Karen's Lucky Penny

  “Cool,” said Nancy.

  “Yeah,” agreed Bobby. “Now you can pay your mom back for us. You will still have ninety dollars for Funland.”

  I frowned. “But you owe my mom the money. You and Nancy. I gave it to you.”

  “Right,” said Bobby. “You gave it to us. We did not ask for it. And you did not say you were going to want it back.”

  But I had not known I would want it back. “I will have to think about it,” I told my friends.

  “Karen? Are you going to spend all your money at Funland?” Kathryn wanted to know. “All one hundred dollars?”

  “All ninety dollars,” muttered Bobby, but I ignored him.

  “Well … ” Hmm. That was a good question. I did not need that much money for Funland. Maybe I did not really need to look like the girl in the TV commercial. I could spend half of my money on other things, and still have plenty for our trip. “No,” I told Kathryn. “It is not all for Funland.”

  “What else are you going to buy?” asked Willie.

  “I do not know yet,” I replied. “I have to think about it.” I looked down at my fistful of money. “Right now, I better go put this someplace safe.” If I was going to show Mommy that I could spend my money wisely, I better not start off by losing it.

  I ran inside to my bedroom. I found my bank and stuffed the bills into it. Then I sat down to think about how I could spend the money. On a pad of paper I wrote: Funland. I lifted my pencil. I could not think what to write next. Then I remembered some toys and things I wanted. I listed:

  I thought that was a pretty wise list. All the things I wrote down were things I really wanted. And they were not too expensive. Plus, I had remembered to include Andrew. Mommy would like that.

  I stood up. Then I leaned against my window and looked outside. I could hear Bobby and Nancy talking.

  Bobby was saying, “We could rake leaves.”

  Nancy replied, “What leaves? It’s still spring. The leaves won’t fall for months. Not until autumn.”

  “Oh, yeah,” said Bobby.

  He looked a little sad. I guess he and Nancy had not decided on a business to go into yet.

  That gave me an idea. I decided to do some nice things for my friends, just like I was going to buy a toy for Andrew. Now what could I do for them? I sat down to think.

  The Movies

  School was almost over. Only a few more days were left, and they were half days. I was a little sad about the end of school. But not too sad. After school ended, I could look forward to Funland.

  I had had my one hundred dollars for two whole days and I had not spent a penny of it. Instead I had been watching my friends scramble around, trying to earn their own money. In school, Nancy and Hannie sat on the desks in the back of the room and talked. (Bobby would not talk to us girls during school, only after school.)

  I joined my friends. “I have been thinking,” I said. “The Three Musketeers need a treat. Let’s go to a movie. We can go in the afternoon since we only have school in the morning now.”

  “Karen. We do not have any money,” said Hannie.

  “I know. My treat. I really want to take you. And I will pay for everything. We can ask Kristy to come with us.”

  * * *

  And that is just what we did. On Monday afternoon, my big stepbrother Charlie dropped us off at the movie theater — Kristy, Hannie, Nancy, and me.

  “This is so cool, Karen!” exclaimed Hannie. “Thank you!”

  “Double thank you,” added Nancy. “Don’t you feel grown-up?”

  I did. I felt especially grown-up when I stepped up to the ticket window and said, “Three, please.” (Kristy had said she would buy her own ticket.) Then I handed the man some money.

  “Treating your friends?” he asked me.

  I nodded proudly. “Yup.”

  We walked inside. There, right in front of us, was the refreshment counter. Popcorn, candy, ice cream, and sodas.

  “What do you guys want?” I asked Hannie and Nancy. “I will buy you whatever you want.” Then I added, “Within reason.” That is what Mommy and Seth always say. It means don’t go overboard.

  “Popcorn,” said Nancy.

  “Popcorn,” said Hannie.

  “And sodas, please?” added Nancy.

  In the end, I bought one enormous tub of popcorn for the four of us to share, plus three sodas. (Kristy bought her own soda.) Then we carried our things to the ticket taker. Kristy handed him hers. I handed him the three for my friends and me. The man ripped them in half, then gave us back one half each. I grinned at my friends. We hardly ever get to go to the movies unless we are with someone’s parents.

