The Trouble with Children, Or, Why They Are Necessary
- The kids are finally fed (tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, yum), and Rhonda informs them, "It's all part of the test, you know. Being hungry and irritable. It's important to see how you behave when other children are getting doughnuts and you're getting nothing, and how well your mind works despite being tired and thirsty" (4.2).
- Hmm—we're kind of tired and thirsty right now. How about you? Go ahead. Grab an apple and some water. We'll wait.
- Better? Okay, let's continue.
- Rhonda reveals that she took these same tests years ago, as did the pencil woman. Rhonda also reveals that there is a fourth child who passed the tests, although apparently there has been some kind of delay.
- The pencil woman tells Kate, Reynie, and Sticky that Mr. Benedict is ready for them and brings them into his study, which, like every other room in the house, is crammed with books.
- Mr. Benedict is a kind older man who welcomes them, congratulates them on passing the tests, and reveals that the pencil woman's name (or at least, her code name) is Number Two. Ha.
- He also tells them a little bit about the fourth child who passed the test, a girl named Constance Contraire.
- Just like Reynie, Kate, and Sticky, Constance managed to pass all the tests in her own way—essentially by refusing to participate on any terms but her own.
- When told to bring just one pencil, Constance showed up with thirty-seven.
- When asked to answer multiple choice questions, Constance wrote poems. And so on.
- The other kids are shocked, but Mr. Benedict is amused. So amused that he laughs himself into a narcoleptic episode.
- Narco-what-ic?
- Nar-co-lep-tic. Mr. Benedict suffers from narcolepsy with cataplexy, which means he sometimes falls asleep all of the sudden when he feels strong emotion. Like the emotion brought on by lots of laughter.
- Anywho, Mr. B thinks Constance is a hoot. The other kids aren't quite sure.
- When she arrives, she proves as stubborn as her test answers implied, and Reynie, Sticky, and Kate aren't sure what to make of her. But they have bigger steaks to grill at the moment.
- Mr. Benedict tells them he has brought them together because he needs a team of children for a very important, very dangerous mission. And hey, no pressure or anything, but he also tells them they are his "last possible hope" (4.121).