GETTING IT TOGETHER
Mom came in a few minutes later and went into the kitchen to put supper on the table. Justin, Kate, and Chip were used to having supper ready when Mom got home from work. But she had decided that she would make supper on her day off. That gave them a day off, too, at least from that chore. Kate still had Sugar to feed and milk, and Chip had to feed the ducks and gather eggs.
When Justin heard Mom in the kitchen, he wandered in, thinking that she might let him know what she had in mind for her time off, since it seemed to concern him. She was making a salad to go with the rotisserie chicken she’d brought home from the store.
“I spoke to Mr. Hashimoto,” she said over her shoulder. “He wants the weeds cleared off that vacant lot behind the nursery. He’s going to put Christmas trees back there.”
“Christmas trees? It’s not even Easter.”
“He plans to raise small ones, and sell them in pots. By December they’ll be just the right size for people who want live Christmas trees. He says there’s a good market for them these days. I told him you were looking for work, and could start this weekend.”
“Actually,” Justin said, careful not to sound too eager, “I’d rather do it after school. Do you think it would be okay if I started tomorrow?”
Mom looked surprised. “Are you sure? With ball practice and homework and all?”
“I’ll come straight home after practice,” Justin promised. “I can get in at least an hour before dark. Then do my homework after supper.”
“Well …” Mom said dubiously. “If you’re sure. I know Mr. Hashimoto won’t mind, because he said he wanted it done as soon as possible.”
On Tuesday afternoon Justin cycled straight from ball practice to the nursery. Mr. Hashimoto showed him what he wanted done, and Justin promptly went to work. He plugged away until six o’clock, when the nursery closed and Mom called him to go home.
He was back at it on Wednesday. He considered himself in pretty good shape, but whacking down weeds and chopping them up so they could be turned under to enrich the soil seemed to take different muscles from baseball. By the end of that second day, muscles he didn’t even know he had were hurting.
He put in another hour on Thursday, and on Friday it took him less than an hour to finish up. Justin was putting the tools away when Mr. Hashimoto came out to check on his progress.
Lily’s father always looked like he was about to smile. Justin had never seen him actually smile or frown, and he wasn’t doing either one now. He hoped Mr. Hashimoto approved of his work and would pay him well. They hadn’t even talked about money when he’d started clearing the lot.
“A fine job, Justin. You work hard, and fast. I expected it to take you all week and most of Saturday, too.” He smiled—a small smile, but definitely a smile—and handed Justin twenty dollars. “I don’t have anything more for you to do right now, but I might find a regular job for you this summer, if you’re interested.”
“Thanks.” Justin looked down at the twenty-dollar bill. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Twenty dollars, thought Justin as he walked home. That’s enough to pay my share, with five dollars left over. He might be able to get Kate to donate the four dollars she had left, but that still wouldn’t be enough to cover Chip’s share. He might be forced to borrow the remaining six dollars from Charlie. Trouble was, he wouldn’t see his dad until Saturday night, and he had to settle up with Mr. Grimsted before then.
In spite of the money in his pocket, Justin still felt like he was carrying a double load on his shoulders. He not only had to come up with the rest of the money, but he also had to figure out how to get the money to Grimsted without his going ballistic and calling the police.
As Justin walked up the driveway, Chip leapt off the front porch and came tearing toward him, holding his arms straight out like airplane wings. A piece of paper flapped from each hand. It wasn’t till Chip got close and made two zooming circles around him that Justin realized the flapping paper was money. At first he thought it must be play money, but when Chip stopped and thrust it toward him, he saw that it was the real thing: a five-dollar bill and a ten.
“Where’d you get the cash, twerp? Rob a bank?”
“My ducks!” Chip stopped playing airplane and started waddling like a duck, making whack-whack noises.
Chip had been crazy about the ducks from the start. When Mom first brought them home, they were small and fluffy and yellow. At that time Justin was taking care of the calves, and Kate had her goat, Sugar, who had to be milked night and morning, so Mom had given the ducks to Chip. He liked the way they walked, the noises they made, and the way they glided on the water. He didn’t mind feeding them and he loved gathering the big bluish eggs.
“You sold some of your quackers?” Justin asked, although, as attached as Chip was to the ducks, he couldn’t believe his brother would do such a thing.
“No, silly! The eggs! I sold fifteen eggs to Ruby for fifteen dollars!”
Justin couldn’t believe that either. “Why? She can probably buy fifty eggs for that at the grocery store!”
Chip looked hurt. “Ducks eggs are special.”
“Yeah, but still—” He grinned at Chip. “Nice going, little brother. Has Luther got his share?”
“Yes, and Lily, too. Do you?”
“I do,” Justin said. “Which means we all do. Gimme five!”
Chip slapped his hand and ran into the house.
When Justin reached the porch, Kate was sitting there on a stool. Ruby stood behind her, putting her hair into a zillion tiny braids.
“How do you like my hair?” Kate asked, shaking her head like a horse shaking its mane.
In Justin’s opinion, Ruby’s braids, so long and black, were a lot prettier than Kate’s shoulder-length blonde ones, but he kept that to himself. All he said was, “Good way to wear it when you go out with Dad. It won’t blow around so much when he has the top down.”
“Which he always does,” Kate reminded him. Normally Friday was Justin’s night, but he’d been afraid he might not finish the work at Mr. Hashimoto’s in time, so he’d asked Kate to switch nights with him. She had agreed, so he wouldn’t be going out with Charlie until tomorrow. By that time Justin hoped to have the Grimsted problem dealt with, so he could relax and enjoy his time with his dad.
“Hold your head still, girl!” Ruby told Kate. “Careful, champ,” she said to Justin, pointing. “Don’t step on my eggs.”
He saw a basket of big duck eggs sitting near the door. “Extra-large,” Justin noted. “What’re you going to do with them?”
“Chip suggested I paint them. Not dye them, but hand-paint them, and sell them to Miss Tutweiler as Easter centerpieces for the tables at her restaurant. I phoned her about it, and she went for the idea.”
Justin stared at Ruby. “That was Chip’s idea?”
“The part about painting them was. He even offered to let me use his felt-tipped pens. But I’ve got some acrylics of my own.” Ruby grinned at Justin. “I might be the first artist in America to get famous painting duck eggs.”
Justin was happy that they’d all been able to come up with their share of the money so quickly, but something about it made him a little suspicious. In a way, it had been too easy. He wondered if Booker had told Ruby, and that was why she bought the eggs from Chip. If that was the case, Mom would eventually hear about it, and then he would have a lot of explaining to do. But that was a small worry now. The main thing was that each of them had their fifteen dollars, and tomorrow they could repay Grimsted—hopefully without his deciding to repay them in some unpleasant way!