Edward Everett "Eddie" Von Scott was raised by his mother from the time of his birth. He never knew who his father was. From the time he could talk, he never stopped being a menace.
Ms. Scott sat down onto a chair, exhausted from cleaning up the house after Eddie had been through it. But as soon as her backside hit the chair, a sharp pain shot through her.
She stood up in shock: a thorn was there on the chair.
"YEOW!" Eddie's mother shouted. "EDDIE! Come in here at vonce!"
Eddie came in, trotting his dirty shoes through the house. He started laughing after realizing his mother had found the thorn he was playing with earlier.
"Did you do this?" Ms. Scott demanded, picking up the thorn,.
"You found my thorn, Mommy!" Eddie said, in a desperate effort to be cute and get out of trouble.
But Ms. Scott would have none of it. She picked Eddie up and, grabbing a chair, sat him in the corner of the small house. Eddie sat there with his arms crossed and a frown, until his mother took pity on him and handed him his teddy bear, which his Uncle had given him the day he was born.
"I hate my teddy!" Eddie said, throwing the bear across the room and going back to his position.
Shocked, his mother went to telephone his Uncle to tell him what happened.
"Hello, Edeline," Dr. Everett Scott said over the phone.
"Hello, Everett. I simply do not know vhat to do about Eddie! He is a disgrace! He put a thorn in my backside and just said he does not vike his teddy bear!"
"Oh, my. Eddie does not like his teddy? He sounds like a horrible boy!"
"But he is my only son and family member, apart from you, of course."
"Try your hardest to encourage him to change his ways. Now I must go: I have papers to grade."
"Wait-"
But Dr. Scott had already hung up. Ms. Scott realized she was going to have to raise Eddie herself. She decided the best thing to do was to get him something to play with, and took a trip to get him a tricycle the next day.