20. Stilts

Complete story — includes the ending

After Lois and Hal are reminded of the tight budget they must uphold, Hal discovers one of the boys has been dialing a 1-900 number. His attempt to explain the error to the hotline's billing department turns awry when he forgets to hang up the phone one evening and finds out about it in the morning, incurring a whopping $800 charge ($1,319 in 2025 ). Meanwhile, Reese takes a job at a research clinic that pays him to take experimental pills and regrets it when he steals a police horse, Malcolm takes on a humiliating job at the Lucky Aide as a costumed Uncle Sam on stilts, and runs afoul of a drunk man ( Timothy Stack ) who used to be the Lucky Aide Uncle Sam, and Dewey discovers that Jamie is finding old jewelry Francis hid from Lois, until he discovers that Jamie is stealing jewelry from a neighbor's house.