Go on, draw. You ain't got nothin'.
Hey, hey, wait a minute. Where did you get that $300?
Uh, hello?
What?
You gonna bless me or...
Oh. I thought that was a cough.
No. It was a sneeze.
Couldn't tell.
Well, a civilized person would ask
was that a cough or a sneeze?
Then if I tell you it's a sneeze,
you'd come back with a nice "God bless you."
Gotta be honest with you, Doug,
that sounds like a lot of work.
Oh, ok, it's a lot of work
asking God
to bless your husband.
Shame on you.
Ok, God bless you,
God be with you, godspeed,
and I'll even throw in a bonus gesundheit.
You happy now?
I don't think that was very sincere.
Well, that's all you're gettin', bub.
Fine.
Oh, I got nothing to say.
What are you doing?
Circuit training.
Right now, I'm in between sets.
Doug, the accountant's gonna be here in, like, 20 minutes.
You're supposed to be getting all your papers together.
Where's your w-2, all your receipts?
Easy, mama.
They're just pieces of paper.
It'll take me 2 seconds.
Yeah, do you know where they are?
Me? No.
Ok. Well, go find them.
Come on. Let's go. Let's go.
Hey!
Hey, Kirby.
Is something supposed to be happening here?
Kirby, don't you have something
you want to say to Doug?
Hi. My name is Kirby Palmer,
and I'm a student at the Robert hoover school.
Well, hello!
Dad!
You're not supposed to interrupt him.
I didn't know there was more.
It's ok. It's... it's ok.
Can I start over?
Sure, buddy!
Hi.
My name is Kirby Palmer,
and I'm a student at the Robert hoover school.
We are selling candy bars
to raise money to...
To...
To renovate the school library.
Can I start over?
Actually, you know what?
I... I like what I heard,
especially that part about candy.
I'll take it.
Ok, that's $5.
Here, you can read up on the library.
I'm sure you'll get right on that.
Wow!
I'm the mayor of chocolate town!
Let's all sign the declaration
of chocola-pendence!
Uh, are you done?
'Cause we got a lot of houses to hit.
Yeah, I'm done.
All right, cool. Say thanks, Kirby. All right. Later!
Thank you.
All right.
Who was that?
Was that the accountant?
Did you send him away?
What are you, in love with this guy?
It was Kirby and Deacon.
I bought a candy bar for his school.
Oh. Boy, that looks good.
Break me off a piece?
What? Break me off a piece.
Wow, you'd think I asked you for a kidney.
See, people think
just because it's pre-divided into little squares,
that it's meant to be shared.
Suddenly, it belongs to the community.
Yeah, it's an outrage.
So I figure it's best for you
to make the maximum 401-k contribution.
You'll take home less now,
but in the end, you make more.
Oh, uh, Carrie, I'm gonna need your w-2 from last year.
Oh, yeah. Right here.
Would you like some more coffee?
Oh, no, thanks, but, uh,
I have been eyeing that chocolate.
Mind if I snag a piece?
No problem.
Thanks.
Ok, moving on,
oh, do you have a list of the charitable donations
you made for the year?
Well, we don't keep a list per se,
um, but I know
we definitely... definitely gave to charity.
Oh, ok. Definitely.
I just... I... I just gotta, um,
I just gotta think for a second.
Charity...
Do-nay-Shee-un.
Oh, wait!
Wait a second.
We gave, uh, $15 to... to the animal shelter.
And, oh, $20 to that rainforest fund.
You remember, there was that booth at the supermarket?
Yeah, uh, we got a certificate signed by sting.
Is that it?
We also gave money to h.B.O.
Honey? It's not charity.
It's paying your bill.
Excuse me,
they do a lot of educational documentaries.
Like, last week, I learned that 2 dwarfs
can have a regular-sized kid.
It was fascinating.
So, with the shelter,
and the sting thing,
your total for the year is
$35.
Wow.
You guys really knocked yourselves out there, huh?
What an attitude on that jerk!
I mean, who is he to judge us?
He takes chocolate he wasn't even offered,
but we're the bad guys.
I don't think so.
Yeah, and it's not like
you have to give charity to be charitable!
I mean, it's the way you say hi.
It's the way you smile at people. Yeah!
Although you don't smile at people a whole lot.
Stop! Neither do you.
I... I... I smile constantly.
People think I'm a lunatic half the time!
All right, you know what? That's not the point.
The point is, we did give to charity, ok?
We gave $35!
$35 is good money!
Absolutely!
No, it's not.
We are horrible and selfish people.
I mean, look at us.
We got a house, we got food on the table,
a car, and what do we do?
We keep it all for ourselves.
All of it!
We're bad.
We're damned.
We're going straight to hell.
You know what? Let's not panic.
We can still buy our way out of this.
All right, now, come on... Come on, honey.
Who... who do we care about?
Who's poor? Who's needy?
Hey, we could buy, like, 1,000 candy bars
for Kirby's school library.
A school library.
That's perfect!
Yeah! From now on, anybody who comes over to our house
will get a free chocolate bar.
