Tucker, Mr. Lancer, Mrs. Tetslaff, and Principal Ishiyama all sat around the table. Everyone, with the possible exception of Tucker, looked stern.
"Principal," Mr. Lancer said, "I hate to interrupt your reasoning, but I think that in a real business situation…"
"This isn't a real business situation!" shouted Mrs. Tetslaff, pounding the table. "He helped the other students cheat—"
"I was not cheating!" Tucker said. "Plenty of parents leave their real kids at daycare all the time."
"And while they're there, nobody eats them!" replied Mrs. Tetslaff. "You ended up causing the entire class to fail."
"To return to my point," Mr. Lancer interrupted, "there is a clause in many business contracts titled 'force majeure'. It refers to unforeseeable, unavoidable events such as floods, fires, or so-called 'Acts of God'."
"Yeah! What he said!" Tucker chimed in. "How was I to know my mom would use the flour to make cookies? And anyway, those fancy devices you attached to 'em should still work, right?"
Mr. Lancer finished, "As such, while I understand where both of you are coming from, I'd advise that Mr. Foley be, how shall we put it? 'Let off the hook,' on the grounds that the… accident was just that."
There was something of a standoff. Mr. Lancer stared at Mrs. Tetslaff and the principal. They stared back. It lasted for a few seconds.
"Fine," Principal Ishiyama finally said, sounding a bit grumpy. "Mr. Foley, you can keep the money from your 'Flour Power Daycare', as long as you ask the administration the next time you plan on starting a school-related business. Do you understand?"
Tucker nodded, thanked her politely, and quietly left. It wasn't until he was in the halls that he whooped, jumped for joy, and shouted, at the top of his lungs,
"I'M IN THE MONEY!"
Danny had to rescue Tucker from the ensuing mob, but it was worth it.