  Kristy led us into the dark theater. “Where do you guys want to sit?” she asked. (The theater was practically empty.)

  “In the front,” I said.

  “In the back,” said Nancy.

  “I don’t care,” said Hannie.

  We settled on the middle.

  “Kristy? Could you sit behind us?” I asked. “Then we would feel like we had really come to the movies by ourselves.”

  Kristy sat behind us. My friends and I passed the popcorn back and forth. (We remembered to pass it to Kristy, too.) Soon the lights were turned out. A cartoon began. Then the feature came on. We had decided to see The Tale of the Bad Dog, which sounded funny.

  When the movie ended, Hannie grinned at me. “That was great, Karen!”

  And Nancy added, “I just love feeling grown-up. Thank you again for treating us. I am glad we are the Three Musketeers.”

  Then Kristy whispered to me from behind, “You are a good friend, Karen.”

  I was glad I could share my money.

  Mr. Tastee

  One evening my friends and I were playing statues in Kathryn and Willie’s front yard. The air was warm. Summer had finally arrived. School was out.

  “You moved! I saw you move!” Kathryn called to Alicia.

  “Did not!” Alicia replied.

  “I did too see you!”

  “But I did not move!”

  “But I — ”

  Andrew stepped in. “She did not move.”

  “Thank you, Andrew,” said Alicia.

  Nancy cupped her hand around my ear. “I think Andrew likes Alicia.”

  “He calls her his best friend,” I said.

  “I think she is his girlfriend.”

  I giggled. But I stopped suddenly. “Hey! Nancy, do you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  “Listen. Bells. Mr. Tastee is coming!”

  Mr. Tastee, the ice cream man, cruises his truck slowly through the streets of our neighborhood in the summertime. When we run to the street he stops for us. Then we can buy Popsicles and ice-cream cones and ice-cream sandwiches. They have funny names. The Spaceship, Triple Trouble, Goofy Nuts, Bitty Buddy. Do you know what I once found out? The man who drives the truck is not really named Mr. Tastee. His true name is Roger Jones. But I still like his ice cream. And I still call him Mr. Tastee.

  “Come on! We have to get our money!” I cried to my friends. We are always afraid that if we are not fast enough — if we stay in our houses too long looking for change — Mr. Tastee will drive right by us.

  But when I started to run across the street, nobody ran after me. The kids stayed in the yard. “Don’t you want ice cream?” I asked them.

  “We are saving our money,” Bobby replied.

  I stopped running. “Oh.” Hmm. I could not buy ice cream all by myself. That would not be any fun. Also, it would not be fair. I thought for a moment. I still had not bought any toys or any of the things on my list. The only money I had spent was on the movie tickets and our refreshments.

  So I ran into my house anyway. I ran straight upstairs to my bank and pulled out a few dollars. Then I dashed outside. I was just in time. Mr. Tastee was coming down the street.

  “Stop! Stop!” I cried, waving the money in the air.

  Mr. Tastee pulled over to the curb. “Hi, Karen. Are you the only one
buying ice cream?” he asked. He was looking at my friends. They were sitting sadly in a row on the curb on the other side of the street.

  “I am the only one buying ice cream, but I will not be the only one eating it,” I replied. “Tonight I am going to treat my friends.”

  Mr. Tastee smiled. “Come here, kids,” he said. “Ice cream for everyone tonight.”

  My friends jumped to their feet.

  “Really?” cried Nancy.

  “You mean it?” said Bobby.

  “Of course,” I replied.

  So we stood at the back of the ice cream truck. We looked at the pictures of the things we could buy. Sometimes we have trouble making up our minds.

  Andrew had the most trouble. After all the other kids had chosen, and while they were licking and slurping away, Andrew still stood by the truck.

  “Can I really get anything I want, Karen?”