That will be our thing!
No, you doof.
I'm talkin' about making a real donation here!
"Opening up young minds...
Children are our future..."
This is a home run, hon'!
We love children! We love reading!
Actually, we don't love reading.
No, but we do think it's a good alternative to drugs.
Yes!
Ok.
Ok, so, this is our pet cause,
the... the Robert hoover school's new library.
Congratulations.
And to you, sir!
So, how much should we give?
$250?
We couldn't be better people if we tried!
Unless we bump it up to $500.
Look out! Now we're better people!
Actually, wait a minute.
Can we really afford to give $500?
Can we afford not to?
All right.
500 big ones!
Ok, look, it says here
that that puts us in the "patrons' circle."
Wow, we rocketed past "friends and angels."
So long, losers!
"Patrons" sounds fancy. Yeah.
I'm patron Doug.
Just like in colonial times.
W-What are you talkin' about?
I don't know, but why do you
gotta call me out on everything?
How great is this?
An elementary school library dedication.
This is as good as it gets.
We are out of hell with a bullet.
Hey, guys, thanks again for comin' tonight.
I wanted to introduce you to Nana Louise.
She runs the place, she wanted to thank you for your donation.
Hi. Oh, hi.
I can't tell you
how much we appreciate your generosity.
Oh, well,
if we can help one child read one book,
then we've done our job.
Oh, absolutely.
You know, I always say that reading is
fundamental.
Nana Louise,
can you read me this book?
Oh, yes, of course.
In just a few minutes, David.
I'm Kenny.
There's so many of them.
Excuse me a moment.
Sure.
Attention, everyone.
If you could come toward me, please.
We want to thank our wonderful donors
for their generosity.
Give yourselves a great, big hand!
And as our way of saying thank you,
may I present our commemorative wall of donors.
Nana Louise got back.
Stop it!
Enjoy the rest of the evening.
Honey, our names are on a wall!
How exciting is this!
Patrons, patrons.
This is great!
Here we are.
In "friends."
Friends?
Isn't that the $50 category?
Yeah!
Are you sure you gave $500?
Yeah, I'm positive, Doug.
I already got the canceled check back from the bank.
The school must have made a mistake!
Well, I mean,
it doesn't matter, right?
We... we didn't do it for the credit.
We did it for the kids.
Right.
The kids.
It's not like we can say,
hey, we were supposed to be patrons, you know?
That wouldn't be very charitable.
No, it would not.
No!
Crap!
Hey, it doesn't matter what it says on that donor wall.
We know we're patrons.
We're patrons where it counts:
On the inside.
Yeah, but everybody who reads that wall
will think we're just friends.
Yeah, but if you think about it,
friends may actually be better, right?
I mean, they write songs about friends.
You don't hear anything about "gettin' by"
with a little help from my patrons."
I'll tell you something, Doug.
I think we should tell Nana Louise
that there's been a mistake.
What? No... no, we can't!
Why not? 'Cause we'll look like jerks!
Yeah, but now we look like cheapos.
Listen to me, if we say anything,
we'll be undoing all the charity we did in the first place,
and then we're back on the fast track to hell!
All right, cool your jets
with the hell talk, Johnny.
Excuse me for caring about our eternal souls.
Wait a minute.
Are you... Are you serious?
Do you... do you literally think
we'll go to a place called hell
for telling Nana Louise about this?
Not a place called hell.
Hell!
Oh, ok, so tell wh-wh-wh-
what are you picturing here, Doug?
Are you picturing the... the devil
in red tights with a pitchfork?
Th-those aren't tights.
That's his skin.
Ok, you know what, Doug? I do not appreciate
you making me feel like a bad person
just because I wanna tell Nana Louise
that there's been a mistake.
Doesn't matter, 'cause you're not sayin' anything anyway.
Uh, you know what? I think I am.
You can't! I can.
I'm gonna tell her at the read along what happened.
Anybody would agree that's totally appropriate.
Ok, then obviously, we disagree here.
You... you know what we need to do?
We need to find a neutral 3rd party.
Ok, fine. Who?
My mom.
Oh, yeah.
'Cause your mom won't take your side at all.
All right, fine. Who do you wanna ask?
Sooji, my nail lady.
Soo who, your what?
Sooji, my nail lady.
What? She's very moral.
I ain't going to sooji, your nail lady,
with my hell questions, ok?
Well, then that's your problem.
I wish we could just ask God,
'cause I know he'd side with me.
Well, we can't ask God,
so where does that leave us?
So, what do you think we should do?
Well, Doug, Carrie,
what do you think you should do?
Well, I think we'd kinda like to know
what you think.
Well, what do you think I think?
Ok, let's just cut to the chase here.
Uh, do you think it's morally wrong
for Doug and I to tell Nana Louise
that we were supposed to be in the patrons' circle?
Well, "morally wrong" is a strong term.
Yeah, but it certainly isn't morally right, right? Hmm?
In a perfect world,
charity should be its own reward...
Ok, ok, ok, ok. Imagine this.
