Kid Power

by Susan Beth Pfeffer

  “Kid Power is too in business,” I said.

  “Yeah?” Carol said. “Name the last job you worked on.”

  Unfortunately, that took a lot of thought. If things had gone the way I wanted, I would have been checking in every day on my friend Mrs. Edwards, and that would have counted, since she paid me fifty cents a visit. But Mrs. Edwards broke her hip over the summer, and ever since she got home, she’d had a nurse’s aide coming in to help her, so she didn’t need me anymore. “I raked leaves,” I replied.

  “When?” Carol asked.

  “A couple of weeks ago,” I admitted. Once you’d raked all the leaves, there wasn’t that much left to do. “But that doesn’t mean Kid Power is dead.”

  “Nobody said it was dead,” Dad said. “But you haven’t been doing much with it lately. Which is fine with me. Your school work is a lot more important than making a little extra money. Especially now that you have your bike.”

  “But Carol is still working,” I said. “She has her paper route, and her baby-sitting, and you don’t mind that.”

  “I have to have those jobs,” Carol said. “I’m saving for something really important.”

  “What?” I asked. The original plan had been that Carol would use her money for a new bike, too, but she’d bought that in August.

  “I’m saving to go to Paris,” she declared.

  “What?” I asked. Even Dad looked surprised.

  “Not this summer,” she said. “I won’t have enough money this summer. But with the money I earn for the next two years, I’ll have enough to go on a chaperoned high school trip for a month in France. I am taking French, after all. The trip will be very educational.”

  “That’s very impressive, Carol,” Dad said, just the way she wanted him to. I just shuddered. If Carol was planning to save up for two whole years for something educational, I’d never see another penny out of her again. Carol had always been a tightwad, but now she’d have Dad on her side every time she refused to give me the money she owed me. Kid Power was a definite goner.

  “I read about the trip in a magazine,” Carol said. “And I didn’t want to mention it to you and Mom until I was sure I could save up the money on my own. I didn’t want to be an added burden to you. Especially with Mom just starting her own business.”

  Not only was Kid Power a goner; after that speech, I probably was, too. Dad and Mom would decide they could only afford one kid, and Carol was bound to be first choice. I wondered if my grandmother would be willing to take me in for the next six years.

  “I’m proud of you, Carol,” Dad said. “You know what you want, and you’re willing to go after it without looking to other people for help.”

  I had spent the entire summer working, and Dad never once made a speech like that to me. It was always “I don’t approve” or “You shouldn’t be doing that” or “Why don’t you quit already?” Carol only had to say she planned to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and Dad was ready to give her the Nobel Prize for Economics.

  “What’s Carol up to?” Mom asked, walking into the living room. I liked the way she put that, so I smiled up at her.

  “I’m saving up money for a chaperoned high school summer tour of France,” Carol declared. “I’m hoping to go the summer after next.”

  “That sounds great,” Mom said, perching on the arm of Dad’s chair. “I’m sure your father and I will be happy to help.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Carol said. “Let me see how much I can earn on my own first, though. I know money is still a little tight around here.”

  “We have more than enough for our needs,” Dad said.

  “Besides,” Mom said, “Something Extra is going great. By a year from next summer, I should be a multimillionaire.”

  I sighed to myself. Mom had come up with the idea of Something Extra from watching me at work with Kid Power. She had decided there were a lot of odd jobs adults could do, and a lot of housewives who would like a little extra income. So she sent out fliers, and hired about ten women who could make gourmet meals, and house-sit for people who were expecting the plumber but couldn’t take the day off from work, and do housecleaning, and help shut-ins, and organize birthday parties for kids, and buy groceries, and do all kinds of jobs. The camera she’d just bought was to take pictures at parties, so that the parents wouldn’t have to. She hadn’t made her fortune yet, but things were looking promising. And even though she always gave me credit for the idea, she refused to give me ten percent of her ten percent.

  I stared at my family then, and had one of those moments where everything is completely clear. Everyone in my family had a goal. My father loved his work as a labor lawyer, and he believed in what he was doing. Mom was hard at work starting her own business; I’d never seen her so excited about anything. Even Carol was working toward something, a trip a year and a half away. And all I had were my memories of Kid Power. I was twelve years old, and already I was living in the past.

  “That reminds me,” Carol said. “Would you mind taking down that stupid sign of yours?”

