"Hello, Mrs. Parker, we’ve come to help with your shopping. What d’you need?"

The B.A.N.G. Gang is still smarting from the scolding they got the previous day from Mrs. Parker, Boruch’s elderly housebound neighbor. As they walk home from school, they discuss their harrowing experience.

Characters:

• ARON, a slow-moving fellow who likes to take life easy
• BORUCH, trying to cope with a big sister who always knows better
• NOSSON, clever and articulate, often talks in italics to make a point
• GERSHON, creative, and quick to think of new ideas

BORUCH: Whew, I’m still bruised from being tripped up by that cat. I’m positive he did it on purpose.

GERSHON: Ha! According to Mrs. Parker, he’s the world’s darlingest cat and wouldn’t harm a fly. You did try explaining it was Tiddles’s fault that you had to go back to the pharmacy to get new Alka-seltzer, but no dice.

NOSSON: Yeah, all she wanted to do was complain about how long it took us to do one simple errand. Considering we had to go twice, it was pretty quick if you ask me. And we paid for the second batch ourselves, too.

ARON: Like I said, who needs all this hassle? After a long day at school, we could all be relaxing at home.

BORUCH [looking uncomfortable]: Er, not sure how to break this to you, guys, but Mrs. Parker asked us to run another errand today.

GERSHON: Whaaat? I thought she said we were a bunch of nincompoops!

BORUCH: Yeah, well, she stopped me this morning. Um, I guess she really does need our help.

ARON: Count me out.

NOSSON [half-heartedly]: Hey, chill, Aron. It’s hard, but we can do it. [rallying] You know what Rebbi said about lefum tzaara… according to the effort is the reward.

GERSHON [more enthusiastically]: Yeah, c’mon, guys! We’re the B.A.N.G. Gang! We can’t let such a small setback hold us back.

ARON: Small?

BORUCH: I’m game, but I’ll let you be the spokesperson this time, Gershon.