Helen and Truman are playing fetch with the Lorraine dogs, but when it's Truman's turn to throw the ball, he says he wants to throw it alone, and only to Martha. When Helen and Skits leave, he says that he doesn't want to throw Martha the ball, but rather discuss something in secret, and away from the house. He takes her to his place, where he shows her a book about hobos, and reveals that he wants to run away with her and be a hobo. Martha is up to it (especially since it means sleeping in dirt and never taking a bath), but then he reveals that he wants to be a hobo forever.
Outside the cafe, Martha tells this to Helen, T.D., Carolina, and Alice. T.D. reveals that yesterday, Truman asked how he'd do on the "Pony Express", since he's scared of full-sized horses but is more okay with ponies. Then, Alice reveals that Truman asked her how to join the circus, even though he's afraid of tigers and clowns. Carolina then suggests that Truman might be planning to run away.
On the street, the kids and Martha speculate on why Truman would run away. Martha wonders if his parents got a cat, but Alice points out that Truman likes them. T.D. wonders if they got a bear, but Alice wonders why. T.D. suggests they got a cat first and then got a bear to scare it away, but that doesn't make sense. Helen is worried that Truman might run away, but Carolina thinks that he'd probably run home in fear of a bug after just one block.
Truman enters the library, so the other kids and Martha follow. They see him take out a book, then spy on him at home, pretending to be a cowboy in his room. They conclude that he must be trying to join the rodeo, but this puzzles Truman, since he has a good family, and friends who live nearby, so she has no idea why he'd run away. She confronts him on his way back to the library, and he reveals that he's trying to escape playing softball, since it's coming up at school but he can't catch.
Helen suggests he just practice some more, but Truman thinks he has no time, since the game is the next day. Helen is not discouraged, however, and she takes him to the park to get lessons from Alice. She demonstrates with throwing a ball to Martha and Skits, and tells Truman to think of the ball as his "friend". Then, Helen dangles the ball from a fishing line and tries to have Truman catch it, and then Alice throws it to him again but he misses. She tries to give him a lesson in concentration, but thinks it's "hopeless". She tries four other throws anyway, and he does miss the first three, but he catches the fourth. However, he still can't hold onto the balls, so he struggles a bit, until Carolina suggests letting the ball drop into his mitt, which works.
The next day, they play softball, and Truman manages to catch it. However, he still cannot throw a ball, so on the way home, Alice promises to give T.D. lessons on throwing, despite his not seeing a use for it.
This episode provides examples of
- Acting Unnatural: When Truman tells Martha to act natural, she walks sideways like he was doing.
- Animal Jingoism: Martha says she'd run away if the Lorraines got a cat.
- Bears Are Bad News: T.D. wonders if Truman wants to run away because his parents got a pet bear.
- Blatant Lies: When Truman's friends try to pretend they're not spying on him, Carolina pretends that she's looking for a book on "something", then unconvincingly pretends to be excited about the book.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Alice says that she wants to see Truman concentrate, she means determine that he's concentrating by his expression, but he thinks she means reading his mind.
- Companion Cube: Discussed when Alice tries to convince Truman to learn to catch by seeing the ball as his "friend".
- Department of Redundancy Department: Truman lists sleeping in dirt in his list of hobo activities several times.
- Entertainment Above Their Age: Discussed when T.D. thinks that maybe he's too young for the book he's reading.
- Flashback: When Truman is explaining how he can't catch in softball, he's seen in the past telling the coach about his inability to catch.
- Happy Dance: Truman dances for joy when he catches his first ball, then when he catches it during the game.
- Misaimed Fandom: In-Universe, T.D. actually likes the whale winning in Moby-Dick.
- Mondegreen Gag: Upon first hearing the word "attempt", Martha mishears it as "tempt".
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Subverted. Truman's friends initially worry something is wrong with him when he considers joining the circus despite his fear of clowns and tigers, but he just wants to get out of playing softball.
- The Runaway: Discussed when Truman wants to run away and either be a hobo or join the circus or the rodeo.
- Running Gag: Through the episode, T.D. keeps reading Moby-Dick and commenting on it.
- Say My Name: In the flashback, a crowd of people shouts, "Truman!" when he misses the ball.
- Scooby Stack: When Truman's friends peek out from behind a pillar at the library, they appear stacked.
- Shout-Out: T.D. reads Moby-Dick throughout the episode.
- Speak in Unison: In the flashback, Truman's teammates berate him by yelling his name in unison.
- Tropey, Come Home: Discussed when Truman nearly ropes Martha into running away with him and being a hobo.
- Voodoo Shark: T.D. wonders why Truman ran away, so he suggests an answer might be that his parents got a bear. Alice points out that this raises the question of why they'd get one, so T.D. suggests that they got a cat first and then got the bear to scare it away (which would raise the question of why they'd even get a cat in the first place if they want it scared away).
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Truman is revealed to be scared of horses (except ponies), tigers, and clowns.
