 Eddie dreads his first day of school as he likes his current general routine. Tom forces him to go, but Eddie doesn t make it to first bell as he runs home before class even starts. Tom is frustrated, but is just as upset that Eddie is lying about his reason for running home. Tom tries to appeal to Eddie s sense of logic to convince him to go to school. Day after day, Eddie gets closer and closer to making it through a full day, however he is placing up fences around himself from actually letting himself to like the situation. Tom, feeling at the end of his rope, contemplates hiring a tutor, which Mrs. Livingston doesn t think a good idea since it will make Eddie different than all the other kids. Finally Tom thinks he s found the answer: he s going to quit his job and stay at home to teach Eddie himself, or so he tells Eddie. Tom pretends to be a tough, boring and quite bad teacher. In addition, he also tells Eddie that Mrs. Livingston will no longer be around since Tom can t pay her if he s not earning a living. Although Tom is somewhat ashamed of telling these white lies - especially after chastising Eddie for lying - the ploy works and Eddie decides to go to school and begins to like it. In Tom and Mrs. Livingston s minds, sometimes the end does justify the means.