- Three elementary school students are waiting outside the principal's office. It seems that, as a prank to get back at a teacher who punished them, they set off a stink bomb in his wastebasket. However, the bomb was too strong, and the school had to be evacuated. Now they are in big trouble.—frankfob2@yahoo.com
- We see three boys waiting outside the principal's office as the narrator introduces us to their story. Jimmy and Dale worry about what will happen to them, but Frank downplays the possible punishment. The narrator says that Frank wanted to get back at old man Kraft, who kept him after class for throwing paper wads, and at this point the story continues in flashback.
Outside the school, Frank suggests a plan first to Jimmy, who just thinks it would be a good joke, and to Dale, who doesn't think it's a good idea. However, he goes along out of friendship. The boys buy some chemicals at the drugstore, then conduct a small-scale test in Jimmy's basement. They create a puff of smoke and an awful smell. Dale worries that something could go wrong, but backs down when the others ask if he's "going chicken" on them.
The next day in class, even Frank wonders to himself whether they shouldn't abandon or at least postpone the prank, but he argues himself into going ahead. Meanwhile, Jimmy is just looking forward to something funny happening, and wonders why he can't think up things to do the way Frank can. Dale really wants to stop the prank, but decides it's too late. If he went to Mr. Kraft before class ended, he would expose himself to everyone as a tattler.
When class is dismissed, the boys hang back and set up their chemicals in the wastebasket. The stink bomb works, but on a much larger scale than their test, because they used more chemicals this time. There is a parade of consequences: Smoke spreads into the hallway, making people think the school is on fire. The fire alarm breaks up the dress rehearsal for the school play. The fire department is called to the school. Fumes make some of the students sick. Classes in part of the school need to be let out, so class time will have to be made up later. Mr. Kraft's classroom is damaged, and needs redecorating and repainting.
The boys have lost all sense of fun and now only feel fear and shame. We see a montage of the eyes that saw what they did, the lips that told what the eyes had seen, the ears that heard, the faces of the other students when they learn the boys are to blame, and finally a note summoning them to the principal's office. Back at the time of the opening scene, the principal calls the boys into his office. We do not learn their fate.
Over a scene of another class, the narrator asks the viewers: If you had been present when the situation began, would you have stopped to think about the consequences? What was the real reason Frank acted as he did? What would you have done if you had been Jimmy? Do you think Dale would have preferred not to join Frank and Jimmy? Why? What do you think? On this final question, the traditional large question mark appears over the scene.
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