Old Tricks

Eugene Meltsner comes home late for dinner bursting with news: the college has approved a new assistant professor position, and Dean Bross, the head of the science department, wants him to apply. Unlike his current part-time adjunct job, this one is full-time and could lead to tenure. The only catch is that another capable professor, Albert Ellingwood, is applying too. Buck eagerly asks how he can help Eugene prepare, but Eugene brushes off every offer, insisting the work is too technical and that even cleaning his laboratory would be too dull and exacting for Buck. Buck quietly excuses himself, and later Katrina points out to Eugene that he hurt Buck's feelings, since helping the family is the main way Buck shows he cares. Eugene admits his excitement made him oblivious, and he decides to clear his schedule and spend the next day launching model rockets with Buck.

At the park, the outing hits a snag: Buck left the bag of potassium nitrate in his backpack at home, and rockets cannot launch without it. Eugene heads to the college to get more, promising, "I shall return in scant nanoseconds." Instead, he accidentally locks himself in a basement storage room, and by the time a security officer frees him and writes him up for not wearing his ID badge, more than three hours have passed. Buck, who has given up waiting and walked to Whit's End, tells Connie he only wants to help Eugene get the job he deserves. Connie shares something Jesus said, "Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing," and suggests Buck find ways to help Eugene secretly. She calls the Meltsner house to leave a message for Katrina, but when Eugene walks in, she forgets to hang up properly, and the answering machine records their whole conversation, including Eugene's frustration over the lost afternoon and his worry that the security report could hurt his chances. At home, Buck listens to the message, deletes it, and starts asking Katrina questions about Albert Ellingwood, whose picture is on the refrigerator.

On the day of Eugene's interview, Buck skips school and puts his old con-artist skills to work. Pretending to be a dean's office assistant named Joseph Harper, he bumps into Professor Ellingwood on an icy sidewalk and hands him a forged note on official letterhead saying his meeting is canceled. He has even swiped the professor's phone so the man cannot call the office to check, and he spins a story about downed phone lines in the science building. Ellingwood believes every word. When the other candidate fails to appear, Dean Bross offers Eugene the job on the spot. But when Connie congratulates Eugene and mentions that Buck was on campus claiming it was a teacher in-service day, Eugene grows suspicious and goes to check on something.

That evening, Eugene confronts Buck at home, producing the forged note Ellingwood gave him and the stolen phone from Buck's pocket. Katrina is horrified to learn Buck committed fraud, and Buck admits he knew the risk and was willing to go back to juvenile detention if it meant Eugene got the job he deserved. Then Eugene delivers the real blow: he turned the position down. The dean was planning to offer it to him anyway, but after learning what happened, he could not accept it, and Ellingwood will take the job instead. Eugene tells Buck plainly that lying, stealing, and deception belong to his old life and have no place in their family, yet he is grateful Buck cared enough to want to help him. He adds that the job would have taken even more time away from Buck and Katrina than he would like. Katrina assures Buck that nothing he does can earn their love, and nothing he does can lose it, which Eugene notes is also true of God's love. There will still be consequences, though, starting with Buck cleaning a science laboratory, not Eugene's, but Professor Ellingwood's.

As the two scrub beakers together, Eugene asks Buck to be honest about whether he even likes model rockets. Buck answers, "I enjoy being with you," though rockets are not his favorite. Eugene offers to brave the cold for ice fishing at Trickle Lake, since Buck loves fishing, but Buck has a better idea: popcorn and a movie at home with Katrina. Eugene happily agrees.