“I can’t bail on my team. But we could head there as soon as the game is over.” He walked out of the kitchen with the platter.
Cleo trailed him to the table. “What time would that be?”
“I don’t know, maybe eleven thirty?”
“My flyer says I’ll be there from ten to two!” This was horriful!
“Sit down and start eating. Everyone thinks better when their blood sugar’s level.” He pulled Mom into the kitchen.
They came back a minute later. “We’re going to let you go on your own,” Dad said. “But you’ll have Mom’s phone and the dog with you.” Barkley, lying in the living room, lifted his head. Cleo didn’t think an obese dog would intimidate anyone, if that’s what her parents were thinking. Plus, he was a black Lab, the friendliest breed around. Now, if he sat on someone, that could do some damage. Anyway, she wasn’t going to argue. Whatever it took to get to the park.
“I’ll come as soon as the game is done.”
Cleo beamed. “Thanks, Dad.”
Dad kissed them all good-bye and headed out.
A little while later, Cleo was still at the table, her pancakes barely touched. Normally, she’d have gobbled them, like Barkley with the avocados.
Mom put her hand to Cleo’s forehead. “You’re not getting sick too, are you?”
“No, no! I’m fine. Just ready to get to the park.” She stood and swung her backpack onto her shoulders. “I’ll have one of your breakfast cookies later. Come on, Josh! Time to go!”
Josh ran into the room, wearing his Dodgers hat and carrying the Nerf gun. Barkley did his best to keep up with him.
Mom put the cookies in the main section of Cleo’s backpack and zipped her phone into the outside pocket. She clipped Barkley onto the leash and handed it to Josh. “See you when you get home. Oh! I almost forgot.” Mom disappeared for a moment. She came back with a box of latex gloves and a container of gauze patches. “I want you to use these. Taking risks is one thing. Avoiding blood-borne illness is another.”
Cleo started to protest until she imagined herself wearing the gloves. Like an actual doctor. Yes. Gloves and gauze definitely added a professional touch. “Thanks, Mom.”
They headed down the walkway to the gate. “Don’t forget about the cookies!” Mom called.
“Don’t worry, Mom.” Cleo smiled over her shoulder. “I can sell anything!”
As Dad said, she could sell teeth to a crocodile.
But right then, it was time to sell pulling teeth.
Cleo spied it immediately. A square picnic table in front of a wooden arbor covered in vines. The perfect spot to set up shop. She and Caylee, who’d walked with them to the park, tacked the banner to the arbor while Josh and Barkley ran around on the playground. Cleo spread the beach towel on the table, then laid out her business tools: the floss, the gauze, the gloves, and, of course, the Extractor Extraordinaire!™. Finally, she set out the bag of cookies.
Caylee had made a sign-up sheet. So they’d have people’s email addresses, she said. “Which could be used for future marketing, if you want. My dad does that with his car business.”
“Of course! Plus, we’ll need them for people who buy a recording. Great idea, C-O-O!” Cleo held up her hand and they slapped a high five. She put the clipboard with the sign-up sheet on the table. All set. Now all they needed were some customers.
They sat next to each other on one of the benches attached to the table. Cleo admired Caylee’s camera, with all its fancy features. “My parents would never buy me something like this. They don’t think I take care of my stuff. Plus, they couldn’t afford it.”
Caylee scoffed. “My dad just likes to spend money. My parents fought about it all the time.”
Cleo glanced at the time on Mom’s phone. 10:06. What if no one showed! And after she had talked so confidently all around school? Lexie Lewis would love that.
To get her mind on something other than her archenemy, she showed her archfriend how to tie a piece of floss to a missile and create a slipknot at the end. They each did three. Now they were really ready. Cleo’s Quick and Painless Tooth Removal Service was open for business!
Her stomach felt queasy again. Maybe she was just hungry. “Want a breakfast cookie?”
Caylee said okay, and Cleo handed her a dense, lumpy mound. Caylee nibbled on her cookie. Cleo took a bite. Not splendarvelous, she thought, but not horriful either. She ate the whole thing in a few bites. Caylee set hers down on the towel just as Jimmy Ryerson jogged over waving some dollar bills.
