Moolah Moolah

Thursday morning, Miss Mackle asked us to arrange our desks in a big U shape. She wanted all the students who visited our tag sale to see what we were selling.

I was still working on a plan to stop Harry. I moved my desk next to Harry’s. I had to keep an eye on him.

Harry had one hundred stub people lined up in ten rows. I liked the General best. He was a big old eraser with an army hat made out of a brown crayon wrapper. Harry gouged out eyes and put bits of black crayon in the holes for pupils. He even bent a paper clip to give the General a silver mustache.

“Your stub people are awesome,” I said.

“Thanks, Dougo.” Harry grinned.

“How come you don’t have a stub girl?” Mary asked.

“Actually, I do have one,” Harry said. He lifted up a tall pencil stub with long yellow yarn hair. He had penned in two eyes on her eraser head. “Her name is Sue Per. Get it?”

Song Lee came over to admire it. “She’s so cute!” she exclaimed. “Do you think Sue Per would like a bow in her hair?”

“Sure,” Harry replied. We watched Song Lee tie a red string around Sue Per’s yellow hair. The red bow added a lot. “Now she has a ponytail!” Song Lee giggled.

Mary clapped her hands. “You should have made more girls, Harry,” she said. “Sue Per looks like a basketball player!”

“Trade you Sue Per for one of your bread rolls,” he suggested.

“No, thanks,” Mary replied. “It isn’t a fair trade. My rolls are worth more than your stub people. And they’re challah rolls, Harry. Not plain rolls.”

I looked at Mary’s desk. Each golden challah roll had a six-strand braid and was wrapped in clear plastic with a pink bow. She and her mom had made four dozen.

“If I charge fifty cents apiece for them,” Mary said, “I’ll earn twenty-four dollars for the Girl Scouts!”

“Well, I know I don’t have fifty cents.” Harry groaned. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of dirty coins, one bottle cap, and some cat hair. “This is my life savings.”

Mary rolled her eyes.

Harry tugged at my sleeve. “How much do you think I should charge for each stub person, Dougo?” he asked.

Mary answered right away, “A penny, maybe? But two cents for Sue Per.”

“Very funny, Mare,” Harry said.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. “I think your stub people are worth lots of money,” I said.

Harry got a toothy smile. “You mean . . . lots of moolah moolah?”

“Yes! They’re original art,” I continued. “You should charge a dollar each.”

“Whoa,” Harry replied. “You think I could sell them for that much?”

Of course he couldn’t. But I wasn’t going to tell Harry that.

“Absolutely!” I said.

It was a perfect plan. If Harry couldn’t sell his stub people, then he wouldn’t have any money to steal! “Harry,” I said, “one dollar is a bargain for those guys. Maybe more for the General.”

Mary looked down at her poster. I knew she didn’t want Harry to see her laughing. I felt bad having to fib to Harry, but it was the only thing I could come up with. I had to do something!

“Okay, one buck it is!” Harry said. And he got busy making a sign that said ONE DOLLAR EACH. He also added a special price tag for the General. Five dollars!

I had to look away. I was beginning to feel guilty.

Harry tapped me on the shoulder. “If I sell all of my stub people, I’ll have about fifty smackeroos for Grandma’s stove,” he whispered.

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t feel guilty anymore. I grabbed one of the books I was selling.

“See the title of this one?”

“That’s Curious George,” Harry replied. “I’ve read it lots of times.”

I put my nose in Harry’s face. “Remember the part where George goes to jail?”

Harry put two thumbs in the air. “Yeah! That’s my favorite part, because George escapes!”

Harry was not getting my message. I just had to hope that he didn’t make one single sale.