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Sophie Minds the Store

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Episode Details

View Screen Captures for “Sophie Minds the Store” »

Synopsis

Sophie gets Chuck to help her out at her parents’ store, but the cash is out by $20 at the end of the day. Chuck’s father is in jail, so it appears that it must be like father, like son.

Plot

Sophie Brendakis is left with a lot of responsibility when her mother goes away, leaving her to run the family grocery store, “De Grassi Grocery,” while caring for her father who is bedridden in a body cast upstairs. At school, Sophie wins an earphone radio for achieving a perfect score in a math contest.

Overwhelmed by the workload, Sophie accepts an offer from her friend Chuck to help out at the store. Sophie needs to deliver groceries to Mrs. Mackenzie, so she leaves Chuck alone to manage the counter. When she returns, she tallies the day’s receipts and discovers the register is short by $20. Immediately suspicious, she confronts Chuck. When he denies taking it, she cruelly alludes to his father, who is currently in prison, suggesting that “like father, like son,” Chuck must be a thief. Hurt and angry, Chuck storms off.

Later, Sophie takes the cash to the bank to make a deposit. The bank teller points out a mistake in her math: she calculated 7 x $20 as $120 instead of $140. There was no theft; Sophie had simply added the money up wrong, a humbling error for the math contest winner.

Filled with guilt, Sophie finds Chuck to apologize. She admits her mistake and offers him her prize radio as a Christmas present for his father in jail. Chuck forgives her, and in a gesture of friendship, offers to teach Sophie how to ice skate using his sister’s old skates.

Cast

Main Cast:

Supporting Cast:

Crew

Trivia

  • This is one of three episodes to spotlight a character (Sophie Brendakis) who is never seen again.
  • Anna Migliarisi plays Mrs. Brendakis in this episode. In other episodes, she is played by Sari Friedland.
  • The episode features an uncredited cameo by co-creator Linda Schuyler as a “Customer with Hat”.
  • This is the first episode to refer to Chuck’s father being in prison.
  • The school and bank scenes were filmed at Earl Grey School and the Royal Bank Community Branch.
  • Mr. Mackey, who appears as a customer with dogs, is revealed to be one of the teachers in the later episode Pete Takes a Chance.

Transcript

Mr. Mackey: This year’s winner scored 100%, not one single mistake, and that person is Sophie Vrinda. Congratulations, Sophie!
Chuck: Sophie must be pretty smart to beat you in the math contest, you know.
Noel: Thanks, Chuck.

Chuck: How about you, Sophie? Wanna come skating?
Sophie: I can’t. My mom’s away and I have to run the store. Well, my dad’s still upstairs.
Chuck: How’s his back?
Sophie: About the same. I never knew a broken back took so long to heal.
Chuck: Yeah, my dad says being in that body cast thing must be like being in jail.

Sophie: What are you talking about? Your dad’s Christmas present is what I’m talking about.
Chuck: What? That was sure nice of you, Chuck, offering to mind this store while I delivered the groceries. Huh?
Sophie: Then taking the money while I was gone.
Chuck: What money? What are you talking about?
Sophie: $20. I was $20 short yesterday. Just the amount you needed.
Chuck: I didn’t take your money.
Sophie: And I trusted you, thief. Don’t you call me a thief.
Chuck: Why not? That’s who you are. You probably learned it from your dad. I bet that’s why he’s in jail.

(At the Bank)
Teller: Yes? I think you made a mistake.
Sophie: Me? No, I couldn’t have.
Teller: Well, you’ve got written here that seven times 20 is 120. It’s not, you know. It’s 140.
Sophie: But…
Teller: Don’t look so worried. It’s not the end of the world. You’ve got 20 more dollars than you thought you had. Merry Christmas.

(Outside the Store)
Sophie: Could you mind the store for a while? Oh, of course. No problem. You were right. I know you didn’t take the money. I found the 20 dollars. I added it up wrong. I’m sorry I called you a thief. And I’m sorry I called your dad a thief. He’s not in jail for stealing, you know.
Sophie: Here, I brought you something.
Chuck: What’s it for?
Sophie: For you, for your dad. Sophie, I can’t. It still works okay. It hardly looks used at all. He’ll never know.
Chuck: It’s not that. It’s too expensive.
Sophie: I didn’t pay anything for it. Thanks, Sophie. You want to learn to skate?

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