Maggie's Crib 15

Maggie's Crib is a story that appears in.

Synopsis
Homer finds a way to drink at Moe's and take Maggie to the playground at the same time.

Plot
Homer is watching television and decides to go have a beer at Moe's Tavern. As he heads for the door, however, Marge stops him and asks him to take Maggie to the park so she can play in the sandbox. Maggie is clearly eager to go—smiling and stretching out her arms toward Homer—but Homer is crestfallen at the thought of not being able to go to Moe's. Nonethleless, he complies and takes Maggie with him. As they drive to the park, they pass by Moe's and Homer looks wistfully at Barney, Carl, and Lenny going into the bar.

After they get to the park, Maggie plays happily in the sandbox, but Homer still has Moe's on his mind, thinking about how he could be having a good time having a beer with Carl and Lenny. Suddenly an idea occurs to Homer, and he quickly perks up. He scoops up Maggie and her toys, runs to his car and drives home. Still running, he goes into the house (depositing Maggie into the arms of a puzzled Marge) and down to the basement where he gathers up a couple of boards and some tools. Working quickly, Homer saws each board in half, then nails the pieces together to form a square frame. After he's finished, he picks up the frame, along with a bag of sand and a shovel, and heads upstairs.

The scene shifts to Moe's. Homer has put the square frame onto the pool table and filled it with sand, making an improvised sandbox in which Maggie is happily playing while Carl watches her. At the bar, Moe looks a little perturbed at the sight of his pool table being pressed into service as a sandbox, but Homer is happy chatting and having a beer with Lenny, having finally gotten what he wanted while at the same time doing what Maggie and Marge wanted.