Cleo jumped up and went around to the front of the table.
“That YouTube video was so cool!” he said, putting his money on the table.
Cleo was glad Mom and Dad weren’t there. She didn’t know what she’d say if someone mentioned the video once Dad came.
“Hi, Jimmy. We’re ready for you!” She picked up the Nerf gun but a sudden inspiration caused her to put it back down. “Actually . . . would you mind if we waited just a few minutes?”
“Why?”
“For PR purposes.”
“PR?” Jimmy asked.
“Public relations.”
Jimmy nodded as if he understood, but Cleo was pretty sure he didn’t.
“We want to establish our reputation as a first-rate, professional, tooth-pulling service.” He still looked clueless. “I want there to be a crowd.”
Jimmy grinned. “The more people the better! As long as I get to go first.”
“Absolutely!” She gave him back his money — for the moment. It wasn’t good business to take payment before services had been performed.
They went to the playground and played a game of Lava Monster with a few other kids who were there. Jimmy ran around the jungle gym, which looked like a small castle, roaring and swiping at the kids, trying to nab them without coming all the way onto the structure. It was like tag, with the added excitement of a monster climbing the walls and a moat full of molten lava keeping the players from being able to escape the playground. If you got tagged, you entered the lava pit and became a lava monster too. The game continued until all had been caught.
At one point, Jimmy tripped over Barkley, who had been too slow to get out of his way. Jimmy writhed on the ground while Barkley’s slobbery tongue lapped his face. “Get this dog off me!” he yelled. “He’s licking me to death!”
The other kids laughed and cheered Barkley for getting the lava monster.
When Jimmy finally got to his feet, he had only one thing to say: “That dog’s breath is deadly!”
They started up the game again. Cleo ignored the sick feeling in her stomach, even though it seemed to be getting worse. She played dangerously, taunting the lava monster from the edges of the equipment. Jimmy snagged her leg and she jumped into the lava pit. She climbed up and down the rope ladder and slides, trying to snatch the back of a squealing kid’s shirt or the heel of a shoe. Barkley bounded around the structure, barking at all the excitement.
Tessa and Steffy had come as promised — they ran around, trying not to get caught. Emilio was there too, saying he had a loose tooth to be pulled. Cleo recognized a handful of other kids from school, not in her class. She hoped they were all there to get their teeth pulled.
It was time. She clambered to the top of the tallest slide, ignoring Steffy’s complaints that she was overstepping Lava Monster boundaries.
“Hey, everyone!” she yelled. “If you have a loose tooth you want pulled, Cleo’s Quick and Painless Tooth Removal Service is now officially open for business!” She slid down the slide to the rubbery black turf. “And we’re giving away free cookies!”
That got everyone’s attention. Some kids even whooped with excitement. Barkley trotted alongside Josh and the rest of the kids to Cleo’s table. A few adults wandered over, probably parents of customers.
Jimmy had sprinted to get there first. He picked up the Nerf gun and thrust it into the air. “I’m ready!”
C
leo pushed her way through the crowd. “Don’t touch anything! The Extractor Extraordinaire is for tooth pulling only!” She sucked in her breath at a sudden stabbing pain in her gut.
Jimmy set the Nerf gun down and held up his hands. “Okay, okay. Don’t freak out.”
She snapped on her latex gloves and loaded a missile. “You want it recorded, right?”
He nodded. “I’m going to put it on YouTube, just like Little Man over there!” He pointed to Josh, who beamed and waved at the crowd.
“Oh, and everyone who has a tooth pulled gets a picture with Josh, the boy in the video!” Cleo announced. “No extra charge.”
Cleo nodded to Caylee, who got her camera in position. She pulled Jimmy a little ways away from the crowd, but not too far. She wanted everyone to be able to see her tooth-pulling method, live and in person. “Which one is it?”
Jimmy pointed to his lower left canine.
She slipped the floss around his tooth, tightened it, and held the Extractor in firing position. “Everyone, count down with me!” she shouted, getting caught up in the excitement of having her first official customer. “In five, four, three” — Jimmy tensed next to her — “two, one —”
POP!
