Mistakes Were Made

“Always on the lookout for clues, I make an important note in my detective log.

GABE: not tidy.”

Timmy considers himself to be the world’s best detective, but he fails to notice clues that are both obvious and presented to him directly. In attempting to solve the case of the missing candy, Timmy notices Gunnar’s brother covered in chocolate and surrounded by wrappers. Rather than connecting the dots, Timmy makes note of the fact that Gunnar’s brother is a messy person. This initial mistake sets the stage for each of Timmy’s detective failures, which all follow a similar pattern. Timmy sees something obvious and uses it to come to a completely different conclusion.

“The first thing you need to know about Charles ‘Rollo’ Tookus is that he is not smart. Yes, he has a 4.6 grade point average, but that is only because he studies. Obsessively.”

Timmy is often unkind to his best friend Rollo, who is the opposite of Timmy in character. While Timmy finds school to be a waste of time, Rollo is almost entirely focused on his grades and his eventual entrance into university. Ironically, Timmy considers himself to be the smart one and Rollo the less intelligent one.

“According to an ad in the newspaper, the rent is $54,000 a month. That’s steep, but if the Gunnar case goes well, it’ll be a drop in the bucket.”

Timmy has lofty ideas and often engages in fantastical thinking. He has a somewhat unrealistic view of the world and himself, and because of this, he has goals that are out of reach for someone of his age and resources, evidenced by the hyperbolic idea that $54,000 will be “a drop in the bucket.” Timmy’s self-confidence is both a strength and a flaw, and it takes time for Timmy to find the balance of Being Oneself While Being Open to Improving.

“At home that night, my detective’s intuition tells me something is wrong. I’ve seen my mother pass in front of the house eight times on her Segway. The previous record was six. So I know it is serious.”

While Timmy may not be able to solve cases well, he is highly perceptive of his mother’s emotional state—he knows that how many times she rides the Segway past their house correlates to her degree of stress. Though he does not know why she is upset, he can tell that she is, and it demonstrates The Unbreakable Bond Between Mother and Son. Timmy’s mother is the most important person in his life, and they have an unspoken understanding.

“I can’t focus. Because Rollo’s head is rattling back and forth like a dashboard bobblehead. It is something that happens the night before every test.”

In this quote, a simile is used to compare Rollo’s head to a bobblehead. Rollo’s stress surrounding tests and grades is one of his defining traits and is what Timmy finds most irritating about him. Timmy doesn’t understand why Rollo cares so much, and he often shows up at Rollo’s house at the most inopportune times—such as the night before a test. Timmy’s lack of empathy for Rollo is something he needs to overcome and becomes part of his character arc.

“With the amount of money Total Failure, Inc., will be taking in by the end of the fiscal year, I’ll practically be able to pay this stuff out of petty cash.”

Timmy finally becomes aware of what has been bothering his mother: She is worried about her finances and her ability to pay all her bills. Timmy is usually sarcastic and self-centered, but when he sees his mother upset, the softer and more empathetic side of Timmy comes out, illustrating their unbreakable bond. With others, like Rollo, he often lacks awareness of their emotional states, but he hates seeing his mother this way and tries to comfort her by expressing his desire to share this burden with her.

“I am not most. I am Timmy Failure. And no person or government or force of nature can stop me.”

The Segway disappears while Timmy is out using it, and he knows that if his mother finds out, the consequences will be horrible. His bold and endless self-confidence kicks in at this moment with his hyperbolic statement that no “force of nature” can stop him. He considers himself to be highly important, and every obstacle in his way feels like a direct and personal attack.

“I saunter out of the garage. Trying to avert suspicion. Give my mom a quick wave. Dumb move. I never wave. Get it together, man.”

After Timmy lies to his mother again, he knows that he is getting himself into a tricky situation that will likely only lead to more trouble. Still, he proceeds forward, maintaining the ruse that he simply loaned the Segway to a friend for a play. The Destructive Power of Lies becomes fully evident when Timmy’s mother later loses her patience, and Timmy almost loses his agency and his polar bear.

“Before I can walk down the porch steps, she rushes to block my way. The sudden movement sends tangerine smell everywhere.”

Timmy characterizes Molly mainly by her many irritating traits, including her talkativeness and her distinct smell. Timmy’s description of her scent as surrounding him uses sensory imagery, with the specificity of “tangerine,” to bring the reader in to experience what Timmy is experiencing.

“I explain that I am only going to level a bank. Not even a classy one.”

Timmy goes to the army recruitment center with the hopes of renting a fighter jet or some sort of weapon that will allow him to destroy Corrina Corrina’s agency. Timmy goes to such extremes to try to sabotage Corrina Corrina because he is convinced she is doing the same to him. Dramatic irony develops as it becomes clear that Corrina Corrina doesn’t know or care about Timmy, and Timmy’s wild imagination is once again steering his ship.

“I wake at three a.m. With a revelation. (These things happen to good detectives. Our large brains never stop.)”

Timmy wakes up in the night, believing he has solved the case of the missing shoes. He points to Molly as the culprit of the very crime she reported, which is in itself correct, but he also manages to jump over the truth and decides that she must be some sort of criminal mastermind.

“What follows next is so aggravating to my professional sensibilities that I hesitate to include it in this book. It demonstrates how even a brilliantly conceived plan such as this can be decimated by the bumblings of a moronic amateur. To distance myself from it, I have made Rollo write it in his own hand.”

