up the mess that he made himself? Did he get any punishment for framing an innocent person? Or lying to police? How about for egging someone’s house specifically to lie to police about it and frame an innocent person? Extremely lax punishment like this is the very reason why Bugs keeps pulling this shit.