  “Which sign?” I asked. I was too depressed to complain about her calling it stupid.

  “The one in the supermarket,” Carol said.

  “But you made that sign,” I said. Carol had made all my signs; her lettering was a lot better than mine.

  “It was stupid when I made it,” Carol said. “Actually it was very nice-looking then. But nobody’s calling you anymore, and people have scribbled all over it. You really should take it down.”

  “Sure,” I said, all the fight knocked out of me. “I’ll take it down.”

  “Good,” Dad said. “Kid Power was fine as a summer project, but I’m just as happy it’s finished.”

  Right then I felt as if I was finished. No signs, no jobs, no ten percent. Just a bike and a few memories.

  I walked over to the window and stared out at the street.

  It was the week before Thanksgiving, and already everything was gray. There were still leaves on the ground, but the trees were all bare. The days were so short they were over before they began. It was definitely winter, and Kid Power was a thing of the past. Soon it would be snowing.

  “Snow,” I said.

  “What?” Mom asked. Dad and Carol were engrossed in the football game again.

  “It’s going to be snowing soon,” I said.

  “Not too soon, I hope,” she replied. “I haven’t put the snow tires on the car yet.”

  “How about if I shovel the snow for you?” I asked.

  “Are you volunteering?” Mom asked.

  “For pay,” I said. “How about if we agree right now that I’ll shovel the walk automatically. You won’t have to holler at me, or try to convince Carol to do it. I’ll do it every snowstorm for pay.”

  “How much?” Mom asked.

  I thought about it. Kid Power had charged a dollar an hour, but I didn’t think snow shoveling should be paid for on that basis. “A dollar fifty per sidewalk,” I said. “Two dollars for driveways.”

  “And you absolutely promise you’ll do it automatically and not complain or run off to build a snowman or say you want to sleep late?” Mom asked.

  “I absolutely promise,” I said.

  “You’re on,” Mom said. “It’ll be worth it not to worry about who’s going to get it done.”

  “Do you think other people would feel that way?” I asked her.

  “Probably,” Mom said. “Snow is such a nuisance.”

  “It is, isn’t it,” I said, suddenly happy again. “I’ll bet I could get lots of people to hire me.”

  “Maybe,” Mom said. “But there’s only so much you can do. For one thing, you can only travel so far. I’m not going to drive you all over town just so you can shovel people’s walks.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. For a moment I was stumped.

  And then I remembered how Kid Power Agency worked. I helped other kids get jobs, and they gave me ten percent of what they earned. There was no reason why we couldn’
t do the same thing with snow shoveling. My friends all lived in different parts of town. All I’d have to do was get them the jobs shoveling the walks in their neighborhoods, and I’d end up rich.

  “I’ll get my friends,” I told Mom. “It’ll be just like last summer.”

  “But last summer you were saving for something,” Mom pointed out. “You got your bike today. What do you want to earn money for?”

  “A computer!” I shouted. “To keep track of the business.”

  “What business?” Carol asked, looking up from the TV set.

  “Kid Power,” I said. “Come on, Carol. I need a new sign.”

  “Oh, no,” Dad groaned. “Not this again.”

  I didn’t pay any attention to him. Kid Power was back in business, and so was I.

  Chapter 2

  The first thing I had to prove to myself and everybody else was that there really was a market for Kid Power’s new winter service.

  “Don’t overbook,” my mother warned me as I set out the next morning to convince my neighbors to hire me. “You can only do so much.”

  “I won’t,” I promised. My fantasy of course had been that every house on the block would hire me, but even I knew that was crazy. I only had two arms, after all, and one back. So I figured if I could get just three other households I should be satisfied. That would be six dollars for sidewalks (including my family’s), and eight dollars if they took me on for driveways, too. Fourteen dollars a snowstorm could be a big help in my savings for a computer.

  It was funny. I hadn’t even known I wanted a computer until I said I did. But now I wanted one a lot. No successful business could be run without one, I pointed out to my mother, who didn’t have one for Something Extra yet.

  I decided to start my sales pitch with Mrs. Edwards, since I was pretty sure she’d agree. So I knocked on her door, and I was happy when she opened it herself. That meant she was feeling better. She was still using a walker, though.

  “Kid Power is back in business,” I told her. “We’ve decided to go into snow removal.”

