All night long Cricket tossed and turned. Her dreams were filled with salamanders. They piled up at the curb while she and Shilo scooped them up with their bare hands.
In the morning Cricket was almost too tired to eat breakfast.
“How’s the salamander project going?” her mom asked as she buttered a stack of toast.
“Great, except for that new curb.”
Warden McKay frowned. “Is there something wrong with it?”
“It’s a good curb for the road and the cars, but not for salamanders. It’s too steep for them to climb,” Cricket explained. “Tyler used rocks to build a ramp that worked for one night, but we need something more permanent. If we had enough money to buy some cement, maybe we could build a proper ramp before the big migration.”
Cricket held her breath. She knew that in Waterton, the park wardens made a lot of important decisions. If her dad said no, they would have to think of another idea.
“We know where they like to cross the road,” she said. “So we could build the Salamander Step in that exact spot.”
“Well, it sounds like a good project, if it doesn’t cause problems for cars. But how will you raise enough money?”
“You could sell lemonade,” her mom suggested. “Remember last summer when you and Shilo had a lemonade stand? You made a lot of money—almost twenty dollars.”
Cricket nodded slowly. It had taken them the whole summer to make that much money. Could they do it in just one day?
An hour later the girls had a plan. Cricket would set up a small table and chairs at the park across from Pat’s Garage. Shilo would bring the lemonade and cups and a couple of sandwiches for their lunch.
“How much should we charge for a cup of lemonade?” Shilo asked. “We need to make a bunch of money.”
“But if we charge too much, we won’t sell any,” Cricket said.
“How about twenty-five cents a cup? We’ll need to sell a hundred cups to make twenty-five dollars. Do you think we can sell that much in a day?”
“I sure hope so. The salamanders need that ramp right away.”