  Andrew probably wanted the Chocolate Dream, which is the most expensive Popsicle. “You can really get anything you want,” I told him.

  “Okay,” said Andrew. “I would like vanilla ice cream, please.”

  So that is what Mr. Tastee gave him.

  Then my friends and my brother thanked me, and I felt very happy.

  Andrew’s Lemonade Stand

  A few more days went by. I did not spend any of my money. Also, Andrew did not mention his lemonade stand. I thought he had forgotten about it.

  But he had not.

  One morning, right after breakfast, he said, “Well, today I am going to have my lemonade stand. I will earn big bucks.”

  I had my doubts. What did Andrew know about running a lemonade stand? I looked at Mommy, but she did not say anything. So I said, “I better help you, Andrew.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Well … okay, what is the first thing you do?”

  “Put the lemonade outside,” he replied.

  “What lemonade? We do not have any. Look in the refrigerator.”

  Andrew looked. No lemonade. “Oh, we have to make it first,” he said.

  “Right. If we have any lemonade mix.”

  Luckily, we did. (Andrew looked relieved.) We made two pitchers and left them in the refrigerator.

  “Now you have to set up your stand,” I told my brother. “What do you want to use? How about the picnic table?”

  “Okay.”

  Andrew and I lugged the picnic table across the lawn to the sidewalk.

  “Now what are you going to pour the lemonade into?” I asked.

  “Gl — ” I could tell that Andrew had been about to say “glasses.” But he had realized that Mommy would never let him take real glasses outside. “Paper cups?” he said instead.

  “Good idea.” (We found a stack of paper cups.)

  “Is my stand ready yet?” asked Andrew.

  “Not exactly. How much are you going to charge for the lemonade?”

  “Um, twenty-five cents for each cup?”

  “Okay. What if your first customer gives you a dollar bill?”

  Andrew had not thought about making change. It turned out he had not thought about advertising, either. I had to do everything for him. But at last his stand was ready. Andrew stood behind it, with his cups and lemonade and a box of change.

  “Where are my customers?” he asked.

  We looked up and down the street. It was empty. “You might have to wait awhile,” I told my brother.

  “But I do not want to wait. I want to earn money!”

  I had an idea. “Okay, you stay here with your stand. I will be back.”

  I ran next door to Nancy’s house. “Nancy,” I said, when she had answered the bell, “would you please go buy some lemonade from Andrew?”

  Nancy shook her head. “I can’t. I am saving my money.”

  “Oh.” I felt in my pockets. I had some change. I pulled out a quarter and gave it to Nancy. “Here,” I said. “My treat.”

  Then I went to Bobby and Alicia’s house, and to Kathryn and Willie’s house. On the street, I ran into a couple of other kids. I gave every one of them a quarter to buy lemonade from Andrew.

  By the time I returned to the stand, my brother’s change box was filling up.

  “Karen! Look! I am rich!” cried Andrew.

  Kathryn was sitting on the lawn. She was still finishing her lemonade. “Yum. That was delicious. Thank you, Karen.”

  “Yeah, thanks, Karen!” called a few other kids who were leaving. “Thanks for the quarters!”

  Andrew looked at me. He narrowed his eyes. “Karen, you gave them money?”

  “Well, yes,” I admitted.

  “You thought no one would come to my stand, right? You thought I could not do this by myself. You think I am just a baby.”

  “I’m sorry, Andrew,” I said. I did not know what else to say.

  Karen’s Shopping Spree

  I left Andrew and his stand outside. I went to my room for awhile. Why was my brother so upset with me? I had only wanted to help him. I lay down on my bed. I thought about what I had done. I had seen that no one was going to come to Andrew’s stand, and I did not want him to be disappointed. So I helped him out. I found customers for him. And he had earned some money. Well, maybe he had not actually earned it, since I had done everything for him. But still …

  This money business was a funny business. I was not sure I understood it. And Nancy and Bobby and I had not figured out the ten dollars they owed Mommy, either.

  I sighed.