Jimmy flinched. The tooth flew behind the missile like a streaking comet’s tail. Some kids cheered. A couple of the adults clapped. It had worked!
Cleo tried to hand Jimmy a wad of gauze, but he was too busy finding and untying his tooth. He came back holding it above his head. “Woo-hoo! It didn’t even hurt!”
Cleo couldn’t have asked for a better testimonial. She glanced at Caylee to make sure she was getting all this. She was. This was actually going to work!
Jimmy finally calmed down enough to stick the gauze in his new hole, pay Cleo her three dollars, and pose for a picture with Josh. When they were done, Cleo handed him a cookie. Others held out their hands, so she went ahead and gave them cookies as well.
“Disgusting!” Jimmy hollered. “What’s in these things?”
Uh-oh. The cookies might be a tougher sell than she’d thought. Their stock had just dropped precipitously.
“Anise,” she said. “Licorice flavor.” They’d tasted okay, but remembering their taste and texture gave her a sudden urge to throw up.
“Anise?” His face scrunched in disgust. “You mean, anus! These cookies taste like butt!” He hucked the solid mound over the arbor. Another boy did the same. Two or three dropped theirs on the ground. Barkley hungrily gobbled them up.
“Thanks for yanking my tooth, though!” Jimmy ran off, passing Dad, who walked toward them on the asphalt trail.
Cleo started to call for the next customer, but the words caught in her mouth. She doubled over and lost her cookies all over the pavement. The crowd scattered. “Ew!” “Gross!” “She ralphed!” “Let me out of here!”
Only Caylee, Tessa, and Steffy stayed. Even Josh ran off. Barkley sniffed at the vomit.
“Barkley, no!” Dad commanded. He said something to a couple of parents who’d come over to help — something about being her dad.
Cleo straightened, feeling dizzy and light-headed. Dad and Caylee held her steady. “You’re early,” Cleo whispered.
“Looks like I got here just in time. I was able to break away before the game ended. The team understood, and they were up, four to zero.”
“Are you okay, Cleo?” Tessa asked. Steffy’s forehead was wrinkled with concern.
Cleo took a breath, trying to focus her eyes. “I think so. Do you want your canines pulled?” She looked at Tessa hopefully.
Tessa glanced around at the others. “Uh —”
“Sorry, boss,” Dad said. “Time to close up shop.”
Cleo felt too awful to argue. Too pukey to persuade. “Yeah, I guess so.” She watched from the bench as Tessa and Steffy took down the banner. Caylee put everything in the backpack. Then Dad drove them home.
Cleo spent the rest of the weekend on the couch, watching recordings of Fortune with a trash can nearby, just in case. Mom and Josh got the bug too, so Dad ended up being nurse, cook (although no one felt like eating much), and janitor all weekend long. Barkley took turns in their rooms, lying on the floor near their beds.
Church was not an option Sunday morning. And they had to cancel their visit with Melanie, the boys’ first mom. Usually, it was the other way around. Melanie may have been flaky, but Cleo liked her. She always brought Cleo a little gift along with whatever she brought for the boys — a coin purse or a beaded bracelet or a headband.
Sunday night, after everyone was in bed, Josh appeared at Cleo’s door, his Superman blankie draped over his arm. “I can’t sleep.”
Cleo lifted her head, not the tiniest bit sleepy. She’d been thinking about her business. “Come on.” She pulled back her covers. He slipped in beside her and snuggled close.
Cleo had shared a room with Josh after they’d gotten him and JayJay from foster care, before the house add-on was done. She had just turned six. Josh was not yet two. He cried every night, it seemed, sucking his Superman blankie until the thing was half soaked. He would often end up in her bed, rubbing her hair between his fingers until he went back to sleep. It had made her feel good to be the big sister helping her new brother feel a little less scared.
He couldn’t rub her sleep cap–covered braids, but he didn’t seem to want to. She heard him sucking on his thumb. She didn’t try to stop him, even though the dentist had warned that if he didn’t, there’d be permanent damage to his teeth. At least he didn’t do it publicly, like JayJay.
