It was a Wednesday evening and the telephone rang at Dennis’ house.  Dennis mom, Eileen, picked it up.  Marlon and Heston’s mom, Jenny, had made the call.  “Hello Jenny, did you change your underwear?  You did forget your baked goods.  I’ll have Dennis drop them off at the synagogue.”  The Smith house was 2 houses down from the synagogue.  Jenny frequently stopped to visit with Eileen Smith when she was coming or going to the temple.  Eileen said to her son, Dennis, “please go over to the temple and drop Jenny’s baked goods off so they have them for tomorrow’s bake sale.  And, by the way, please do not tell a bunch of jokes when Jenny is visiting.  She thinks you are very funny and you had her in stitches causing her to wet her underwear.  But don’t tell that to anyone.”  At this point you may take a break and refer back to chapter 1 to see why it may not be a good idea to make Jenny Levine laugh uproariously.

Dennis went to the temple and searched for someone to give the baked goods to.  He couldn’t find anyone so he went up to the rabbi’s study on the top floor hoping that the rabbi was working there. When he put his handle on the doorknob to open the door he heard strange noises coming from the study.  He gently turned the doorknob very quietly but the door was locked.  He put his ear to the door and continued listening.  The noises got a little louder; soon there was no question about what he was hearing.  He continued listening for ten minutes, all the while smiling, when the sounds stopped.  After a couple of minutes he heard the rabbi speak but he only heard the tail end of what the rabbi was saying:   “wasn’t even in the top five  and the ‘covet’ commandment came very close to not making it.”   Then he heard what sounded like people dressing.  Dennis quickly went downstairs with the baked goods, waiting outside the front entrance of the temple.  After ten minutes more,  he saw Mona Rabinowitz exit the temple.  Mona was also a friend of his parents.  As Mona passed Dennis he said to her, “Hi, Moaner”.  Mona looked at Dennis and said to him, “Hi Dennis, you know it’s Mona, not Moaner.”  He smiled at her and walked home. When he got home he told his mom that there was no one at the temple and he would drop the baked goods off on his way to school in the morning.

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