- Violet Rutherford gives Beaver a black eye.
- After going head to head with co-worker Fred Rutherford over a business deal, Ward comes home at the end of the day to find Beaver with a black eye. Concerned when Beaver says he ran away from the kid who hit him, Ward gives him tips on self defense and tells Beaver to go confront the boy; but Ward doesn't know that the "boy" who punched Beaver was Fred's daughter, Violet Rutherford!—shepherd1138
- June notices that some of her makeup is missing. She and Ward soon find out that Wally and Beaver took it to cover Beaver's black eye, which he sustained in a fight. The boys didn't want their parents to know about the black eye fearing Beaver being punished. Ward isn't concerned about the black eye itself, but the fact that Beaver, who didn't initiate the fight, didn't fight back but rather ran away from the situation. Against June's wishes, what Ward does is teach Beaver how to fight, not in order to pick fights but defend himself if provoked and show his adversary that he shouldn't pick fights with Beaver again. After the fighting lesson, Ward learns that his advice to Beaver may not have been the most appropriate to deal with this specific situation. By that time, it may be too late as Beaver marches off to use his new found fighting skills on his adversary. In the end, Beaver may unwittingly teach Ward that children have better ways of handling such problems than adults (despite Beaver not realizing so himself).—Huggo
- Dinner is late, and Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont) is hungry. June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley) explains that dinner is delayed because "something" took her hand lotion and makeup. June wonders aloud if the boys had something to do with it. Ward assures June that the boys wouldn't want anything to do with makeup and hand lotion.
Upstairs, Beaver (Jerry Mathers) has a black eye, which brother Wally (Tony Dow) attempts to cover with foundation and hand lotion. Beaver explains to Wally that some kid at school belted him. Wally asks which kid did it, but Beaver is evasive. Beaver worries that Dad will yell at him for getting a black eye. Wally advises Beaver to tell Dad that he fell down.
Beaver sits down backwards at the dinner table. Ordered to turn around, the Cleavers are surprised to see that Beaver has an odd white-ish ring around his eye. Ward wipes the makeup away and sees Beaver's black eye. Beaver and Wally insist that Beaver fell down, causing the black eye. June worries about a concussion. A smiling Ward tells Beaver that fighting among boys is normal, and says that he himself was in at least one hundred fights at Beaver's age. June is perturbed.
Ward asks Beaver how the other kid looks, but Beaver surprises him by confessing that he didn't fight back. A shocked Ward wonders why his son ran away from a fight. Beaver says he's going to be sick. June excuses both boys from the table. The adults eat their soup in silence. Finally, June asks Ward if he had a bad day. Ward explains that he didn't get the Thompson contract, that Fred Rutherford (Richard Deacon) got it instead. June asks Ward why he didn't fight him for the contract. June tells Ward that just because he had a bad day was no reason for him to take it out on the Beaver. A defensive Ward says that he thinks Beaver should have defended himself.
Upstairs, Wally discovers that Violet Rutherford (Wendy Winkelman) was the kid who gave Beaver the black eye. Beaver wishes that he was allowed to hit girls.
In the garage the next day, Ward teaches Beaver how to fight. Ward puts boxing gloves on Beaver and has him hit a bop bag (punching bag.) The bag pops back up and hits Beaver in the face. Beaver falls down. Beaver tells Dad that he is not having much fun. June comes into the garage to tell Ward that Fred Rutherford came to see him. Seeing Beaver on the ground, June asks Ward if he is done knocking the Beaver down, because it is time for the boys to have lunch. Ward says they will be along in a minute. Ward gives Beaver some boxing tips. he tells Beaver that he doesn't want him picking fights, but not to let kids pick on him. He tells Beaver that if a kid gets aggressive and hits him, he has to hit back.
Ward goes into the living room to see Fred Rutherford, who is there to make sure that there are no hard feelings over the Thompson deal. Ward tells Fred that he has no hard feelings. Fred remarks that Wally seems small for a fifteen-year-old. Ward reminds Fred that Wally is thirteen. Fred leaves.
In the garage, Beaver boxes with the bop bag. Meanwhile, in the house, Wally tells Ward that Violet Rutherford gave Beaver the black eye. Ward laughs. He calls for Beaver, but June tells him that Beaver went to see Violet. Ward worries that he sent Beaver over to annihilate Violet Rutherford. Ward yells at Wally for not telling him sooner about Violet. Wally reminds Ward that he never asked in the first place. Ward sends Wally to his room.
Beaver rings the doorbell at the Rutherford house. Fred Rutherford answers. Beaver asks to see Violet. Violet and Beaver sit on the porch step and talk. They get up and walk on the sidewalk. Beaver asks Violet if she wants to get aggressive. Violet says she doesn't want to fight. She suggests that they go spit off the bridge. Beaver suggests they go see the lady in the jiggle belt instead. Violet and Beaver walk into town and watch the lady in the window demonstrate a fat-reducing machine.
Meanwhile, a worried Fred and Ward drive around town, looking for the Beaver and Violet. They stop the car. Fred sees a kid (Philip Greisman) with a tomahawk. Assuming that it is Beaver, Fred grabs the kid. Seeing that it is not the Beaver, Fred asks if he has seen two kids fighting. Fred and Ward leave. The kid with the tomahawk and Judy Hensler (Jeri Weil) decide to go to Metzger's field, believing that there is going to be a fight.
Beaver and Violet visit Gus (Burt Mustin) at the fire station. Gus remarks that Beaver brought "the Missus" along. Embarrassed, Beaver tells Gus that he isn't married, and even if he were married, it wouldn't be to a girl. Gus explains to Violet that his firehouse isn't the kind where they go put out fires, it only helps out if another firehouse can't handle a call.
June gets a phone call from Ward. Ward is still with Fred, but they can't find Beaver and Violet. He tells June to get Wally. June calls Wally down from his room. June asks Wally where he'd go if he were going to fight with a girl. Wally tells June that he wouldn't ever hit a girl. June relays the message to Ward. Ward tells June to tell Wally to go back to his room.
The news of a fight spreads like wildfire among the kids (Lonnie Thomas, Tommy Berwald) in town, who head out to Metzger's Field for the fight.
Violet and Beaver have ice cream floats at the soda fountain. The waitress (Julie Bennett) brings the bill for 88 cents. Violet tells the waitress to charge it to Fred Rutherford's account.
Ward and Fred ask another kid (Richard Smiley) if he knows anything about a fight. The kid says the fight is over, and that one kid got his ear torn off. An angry Fred lashes out at Ward, saying he knew that Ward resented him about the Thompson deal.
Back at the Rutherfords, Violet and Beaver sit on the front steps and chew Blackjack gum. Beaver blacks out his front teeth with his gum. Violet does the same. Fred and Ward drive up. Seeing Violet's blacked-out teeth, Fred laments spending $800 on braces. Ward tells Fred that it's only chewing gum. Fred sends Violet inside and tells Ward not to send the Beaver around anymore. Beaver and Ward go home.
Ward tells the boys that they are on their own for dinner, because he's taking June out. Beaver asks why Ward didn't get aggressive with Fred. Ward explains that adults have to control themselves, but that one of the rules is that boys are supposed to fight. Ward leaves to take June to dinner. Beaver asks Wally if rules are easier on grown-ups than on boys. Wally explains that of course rules are easier on grown-ups, because grown-ups are the ones who make up the rules in the first place.
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