User Reviews

... The answer is, of course, the owner of the local pet store. Eddie needs a job after school to pay back his father for something valuable that he broke. He gets a job at the local pet store where the owner is sponsoring a contest - Guess how many guppies are in the fish tank and you win a pedigreed puppy. Beaver and Gilbert are joining forces and if either wins they will share the puppy.

Now Eddie knows the number of guppies in the fish tank, and if you think he is going to keep this company secret, then you don't know Eddie. Of course this ends in disaster, with dozens of people knowing the winning number thanks to Eddie and the proliferation of the winning number from the one person that he told.

I rather envy these folks living in simpler less litigious times. The owner should have posted rules for what happens if nobody guesses correctly, or if multiple people get the wrong number but are equidistant and closest to the right number. And this situation - if multiple people guessed correctly, which could have happened even without Eddie trying to be a big shot.

Today, every winner would demand a pedigreed puppy and sue if they didn't get one, putting the small business owner out of business.

A couple of asides - First, at the beginning, Wally and June are discussing how carpets were cleaned before vacuum cleaners, and it is also mentioned that there was no TV when June was a kid. Wally is horrified by the idea of life without TV. That seems a bit odd since Wally is old enough to remember when there was no television. Second, when Beaver tells his parents that he might win a part-time puppy, there is no push back at all. A dog is a big responsibility, and I'm surprised the subject did not come up.

A good beginning when June explains to Wally about how they had to hang and beat carpets before vacuum cleaners and Wally says that must have been funny to watch on television. It gets worse for Wally when June announces there was no television then. Things get better for June when Eddie drops by to see Wally and announce he won't be there every afternoon because he has to get a job. Of course, the reasons for the job vary depending on who he's talking to.

Beaver and Gilbert have a new scheme. They plan on winning a puppy contest by counting the number of fish in a fish tank. Gilbert figures they have it made: Eddie Haskell got a job—working in the pet store—and he's Wally's best friend, and Eddie would know how many fish are in the tank, and . . . you can figure out where Gilbert believes this is going; and all he has to do now is think of a name for the puppy.

And Ward has a pretty good story of how he lost a contest when he was a kid: guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar. It's so good, I won't spoil it for you.

Beaver discusses Gilbert's plan with his dad because Beaver believes it would be cheating to ask Eddie, and wants confirmation, which he gets. Doesn't stop Eddie from being his creepy self and teasing Beaver. Or as Beaver says, it's hard to be honest with a guy like Eddie around.

Eddie eventually tells Lumpy the answer because after all he's running the place the for Mr. Parker. And Lumpy eventually has a pretty girl "worm" the number out of him, and her little sisters tells . . . and you should figure out the answer everyone submits. One thing we know, Eddie Haskell is fired.

Beaver is happy as he won a consolation prize: two fish. Well, because so many kids had the right answer, no one got the puppy; but everyone did get two fish. That's a pretty happy ending to such a fish story.