Kid Power (14 page)

Of course, if I decided not to take on Herm and his sidewalk, he would have the heart attack anyway, and it would still be all my fault. The only solution was for me to take the job and keep Herm from ever looking at a shovel again.

“I'll do you first,” I promised. “That way Herm won't have a chance.”

The woman smiled at me, which made me feel better. I probably shouldn't have called her husband Herm, but I felt as if I knew him. His life was in my hands, after all. “Sidewalks and driveways,” she said. “First thing after the snow stops.”

“You're on,” I said, and we shook hands on it. I wondered if Herm would ever know how I was keeping him alive. Maybe he would think elves shoveled the walk for him. But I figured that was between him and his wife. My job was to shovel.

So I walked home, adding the numbers up in my head. Three driveways at two dollars each, and four sidewalks at a dollar fifty. That came to twelve dollars per snowfall. Assuming there were four snowfalls that winter, that was forty-eight dollars right there, and all it would cost me was a sore back. We already owned a shovel, after all.

The next thing I had to do was get jobs for all my friends, so they'd have to pay me ten percent. Of course, first I'd have to get them to agree to the whole idea.

I made my first phone call to my best friend Lisa. Lisa and I had had a big fight over Kid Power last summer, but then I'd hired her, and we got to be friends again. Lisa's specialty was gardening, but she wasn't afraid of hard work. Or so I told myself while I dialed her number.

“I liked earning money last summer,” Lisa admitted, when I finished telling her the plan. “But I don't know about shoveling snow.”

“It's easy money,” I said. “All you have to do is work in the morning, and then you have the rest of the day to do whatever you want in.”

“Sometimes it snows all day,” Lisa said. “And then you'd have to shovel in the evening, when it's dark and cold.”

“Maybe in the afternoon,” I said. “But never at night. And the money is really good.”

Lisa sighed. “Are you going to go crazy over this?” she asked. “Like you did last summer?”

“Never,” I said. “Really. This isn't like last summer. It's just whenever it snows. It doesn't snow that much here. Maybe twice a winter.”

“Maybe six times,” Lisa said. My heart leaped when I thought about how much more money I could earn if it snowed six times.

“Besides, it's a public service,” I told her. Lisa has a very soft heart. “We'll be keeping people from having heart attacks. Shoveling snow is the first step to a heart attack, you know.”

“I don't know,” Lisa said, but I could tell she was weakening.

“I'm going to be working for four people,” I said. “But that doesn't mean you have to do that many. You could just take on two walks, for example. And then, if you liked it, maybe we could get you more work later in the winter.”

“You are going crazy,” Lisa said with a sigh. “I can tell, Janie.”

“Then go crazy with me,” I said. “Come on, Lisa. It'll be fun.”

Lisa sighed even harder. “Maybe you won't be able to get anybody to hire me,” she said.

“Then I can try?” I asked.

“All right,” she said. “But I only want two other people, plus my parents.”

“You won't regret it,” I said.

“I already regret it,” Lisa replied. “How many other kids are you going to exploit?”

“As many as I can,” I told her. “I figured I'd call Ted next.”

“Good choice,” she said. “Ted actually likes to do stuff like this. Let me know how it goes.”

“I sure will,” I said. “Thanks, Lisa.”

“You're welcome,” she said, with the biggest sigh of all. Lisa had very impressive sighs. I hung up, called Ted, and told him my plan.

“You'll get the people to hire me?” he asked.

“That's the idea,” I said.

“Including my parents?” he continued.

“Don't you think you could convince them better than I could?” I asked.

“They expect me to do that stuff for free,” he said.

“Well, if they see that other people are willing to pay you for your work, maybe they'll agree to pay you, too,” I said. “That is the American way, after all.”

“Get me four jobs,” Ted said. “And then we'll tackle my parents.”

I didn't really look forward to tackling Ted's parents, but nobody ever said making a fortune would be easy. So I agreed, hung up, and tried my friend Margie.

“I love snow,” Margie said. “I love shoveling.”

“You do?” I asked. Margie always surprised me.

