Plot
When Homer is mowing his lawn with obvious frustration, his next-door neighbor Ned Flanders invites him into his basement rumpus room for a beer. Upon seeing Ned's house and observing his exaggeratedly perfect relationships with his wife and son, Homer erupts at Ned, accusing him of showing off. Ned angrily asks Homer to leave in response. Later, however, he feels guilty and writes a letter to Homer saying that he is really sorry and that he loves him as a brother. Homer is amused by Ned's sentimentality and reads the letter to the family at the breakfast table. Marge is not happy with the family's reaction and chastises Homer for making light of Ned's sincere apology. Afterwards, Homer takes Bart and Maggie to Sir Putt-A-Lot's Merrie Olde Fun Centre for a round of miniature golf. They unexpectedly run into Ned and his son Todd, and end up going golfing together.
The game goes well for everyone (especially Bart), except for Homer, who is obviously still jealous of Ned. Meanwhile, Bart and Todd find out about an upcoming children's miniature golf tournament, with a first prize of $50. They enter it, and although Todd is very good at miniature golf, Homer becomes confident that Bart will win. He tells Bart that it is not okay to lose and forces him to stare angrily at a picture of Todd for 15 minutes every day. Later, when Bart looks at his meager collection of trophies in his room, Lisa offers to help him practice. Utilizing spiritual books that calm Bart's mind, they meditate. Meanwhile, Homer makes a bet with Ned on whose boy is a better golfer: the father of the boy who does not win the tournament will mow the other father's lawn in his wife's Sunday dress.
On the day of the tournament, Homer threatens Bart to win no matter what. In an extremely close match, Bart and Todd each do well, and tie by the time they reach the eighteenth hole. Bart and Todd agree that the competition is not worth the stress, that they are equally good and that they should call it a draw, splitting the award evenly. Since neither of the boys won, Ned and Homer are forced to wear their respective wife's Sunday dress and mow each other's lawn. People around the neighborhood laugh at them and Ned actually enjoys it (commenting that it reminds him of his fraternity days), much to Homer's dismay.
Read more about this topic: Dead Putting Society
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“The westward march has stopped, upon the final plains of the Pacific; and now the plot thickens ... with the change, the pause, the settlement, our people draw into closer groups, stand face to face, to know each other and be known.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“If you need a certain vitality you can only supply it yourself, or there comes a point, anyway, when no one’s actions but your own seem dramatically convincing and justifiable in the plot that the number of your days concocts.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. The time sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)