  Then I sat up. I looked for my toy list. I read it over. Maybe it was time I had some fun with my money. Maybe it was time to buy some things for myself. I dumped out the money in my bank. I did not bother to count it, but I stuffed some of it in my wallet, and put the rest back in the bank. I made a decision. The next time Mommy drove downtown, I was going to pay a visit to the toy store.

  I got my chance the very next day. When Mommy said she needed to go to the hardware store, I said, “Please can we go to the toy store after that? I want to spend some of my money.”

  “Well — ” Mommy started to say.

  “I will spend it wisely. I made out a list and everything.”

  “All right,” agreed Mommy.

  That afternoon I was standing in the toy store. My wallet was in one hand, and the list was in the other. I looked at the list.

  “Bubble blaster,” I said. I walked around the store until I found the outdoor summertime toys, and there were the bubble blasters. They are very wonderful bubble makers. I picked one up.

  Next on the list were the pink slippers with white fuzzy trim for dress-up. I decided I better ask for help finding them. But the woman behind the counter said, “I am sorry. We do not have any pink slippers. Only silver ones. They are right over there.” She pointed.

  The silver slippers turned out to be a little expensive, but I picked up a pair anyway. Then I went looking for markers. What a selection. I could choose from an entire wall of markers. I took down the biggest package. (My arms were getting full.)

  “Honey,” said Mommy, “are you certain you want those markers? What about this package? It costs only about half as much.”

  I scrunched up my nose. “No, I like these.” I dumped my things into a basket. Then I checked my list.

  “Glow-in-the-dark bugs,” I murmured. I found a box of them and tossed it in my basket. I tossed in a box of glow-in-the-dark dinosaur bones, too.

  Next on the list was “something for Andrew.” I called to my brother. “Andrew, I am going to buy something for you now. What do you want?”

  “Could I have my own bubble blaster?” he asked.

  “Sure,” I replied. I added another one to the basket.

  The last two things were stickers and art supplies. They were in the back of the store where I had found the markers. I began to load up the basket — glitter, paints, a needlework kit, a large box of crayons, and some glitter markers.

  I was picking out stickers when I heard Mommy say, “Karen! My goodness! Look at your bas
ket! Do you have enough money for all that?”

  “I — ” I started to say. Uh-oh. What if I did not? My basket was pretty full. I picked out one last sticker. Then I carried my basket to the counter.

  “Karen,” said Mommy, “now is your chance to put some things back if you do not want to spend so much money.”

  But I did not need to put anything back. I had enough money to pay for everything. I even had fifteen cents left over.

  B & N Gardeners

  One morning I looked outside and saw a sign in Nancy’s yard. I could not read it, so I ran next door. I stood in front of the sign. It said:

  Underneath Nancy and Bobby’s names were their phone numbers.

  I was about to ring Nancy’s bell so I could ask her about the sign, when I heard her say, “Hi, Karen! What do you think?”

  Nancy and Bobby were lugging some things out of Nancy’s garage — a pail, a watering can, and some gardening tools.

  “It’s a great sign,” I replied. “What’s B & N Gardeners?”

  “It’s us,” said Bobby. “Bobby and Nancy Gardeners. We have finally started our business. We are going to ask the neighbors if they need us to do any gardening for them. Especially watering or weeding.”

  “We are very good at dandelions,” added Nancy.

  “That’s a great business!” I exclaimed. It really was. Nancy and Bobby were smart. Everyone in our neighborhood has gardens. And they need plenty of help with them in the summertime.

  “Thanks,” said Nancy. “Well, we better get going. Where is Andrew?”

  “Andrew? Why are you looking for Andrew?” I asked.

  “He is our assistant,” replied Bobby. “He is going to help us, and we will pay him part of the money we earn.”

  “Really?” I said.

  “Yup,” answered my friends.

  Just then Andrew ran out of the house. “Here I am! I’m ready!”

  “Andrew, what do you know about gardening?” I asked.

  Andrew shrugged. “Nothing. I will do whatever Bobby and Nancy tell me to do.”