“It's practically my favorite thing to do,” Margie replied. “After taking care of kids, that is. I don't suppose I could take care of kids while I shovel the walks?”

I thought about Seth and David, but I couldn't figure out a way for Margie to shovel and baby-sit simultaneously. Still, it was worth thinking about, once I had Kid Power's winter program in full swing.

“So you'll let me get you some snow-shoveling jobs?” I asked.

“Four of them,” Margie replied. “Thank you, Janie.”

Margie was definitely the sort of person Kid Power needed more of. I told her so, and she thanked me again.

That left only Sheila from the kids Kid Power had used last summer. Sheila was a problem, though. Her mother changed her phone number a lot, so it wasn't always possible to get through to her. Besides, Sheila didn't strike me as the snow-shoveling type. Not that Margie had, either, but Margie I knew I could trust. I decided against asking Sheila to join us. Maybe later in the winter, when Kid Power had expanded, but not until then.

The next step was to get everybody the customers I'd just promised them. I ran downstairs and made myself a sandwich. Then I grabbed my bike and rode over to Lisa's neighborhood first, to knock on doors.

Lisa lived in a fancy section of town, and all the houses had long stretches of sidewalk and driveway. I didn't blame her for not wanting to shovel everybody's, but on the other hand, it seemed like a good selling point.

I heard the background sounds of football games on in most of the houses, and I mostly spoke to women. It wasn't easy selling the service, but I'd gotten used to rejection that morning. Besides, one sale made me feel so good that it took care of ten rejections. And since I was only trying for two sales, the pressure wasn't too bad.

I got the first one fairly easily, but the second one was taking forever. I checked out the other houses in the neighborhood, trying to find an especially friendly looking one.

What I saw instead was the biggest house in town. Lisa lived two blocks away from Mrs. Dell, the richest person in our county. Years ago, there had been a Mr. Dell, and he had been rich, too, so when he married Mrs. Dell, they got even richer together. Now Mrs. Dell was a widow living all alone, except for her housekeeper, in a genuine mansion.

But her mansion didn't interest me nearly as much as her sidewalk and driveway did. They were both endless. The driveway was the circular kind that winds around and around. And the sidewalk was at least twice the length of anybody else's.

It wouldn't be fair to ask Lisa to shovel Mrs. Dell's walk all by herself. Then again, we'd have to charge more than the three-fifty combined price. Five dollars at least, and seven if we could get it. I decided to ask for seven and bargain down if I had to.

It took all my nerve to walk up to the door and ring the bell. I reminded myself that Mrs. Dell was about the same age as Mrs. Edwards, and I had no trouble talking with her. She'd been my easiest sale, and she had a lot less sidewalk to clear than Mrs. Dell did.

Mrs. Dell opened the door herself, so I figured the housekeeper must have the day off. It was Sunday, after all.

I smiled my biggest smile at Mrs. Dell and told her my name. “I represent Kid Power,” I said. “We're offering a special prewinter snow-shoveling plan.”

“That's lovely,” Mrs. Dell said. “My brother used to do that when he was a boy. And now girls are doing it, too. How very sensible.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Does that mean you're interested in our plan?”

“Absolutely,” Mrs. Dell said. “Industry should always be rewarded in the young. Twenty-five.”

“Twenty-five dollars?” I gasped. It was a big walk, but I hadn't realized it was that big. Of course, Mrs. Dell was rich, and she did want to reward industry.

“Oh, no, of course not,” Mrs. Dell said, and she laughed. “Twenty-five cents. My brother only charged a dime, but times have changed.”

“I'm sorry,” I said, although it nearly broke my heart. “We can't do it at that price.”

“Oh, well,” Mrs. Dell said. “Let me know if you change your mind.”

“I will,” I said, knowing I never would. There were plenty of houses left for me to try that afternoon, and after school for a while if I had to. I was determined to get good-paying jobs for everyone in Kid Power before the first flake of snow fell.

Chapter 3

“I don't believe this,” Mom said, staring out the window on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. “Look at it come down.”

So I looked. I didn't believe it either, but what was upsetting my mother was making me very happy. The snow was falling hard and heavy, and what had looked like autumn the day before was now definitely winter.