Imagine
if there were priest of the year awards.
Ok? We'll call them
the priesties.
And you knew you got most of the votes,
but for some reason,
father o'Henry was named the winner, ok?
Ok, now, obviously you should be a priest
for the sake of being a priest,
but is there...
Is there really anything wrong
in wanting a little recognition?
A little "what-what" from your peers?
Well, it's human nature
to wanna be praised for a job well-done...
There you go. Then you see our problem.
Well, Carrie, Doug,
this is your dilemma,
and only you can find the answer.
But if you want my advice,
it may be best to let the matter drop.
Really?
Man of the cloth thinks we should drop it.
Fine.
Hey, anybody wanna hear me read
horton hears a who?
Yeah!
Whoa, whoa, ok. Wow.
Wasn't expecting that.
Chill out. It's just a book, not T.V.
Hey, hey, Kirby.
Come here, come here, come here, come here.
Can I show you somethin'?
What?
Well,
Doug and I donated enough money to your school
to be way up here,
but, instead, our names are way down here.
Do you think that's fair?
How'd you like to do your aunt Carrie a favor?
"'Should I put this speck down?'
"horton thought with alarm.
"'If I do, these small persons
"'may come to great harm.
"'I can't put it down,
"'and I won't! After all,
"'a person's a person,
no matter how small.'"
or how big.
So, you're just gonna tell Nana Louise
that Doug and I were supposed to be...
S-starts with a "p."
Pa-
patrons, Kirby.
Patrons.
Ok, maybe we should go over this again. Ok.
I have to go to the bathroom.
All right, well, you're a big boy,
you can hold it, right?
It hurts.
Yeah, all right. I need you to focus, honey.
No, no! Kir-Kirby!
Hey, uh, what's goin' on?
Oh, well, um,
Kirby noticed that we were listed as friends
instead of patrons on the wall,
and he was pretty upset.
He wanted to talk to Nana Louise.
Have you guys read this?
It's very good.
Why would Kirby care
where you're listed on the wall?
What?
What is wrong with you?
It's perfect!
What's more innocent
than having it come from a child?
All right, you know, this is... this is it.
This is where I get off, girlfriend.
What does that mean?
That means you're free to marry your true love:
Satan!
He said Santa.
Ok, am I gonna have to have 2 two removed
from an elementary school?
Ok, but it's not my fault, it's her fault. She's sick!
No, no, no, I'm not sick, honey.
I... I... I realized something about myself, ok?
I'm not a bad person.
I'm just very petty.
I want to do good things for people,
I just want them to know that I'm doing them.
And that's sick!
Is there a problem?
Actually, Nana Louise, there is.
So I guess the zero got dropped
somewhere along the way.
I feel terrible.
Well, it didn't bother us.
It's just that if people were to see that we were patrons,
it might inspire them to give more.
It's for the kids, really.
Again, I'm so sorry.
We'll have to make it up to you.
Well, um, you know,
I should get back out there.
I promised little Timmy I'd read him Charlotte's web.
There is no little Timmy.
You're the queen of darkness.
Shut up.
All right, an extra zero would make that
$5,000.
Oh, my!
What the...
They named the library after us?
Really?
Yeah.
Look, I don't really have all the details,
but I've got a gut feeling
that wasn't supposed to happen.
You know what? It probably...
Please.
Understand something?
I only stopped by that day as a courtesy
because I know Doug likes candy.
I didn't realize the evil
I would be unleashing.
So, if you don't see me and my son
come around for a while,
I think you'll know why.
Good-bye.
And good day.
Nana Louise must have screwed up again.
We're gonna have to go down there and straighten it out.
Do we?
What?
I've always wanted a library.
You've always wanted a library?
Ok, I've always wanted a Jaguar,
but I'm never gonna get that,
so let me have this!
Carrie, if we don't fix this,
we're definitely goin' to hell!
No, we're going to heaven!
We donated a freakin' library!
But we didn't!
God knows that!
God will see the big sign
with our names on it,
and move on to other stuff.
He doesn't check into those things.
Carrie, sweetheart, listen to me.
The library doesn't belong to us.
We gotta give it back.
Tsk.
Fine!
I'm confused.
No, see... see,
we... we gave $500.
You just added an extra zero, that's all.
Look, if it's easier for you to keep the sign up,
we're... we're ok with that.
Carrie.
Oh, boy.
I seem to make so many silly mistakes these days.
The school board isn't gonna be too happy with me.
I'm sure they'll understand.
Children,
the school board says
that Nana Louise is very tired,
and can't read to you anymore.
No, Nana Louise!
Don't go!
Don't cry, Leonard.
I'm Richie.
Oh, dear.
We got a sweet old lady fired,
and we're starting to get a little concerned
about this whole hell thing?
What's the dealy-o on that?
Hi. I'm selling boxes of cookies
so my troop can go see the Liberty Bell.
All right, I'm gonna do you a favor, here.
Go away and don't come back.
Tell the others.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!
Quick. One box of the shortbread.
Now go! Go!