Fernlets by Fern

Summary
As part of her latest business venture, Muffy talks Fern into writing poems for a new line of greeting cards which becomes the hit of Elwood City. But booming business causes Fern to burn out.

Plot
Muffy is walking through the mall after a day of shopping and is reading a Mother's Day card that she bought for her mother. Meanwhile, Fern is busy writing a card she bought for her mom.

She gets up from her seat and prepares to leave when she and Muffy run into each other, which causes the two girls to fall to the ground. Muffy tells Fern to watch where she is going. At the Crosswires' Mansion Muffy give her mother the card and as her mother is reading it she Muffy realizes that she got the wrong card as it was signed by Fern.

At Lakewood, Muffy tells Fern she liked the poem she wrote and wants to make a business deal with her using Fern's poems and the picture she painted. Fern accepts it. That night, Fern begins writing poems and continues writing into the next day and meets Muffy at the Ice Cream Shop. Muffy approves the poems.

The next day, Muffy shows Fern the Father's Day cards and is impressed with it. She then finds out Arthur has one and then Binky buys one. Muffy tells Fern she gave her credit, which is located on the back and is called Fernlets by Fern.

Then Mrs. MacGrady asks for various cards to be made including birthday cards and Fern at first hesitant agrees to it. Fern later that night had made so many poems she is very tired and Muffy calls her and tells her to make even more.

The next day at school, Buster and Francine approach Fern wanting to interview her and pretty soon Fern is starting to realize Muffy is treating her like a machine.

Fern meets Muffy at the Ice Cream Shop and introduces Muffy to Japanese poetry, but Muffy disapproves of it and even tests it out on Brain who also disapproves of it. Muffy then tells Fern to write something she can sell. The next day, Fern introduces something else to Muffy and Muffy doesn't like it either and tells Fern she is fired.

When Fern gets home and looks at the calender she realizes her mom's birthday is tomorrow and tries to write a poem, but she can't since she literally has crashed. She then notices the card in her backpack and gives to her mom the next day.

Her mom reads the card and Fern realizes that the card is actually a card Muffy got for her mother on Mother's Day. Fern then says that she will never be able to write a poem again, but her mother reassures her that she will.

The next day, Muffy meets Fern at the Ice Cream Shop and tells her that Binklets by Binky isn't working out for her and even goes as far as to say that she had to pay Binky to stop writing Binklets.

Muffy then apologizes to Fern for firing her and says that she wants her back, but Fern tells her she's done writing greeting cards. Instead start writing poems for fun.

Characters

 * Fern Walters
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Leah MacGrady
 * Doria Walters
 * Mr. Walters
 * The Brain
 * Binky Barnes
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Francine Frensky
 * Millicent Crosswire
 * Prunella Deegan (cameo)
 * Alex (cameo)
 * Maria Pappas (cameo)
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Jenna Morgan (cameo)
 * George Lundgren (cameo)
 * Ed Crosswire (cameo)

Trivia

 * Arthur's yawn in the opening was recycled from Arthur Changes Gears.
 * Moral:
 * Don't overwork others for your own benefits.
 * Don't work yourself too hard for someones benefits.

Cultural references

 * Muffy mentions many real-life holidays, such as and.
 * Fern's line “Someone left your cake out in the rain” refers to the song MacArthur Park which is famous for its odd metaphors.
 * Found poetry is an actual writing technique. When Fern presents it, she wears clothes typical for the beat generation, an artistic movement of the 1950s which experimented with new writing styles.

Errors

 * Fern's haiku reads: "Dear best friend:'/ Someone left your cake out in the rain. / Smile, it's your birthday!" This haiku has three syllables in the first line and nine in the second. A haiku is supposed to have five syllables in the first line and seven in the second, which Fern even mentions in the episode.