A group of children sees Miss Strangeworth dropping some letters in the post office slot at dusk. She is aware that it would not be a good idea to let anyone know that she is the person behind the colorful but nasty letters she sends out to others in town. Therefore, she carefully times her trips to the post office, and only the children playing outside see her comings and goings. Miss Strangeworth goes to drop off three of these notes, but one—the one for Don Crane—slips from her hand as she drops the others in.

Miss Strangeworth believes the Cranes to be rather indulgent parents, and she expresses her dismay with Mrs. Crane, in person, for worrying so much over their baby daughter's development. However, in her pink letter to Mr. Crane, Miss Strangeworth writes,

DIDN'T YOU EVER SEE AN IDIOT CHILD BEFORE? SOME PEOPLE JUST SHOULDN'T HAVE CHILDREN, SHOULD THEY?

It is this letter that she drops, and one of the children picks it up and tries to get her attention, but she does not hear him. He sees that it's for Don Crane, and because he will pass the Crane residence on his way home, he plans to drop it off himself that night.

The next morning, Miss Strangeworth finds a green note under her own mail slot at home. It tells her to look outside at "what used to be [her] roses." It is reasonable to surmise that Don Crane wrote this letter and destroyed her roses, because Dave Harris, the boy who hand delivered the Cranes' letter, would have told him that it was from Miss Strangeworth. This is the only way someone could have ascertained that she is the author of all the nasty letters people receive.