Ben Florsheim

December 24, 2004

Dear Mr. Pinkwater,

When I was in fifth grade, I wrote a story called The Wrath of the Demented Washcloth, much to the delight of my classmates- everyone loved this story, and I went on to make it a trilogy of Demented Washclote books. I am now in seventh grade, and I am planning to heavily revise the old story to make it the best it can be and possibly send the manuscript to a publisher. However, there is a problem. I wrote the story in fifth grade shortly after reading The Worms of Kukumlima. I loved the book so much, I stole an idea from it. In my story, the Demented Washcloth is the CEO of the World Famous Little Plastic Thingy Company. Thingy, not thing. Now that is an important part of the story. So I need you to give me permission to let me use this in the story. I would be very grateful if you gave me legal rights to this, as I REALLY want to get it published. Thank you very much for your time.

Ben Florsheim

Salt Lake City, UT

Age 13

Ben, good authors borrow, great authors steal. You have my permission, on condition that you send me the stories to read when they're finished. Always good to hear from a fellow great author.