“Why didn’t Melanie want us anymore?”
Cleo felt a pit in her stomach. It was a horrible, awful question that she wished didn’t have to be asked, or answered, even though she knew the right thing to say.
“It’s not that she didn’t want you, Joshy. She just couldn’t keep you.”
“But why?”
“She couldn’t take care of you and JayJay the way you needed. I know it’s hard. But if you hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have two great brothers. And that would be horriful.”
She heard the pop of his thumb being released from his lips. “And I wouldn’t have you.” He turned his head, looking up at her with his big cow eyes. “That would be horriful too.”
Her heart squeezed in her chest, and she hugged her brother tighter. If only it were as easy to answer the same question for herself as it was to answer Josh — and if only the answer she’d given him were enough to satisfy her questions as well.
She was glad she had Josh and JayJay and her parents. But sometimes she felt like a piggy bank without a stopper — no matter how much money got put in, it was never filled up. Would it always feel this way?
Monday morning, Cleo awoke alone. She wished her stomach still hurt and her body was still hot with a fever, but neither was true. She felt totally normal. And hungry. But she did not want to go to school. The story of how she’d gotten sick at the park would spread like a virus, and she would be reminded of her business failure over and over again.
Mom came in, took her temperature, and told her to get ready for school.
“I still feel sick,” Cleo whispered hoarsely.
“You’re fine, honey. Clearly, it was a twenty-four-hour bug. Now, get up and let’s go. I’ll give you a ride.”
“And Caylee?”
“If she wants one.”
Before getting ready, Cleo searched her room for her backpack. She’d been so out of it on Saturday she hadn’t seen where Dad had put it. She found the bag in her closet, everything from Saturday still inside, including the Nerf gun and Mom’s breakfast cookies. With all of them being so sick, Josh hadn’t remembered his gun, and Mom hadn’t asked how the cookies had gone over. Cleo hated to have to break it to her that they’d flopped.
When it was time to go, she left her backpack as it was, telling herself that she was bringing the Extractor just in case. Maybe she could pull the teeth of a few customers before school an
d get the focus back on her fun business idea, instead of on how she’d gotten sick at everyone’s feet.
She would even try again with the cookies. If Jimmy hadn’t overreacted, the other kids might have eaten them.
She and Mom had both experienced minor PR setbacks, but she could fix that.
Cleo and Caylee sat in the rear of the minivan. Cleo talked excitedly about the professional organizer she’d seen on Fortune. “That’s what you’re going to do when you grow up, Caylee. You would be perfect at that job! Did you know you could make a career out of organizing?”
Caylee shook her head, looking mystified.
“I’d hire you,” Mom said. “Our house needs some serious help in that department.”
Cleo felt a spark of excitement. “That could be another business! Cleo and Caylee’s Closet Clean-up!”
Mom glanced over her shoulder. “I’m not sure you’re as qualified in the areas of cleaning and organizing as your friend.”
Cleo rolled her eyes, even though Mom was right.
“That’s a catchy business name, though,” Mom said. “Speaking of which, how’d it go with the breakfast cookies? And do you have a name for them?”
“Not yet.” Cleo hoped she wouldn’t ask more.
“And the test marketing?”
Cleo smacked her lips. She took a breath. “Well . . . since I didn’t really get to hand them out on Saturday, I thought I’d take them to school today.” She paused. “If that’s okay with you.”
“Sure. Although they’re a few days old. They may not be as good.”
Cleo didn’t have the heart to tell her it probably wouldn’t make a difference. “I didn’t think they were so bad.”
Mom eyed her in the rearview mirror. “ ‘Nicki’s Breakfast Cookies: They’re not so bad.’ Hmm, I don’t know . . . I think it’s missing something.”
Cleo turned to her friend. Caylee had barely said a word since she’d shown up at their house. “You okay?”
Caylee looked out the window. Were her eyes watering? Cleo sat silently, not sure what to say. Mom and the boys started singing “Down at the Station.”
Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire Page 7