The Lunchbox

Don't get between a boy and his…deviled eggs.

At least when they're Leigh Botts' deviled eggs.

When Leigh's lunch is stolen from his lunch bag, it sets off a whole bunch of consequences. He's hungry, gets angry, and then wants revenge. All this leads to an emotional fork in the road: is he going to drop kick someone's lunch bag and head down the road of bitterness and anger, or is he going to replace the lunch and figure out how to solve things positively?

Don't worry—he won't go over to the dark side.

When Leigh decides to leave the anger behind, the black lunchbox enters the scene. He decides to buy it and put an alarm on it to scare off the lunch thief. It's a ray of hope because he'll get to keep the treats his mom packs for him, and also because he's decided not to become "a mean-eyed lunch-kicker" (40.13).

The lunchbox is also a way of showing that Leigh is growing up, and not just because it's the kind of lunchbox that men like his dad take to work. Making a burglar-proof lunchbox is his way of solving his problem on his own. And did we mention that he also used the $20 from his dad to buy the stuff to make the alarm? He didn't blow that 20 bucks on Lego bricks or Skittles. He used it to solve a problem.

So, bring on the deviled eggs. Leigh's lunches are back in business.