Timmy rarely passes the duty of narrating the story off to another character, and in this instance, the fact that he does so indicates that he is extremely upset and embarrassed. Rollo’s experience of going to the bank couldn’t have gone more wrong, and he ends up locked in the safe overnight. Even though Rollo was only doing it because Timmy asked him, as usual, when something goes wrong, Timmy blames someone else, another trait that he must overcome in his character arc.

“The short-term effect is that Total Failure, Inc., will finally be freed from the degradingly small closet in which it is currently confined. And that can only boost workplace morale.”

When Timmy hears that he and his mother will be moving into an apartment to reduce expenses, he immediately starts imagining a vast space with several rooms and a large office dedicated to his agency. Timmy’s imagination is fantastical, but in this case, his thoughts are completely removed from reality. While the hyperbole of the statement is characteristic of Timmy, in this instance, it shows his unwillingness to confront what he knows is true: His mother is struggling with finances.

“Shut your mouth, ye lover of raisins!”

Timmy dislikes Crispin the moment he meets him, but his stubborn and bold attitude causes him to go overboard. This creates an immediate negative impression in both directions, and Crispin and Timmy remain in conflict for the duration of their relationship. In this instance, Timmy’s straightforwardness devolves into outright rudeness, but the humor of “ye lover of raisins” undercuts the negativity.

“Perimeter secured, I begin reading the log. Which, to demonstrate my fairness, I present to you here without comment.

Other than the comments I’ve written all over the attached sticky notes.”

Timmy contradicts himself often, a defining aspect of his character. He claims to be a fair person who doesn’t add bias to his narrative, but then immediately proceeds to do just that. He finds Corrina Corrina’s detective log and fills the pages with sticky notes refuting the entries and continuing to convince himself that she is his enemy.

“I don’t get mad. I take his paw. And we walk. Two against the world.”

Timmy sees Total as a loyal friend and a central part of his world. Total represents the power of Timmy’s childhood imagination and the innocence and whimsy that defines it. When Crispin attempts to interfere with that bond and force Timmy to grow up, Timmy resists more than ever before.

“Don’t yell at me, Timmy. If you hadn’t messed up the group tests, none of this would have happened.”

Rollo stands up for himself and points out that Timmy has been making countless mistakes, which are damaging his relationships and putting Timmy in a difficult position. Timmy has always failed to see his part in the problem, instead blaming those around him for getting in his way. Rollo’s confession is part of Timmy’s overall realization that he should be more open to improving.

“Sure, I was a challenge. An obstacle. But old people need that. Now he just has sun and the beach.”

Timmy is well aware of how much stress he put on Mr. Crocus but doesn’t feel guilty for it; instead, he thinks he was doing his teacher a favor by giving him something to do. Timmy holds the mistaken belief that his teacher would rather be stressed out over trying to get him to learn than relaxing by the ocean in Key West. Once again, Timmy’s limited perspective, this time highlighted by his misunderstanding of what Mr. Crocus would prefer, comes to the fore.

“I don’t know what it is about these books, but they appear to be designed to send your attention elsewhere.”

Timmy points out a fundamental problem in education, and on this rare occasion, he makes a valid argument for the way that studying can often feel like the least interesting thing to do. His comments highlight the way education is designed does not always accommodate children like Timmy, who learn best through experience and through having a keen interest in achieving something non-academic. Timmy’s teacher thankfully finds a way to get through to Timmy and play to this aspect of his personality.

“I pull out the two Rice Krispies Treats from Dondi I’ve been saving and toss them into the enclosure. Total smells them immediately. And suddenly alert, he rises on his hind legs to catch them.

But doesn’t.

Because someone quicker does.

I guess Staci does like something other than beach balls.”

Throughout the novel, Total’s actions are described in such a way that it is vaguely implied that he is imaginary but never directly stated. When Timmy runs to the zoo to free Total, the treats are “intercepted” by a female polar bear living in the enclosure. The female polar bear is real, while Total is not; this is why Total does not catch the treats in time.

“‘Listen,’ he says, lowering his voice, ‘I haven’t announced this to the rest of the class, but there are parts of this photosynthesis stuff that are impossible to figure out.’

I am not surprised to hear this. He is an ignoramus.”

Timmy’s teacher identifies his learning style and cleverly finds a way to make Timmy think he is the one helping him, using his love of detective work and investigation to inspire him to learn. Timmy finds it to be a task worthy of his efforts and sees his teacher as being in dire need of help. His comments still highlight, however, his inability to draw logical conclusions from the information around him.

“It is a good thing my innate greatness came with humility. Otherwise, I might be tempted to brag. Instead, I’ll just say this:

This week I saved the entire nation’s educational system.”

In one of his most blatant contradictions, Timmy claims to be humble while also claiming to have saved education across the country. He claims this because he has been “helping” his teacher learn various concepts in the curriculum and as such, sees himself as doing a great favor to educators everywhere.

“It is all as clear as the sheen on the bowling turkey’s Cadillac. The same person who stole my Failuremobile is now going to steal my business partner.”

In this simile, Timmy compares the “clarity” he suddenly experiences to the waxy shine of Crispin’s car. Timmy is convinced that Corrina Corrina donated to the polar bear exhibit to steal Total and doesn’t stop to think that perhaps she just likes polar bears as much as he does. Throughout the novel, the common interests that should make Timmy and Corrina Corrina friends, like a love of investigation and polar bears, instead become points of competition in Timmy’s mind.