“I still don't have the snow tires on!” Mom wailed. “And now I won't be able to drive to the garage to have them put on because of the snow.”

I tried to feel sorry for her, but I couldn't. All that snow meant I was about to earn Kid Power's first real money in months. I'd found work for all my friends, too, so I'd be collecting a lot of ten percents as well. Kid Power's computer was just a few dozen blizzards away. And if it was going to start snowing in November, who knew when it would stop? We'd had a heavy snowfall the year before in the middle of April; that could happen again. If it snowed twice a month between now and then, we'd all end up very rich.

“Do you think it's letting up now?” I asked Mom. It had been snowing since early that morning, and I'd promised Lisa that it would never stop right before dark, so that she would have to shovel at night.

“I guess so,” Mom said glumly. “I knew I should have had the snow tires put on last week.”

“I think I'm going to go out and start shoveling people's walks,” I said, thinking of Herm. “Don't worry, I'll be doing ours, but we're going to be last.”

“That's the least of my worries,” Mom said. “Bundle up, Janie, and don't overdo.”

“I will,” I said. “And I won't.” I guess Mom understood me, since she didn't say anything back. She just kept staring out the window and sighing.

I got the shovel and went to work. By the time I finished Herm's driveway, I would have been happy to quit. I'd forgotten what backbreaking work shoveling was. I kept reminding myself that I was the only thing standing between Herm and a heart attack, but that was very little comfort as I sweated and shivered.

Getting paid by Herm's wife Gert helped, though. Feeling those dollar bills in my pocket eased the ache of my muscles and gave me the strength I needed to go over to my second customer's house and dig there. I realized I had never learned Seth and David's mom name, so while I cleared off her sidewalk and drive, I made up names for her. I'd finally decided on Coradora Appalora when I finished her driveway. I never wanted to see another driveway again. I no longer even knew why people drove, especially since they never put the snow tires on their cars.

When Coradora paid me, I asked her what her name was. It turned out not to be Coradora at all, just Gail Howard.

I didn't tell her the name I'd come up with. You never know what's going to offend people.

My next stop was Mrs. Edward's house, and I was really grateful I didn't have to shovel her driveway. I kept remembering Mrs. Dell's circular drive and how she'd offered to pay a quarter to get it done. At that point, I wouldn't have done it for a million dollars, not that she was likely to offer it to me.

Shoveling Mrs. Edwards's sidewalk felt like nothing after the work I'd done, and she gave me home-baked cookies when I was finished. That gave me all the strength I needed to return home and shovel there. I have to admit I didn't do as good a job at home as I had at Herm's, or even Gail's, but I did well enough so that we could get out if we wanted to. I cleared off the shovel, put it back in the garage, and came back in. I sat on the radiator for a few minutes, until I defrosted, and then I got paid by Mom. Then I went upstairs and counted the twelve dollars over and over again.

When I had absolutely convinced myself that twelve dollars was twelve dollars, I started calling the other kids to see how they were doing. Lisa was already home, but Margie and Ted were still shoveling. So I rested on my bed and thought about all the ten percents they owed me. Out of a sense of great generosity, I decided not to take ten percent of the money they earned from their parents. But even without that, they still owed me three fifty. Never being able to move again was a small price to pay for fifteen fifty. I fell asleep fully dressed on my bed, trying to decide what sort of computer to buy.

The next day at school, Ted and Lisa and Margie paid what they owed me. I put the money in an envelope, so I wouldn't get it mixed up with my lunch money.

“What are you doing there, Golden?”

I looked up at the sound of the voice and saw Johnny Richards. Johnny was in Carol's grade, and I knew him mostly through her. He was a real creep, big and mean. I shoved my money into the envelope and pushed the envelope into my pants pocket. If Johnny wanted it, he was going to have to steal it from me.

“What do you want?” I asked him, trying to keep my voice from quaking.

“I don't want anything,” he said. “I was just wondering what you were doing, taking money from this kid here, and stuffing it in your pocket like that. That's all. A perfectly innocent question.”