  “What a good idea,” Mrs. Edwards said. “Have you found many customers?”

  “I came to you first,” I admitted. “We’ll be charging a dollar fifty for sidewalks and two dollars for driveways. The important thing is that if you agree to our terms now, you’ll never have to worry again about who’s going to shovel for you.”

  “I don’t use my driveway anymore,” Mrs. Edwards said. “My nurse’s aide parks on the street, and I don’t drive anymore. But it would be a great convenience if you shoveled my walk. Can I hire you for sidewalks only?”

  Of course I would have preferred it if she’d agreed to the package deal, but I could see her point. Why pay for something you don’t need? “You’re on,” I said. “I’ll shovel every single snowfall of four inches or more.”

  “How about if you just shovel automatically, even if there’s less than four inches?” Mrs. Edwards suggested. “I’ll pay you the same rate, of course.”

  “All right,” I said. “If there isn’t enough snow to shovel, I’ll sweep it off the sidewalk for you.”

  “Thank you very much,” Mrs. Edwards said. “And I’ll be sure to recommend Kid Power to my friends. You did save my life, after all.”

  I blushed. Rescuing people wasn’t one of Kid Power’s regular services. “I’d better get going,” I said. “I want to talk to other people on the block, too.”

  “Good luck, Janie,” Mrs. Edwards said, but I was sure I wouldn’t need it. I was offering a needed service. According to my mother, that was what made a business a success.

  I started walking from door to door. A lot of people weren’t home. I tried to remember who wasn’t in, so I could go back and try them again. Finally I got an answer to my ring.

  “My name is Janie Golden, and I represent Kid Power,” I said, trying to sound grown up. “I’d like to offer you our special snow-removal services.”

  “I gave at the office,” the man said, and slammed the door in my face.

  I considered quitting on the spot. But that wasn’t how fortunes were made. So I walked over to the next house and rang the bell. A woman opened the door. She had two little kids grabbing at her legs.

  “My name is Janie Golden,” I said. “I represent Kid Power. I’d like to offer you our special snow-removal services.”

  “It isn’t snowing yet, is it?” the woman asked, trying to shake the kids off her. “Tell me it isn’t snowing.”

  “Oh, it isn’t, ma’am. Don’t worry,” I said. “But it will be before you know it. If you hire Kid Power now, you won’t ever have to worry about who’s going to shovel your walk.”

  “My husband always did that,” the woman said. “I guess now I’ll have to.”

  “Not if you hire Kid Power,” I said. “We’ll guarantee to shovel your sidewalk for a dollar fifty and your driveway for two dollars. That’s for any snowfall of four inches or more. Are you interested?”

  “Stop biting my leg, Seth,” the woman said to one of the kids. “David, stop biting Seth’s leg. Sure. Why not? I guess it will be one less thing to worry about.”

  “Great,” I said. “You’ll see me at the first snowfall.”

  “Which I hope won’t be for at least eight months,” the woman said. “I haven’t put the snow tires on my car yet.”

  I wished I could put snow tires on for people; there was obviously a lot of money to be made doing that. But one thing I’d learned the summer before was never to take on jobs I couldn’t handle. So I just smiled at the lady and at Seth and David and went to the next house, to see if they’d be interested.

  They weren’t, and neither were people in the next seven houses I asked at. It wasn’t very encouraging, and I considered stopping at two and a half jobs. But then I thought about the computer, and how if I got one before Mom did, I could rent her time on it for Something Extra. So I kept knocking on doors.

  After a half-hour, I found another person willing to listen. I told her my terms, and she stared at me thoughtfully.

  “Here’s my problem,” the woman said. “My husband had a heart attack a couple of years ago. Not a big one, just one of those little warning shots. So Herm gave up smoking, and he lost twenty pounds, and now he exercises, and he’s really in fine health.”

  “That’s great,” I said.

  “But he still thinks he can do all those things he used to do,” the woman continued. “Like shoveling snow. That’s the quickest way to a heart attack, you know.”

  I didn’t know. I began worrying about my own heart as soon as she told me.

  “If the walk gets shoveled before Herm has a chance to do it, then he won’t be able to complain,” the woman continued. “But if you were just the least bit late, then Herm would probably go out and start shoveling by himself, and you know what would happen then.”

  I nodded. Herm would have a heart attack, and it would be all my fault.

  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 bac
k. 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.