Dilbert was smart. Not child genius smart, but he knew his way around the periodic table. When posters went up around school to advertise the science fair, he knew he wanted to be a part of that. He also knew the judge had a sweet tooth, so he wanted to play on that.

It took several weeks, but Dilbert finally did it: a brownie with absolutely no sugar that tastes even better than traditional brownies!

On the day of the fair, Dilbert set up his table between two others. One table involved electricity in a glass box, while the other had something to do with a big, leafy plant with berries. Compared to these, the white plate with a hunk of brownie looked kind of pathetic. When nobody was looking, Dilbert snagged a few berries from the neighboring plant to garnish his dessert. He then proudly waited.

The judge stopped at the electricity box first. After a few minutes, he nodded his head, wrote notes on his notepad, then moved on to Dilbert’s table. His eyes flashed and he smiled when he saw the brownie. Dilbert recited his experiment and let the judge try as much of the brownie as he wanted. Being a dessert-lover, the judge took several bites with audible yummy sounds.

The boy with the plant caught sight of the berries the judge was devouring with the brownie and hurried over.

“Dilbert, where did you get those berries?”

Not one to lie when confronted, he bashfully admitted to taking them from the plant.

“That’s atropa belladonna!” the boy exclaimed.

“So?” questioned Dilbert and the judge in unison.

The boy sternly pointed to the subtitle on his poster: Deadly Nightshade.

“Oh no,” said the judge softly before hitting the ground.