A Bite of Applesauce

Something strange has been going on at Whit's End, and Connie Kendall is determined to find out what it is. For weeks now, Whit has stayed at the shop long after closing, and Connie has walked past late at night to find every light still burning. Eugene Meltsner insists that if the matter were important, Mr. Whittaker would say so, and that a person's private business is nobody else's. Connie is not satisfied. Before she can argue the point, Whit calls Eugene into his office and shuts the door, leaving Connie at the counter with her curiosity twice as strong as before.

Inside the office, Whit shows Eugene a copy of The Last Battle on his bookshelf. Tucked inside the front cover is a key, and the key fits a lock beside the bookcase. When Eugene turns it, the bookcase swings open on a hidden room Whit had built when he moved into the building, filled with computer equipment and run by a talking computer named Mabel. Mabel now controls nearly everything in the shop, from the train set to the Imagination Station, so that Whit can see which displays the kids truly enjoy. One item on the menu is different. The program called Applesauce is not to be discussed, touched, or opened, and Whit will not explain why. He is sharing the room with Eugene as a matter of trust, in case anything should ever happen to him.

That evening the train set refuses to shut off, and Eugene slips into the office to fix it at the computer. Connie follows, sees everything, and immediately begs for a look at Applesauce. Eugene refuses and tells her plainly that he is disappointed in her for asking. She apologizes, and they lock the room behind them.

The next morning Connie opens the shop alone, and Donna reports that the train will not run. Connie remembers why, finds the key in the same book, and coaxes Mabel into starting the train. Then Applesauce appears on the screen again. Connie talks herself into believing the file might be about her, and just as she asks for it, Donna startles her in the doorway. In the confusion Mabel takes the half spoken request as a command and loads the program. Lights, displays, and machines all over Whit's End go wild. Connie sends Donna to clear the building, Eugene arrives and cannot stop it, and when the uproar finally quiets, Applesauce moves to level two and demands a password within ten seconds. The two of them shout out every guess they can think of and get none of them right. The fail safe does exactly what Whit designed it to do, and the whole building goes dark.

Whit comes back from a morning of fishing to find his shop shut down and empty of children. He listens to the whole story without raising his voice. Applesauce, he explains, serves purposes far beyond Whit's End, which is why an unknown user triggers a shutdown. Connie braces for a lecture, but Whit tells her a lecture is not what this calls for. He trusted them both, that trust is broken, and this time sorry is not enough. Effective immediately, Eugene and Connie are no longer employees of Whit's End.