The Boy Who Cried 'Destructo!'

Lawrence Hodges turns Eugene’s workshop into the scene of an imaginary rescue mission. Pretending to be a secret agent, Lawrence barges through the room, dodges make-believe guards, and tries to rescue Eugene from the evil organization Destructo. Eugene is actually mixing chemicals to make perfume, and Lawrence’s noisy entrance startles him into combining the wrong ingredients. Eugene scolds Lawrence for letting his imagination control his actions, but Lawrence rushes away to continue the game.

Outside Whit’s End, Lawrence meets private detective Harlow Doyle on a moped. Harlow happily joins the fantasy, and Lawrence declares that Destructo’s hidden headquarters is a cave near Trickle Lake. The two ride there to destroy it. When they arrive, however, they see two real men unloading boxes from a van. Lawrence and Harlow separate to investigate. Lawrence soon hears Harlow yell, followed by a loud grinding noise. When he returns, Harlow, the men, and the van have disappeared.

Meanwhile, Whit finds Eugene unconscious in the workshop. Fresh air revives him, and they conclude that the mistaken chemical mixture has created a scent that puts people to sleep. Eugene blames the accident on Lawrence’s uncontrolled imagination. Just then Lawrence races in, crying that Harlow has been kidnapped. He describes the men, the boxes, and the hidden cave, but his explanation begins with the admission that he and Harlow went there to attack Destructo. Eugene dismisses the entire account as another fantasy.

Whit does not know whether Lawrence is right, but he believes the only fair way to find out is to investigate. At the remote cave, however, there are no tire tracks, no moped, and no visible boxes. Whit goes inside with a flashlight while Lawrence searches the woods. Lawrence discovers many bottles and hears the grinding sound again. When he rushes back, he finds only Whit’s dropped flashlight and realizes Whit has vanished too.

Whit has been captured by the same men, Smith and Jones, and taken to their concealed cabin. Harlow is already tied up there beside an illegal still. The men are bootleggers who have been making liquor in secret, not agents of Destructo. With two witnesses now in their hands, they decide to pack their operation and escape. Whit warns them that kidnapping has made their crimes much more serious, but they leave their prisoners bound while they move the remaining boxes.

Lawrence returns to Whit’s End and begs Eugene to call the police. Eugene still refuses to believe him, reasoning that Whit may simply have gone shopping and that Lawrence brought back the flashlight at his request. Lawrence insists that this danger is real, even though he has invented so much before. When Eugene will neither call nor let Lawrence use the telephone, Lawrence threatens to find a pay phone. Eugene finally agrees to stop at the cave on his way to have the accidental perfume analyzed.

Whit’s car is still at Whit’s End, which makes Eugene uneasy. At the cave, Eugene and Lawrence spot the van, the boxes, and Jones. By listening to the bootleggers’ walkie-talkies, they learn that Whit and Harlow are being held in a hideout. The grinding noise comes from a motorized gate disguised by bushes, which conceals the road to the cabin. Eugene tells Lawrence to contact the police while he attempts a rescue. With no plan and two criminals ahead, Eugene realizes that the sleep-inducing perfume may be the only weapon he needs.

Inside the cabin, Harlow accidentally strikes a valve on the still while trying to loosen Whit’s ropes. The release valve jams, the boiler begins overheating, and Whit realizes the still may explode. He and Harlow struggle to free themselves and pray for help.

Outside, Eugene takes the van’s keys and confronts Smith and Jones as a representative of the invented Knockout Perfuming Company. He sprays both men with the altered scent, and they collapse into sleep. Eugene hurries inside, where Whit directs him to break loose a water hose from the condenser. After several blows with a broom handle, Eugene frees the hose, extinguishes the fire, and cools the boiler before it explodes.

Once the police arrive, Eugene apologizes for doubting Lawrence. Whit reminds Lawrence that he also owes Eugene an apology for disrupting the experiment. Lawrence initially points out that the ruined perfume saved everyone, but he accepts responsibility and says he is sorry. He understands why Eugene did not believe the kidnapping report: after so many fantasies, people could not tell when Lawrence was finally telling the truth.

Harlow is already eager for another mission against Destructo. Lawrence decides that almost nobody believes him, then rides away with the one detective who does.