Chapter 3

“I don’t believe this,” Mom said, staring out the window on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. “Look at it come down.”

So I looked. I didn’t believe it either, but what was upsetting my mother was making me very happy. The snow was falling hard and heavy, and what had looked like autumn the day before was now definitely winter.

“I still don’t have the snow tires on!” Mom wailed. “And now I won’t be able to drive to the garage to have them put on because of the snow.”

I tried to feel sorry for her, but I couldn’t. All that snow meant I was about to earn Kid Power’s first real money in months. I’d found work for all my friends, too, so I’d be collecting a lot of ten percents as well. Kid Power’s computer was just a few dozen blizzards away. And if it was going to start snowing in November, who knew when it would stop? We’d had a heavy snowfall the year before in the middle of April; that could happen again. If it snowed twice a month between now and then, we’d all end up very rich.

“Do you think it’s letting up now?” I asked Mom. It had been snowing since early that morning, and I’d promised Lisa that it would never stop right before dark, so that she would have to shovel at night.

“I guess so,” Mom said glumly. “I knew I should have had the snow tires put on last week.”

“I think I’m going to go out and start shoveling people’s walks,” I said, thinking of Herm. “Don’t worry, I’ll be doing ours, but we’re going to be last.”

“That’s the least of my worries,” Mom said. “Bundle up, Janie, and don’t overdo.”

“I will,” I said. “And I won’t.” I guess Mom understood me, since she didn’t say anything back. She just kept staring out the window and sighing.

I got the shovel and went to work. By the time I finished Herm’s driveway, I would have been happy to quit. I’d forgotten what backbreaking work shoveling was. I kept reminding myself that I was the only thing standing between Herm and a heart attack, but that was very little comfort as I sweated and shivered.

Getting paid by Herm’s wife Gert helped, though. Feeling those dollar bills in my pocket eased the ache of my muscles and gave me the strength I needed to go over to my second customer’s house and dig there. I realized I had never learned Seth and David’s mom name, so while I cleared off her sidewalk and drive, I made up names for her. I’d finally decided on Coradora Appalora when I finished her driveway. I never wanted to see another driveway again. I no longer even knew why people drove, especially since they never put the snow tires on their cars.

When Coradora paid me, I asked her what her name was. It turned out not to be Coradora at all, just Gail Howard.

I didn’t tell her the name I’d come up with. You never know what’s going to offend people.

My next stop was Mrs. Edward’s house, and I was really grateful I didn’t have to shovel her driveway. I kept remembering Mrs. Dell’s circular drive and how she’d offered to pay a quarter to get it done. At that point, I wouldn’t have done it for a million dollars, not that she was likely to offer it to me.

Shoveling Mrs. Edwards’s sidewalk felt like nothing after the work I’d done, and she gave me home-baked cookies when I was finished. That gave me all the strength I needed to return home and shovel there. I have to admit I didn’t do as good a job at home as I had at Herm’s, or even Gail’s, but I did well enough so that we could get out if we wanted to. I cleared off the shovel, put it back in the garage, and came back in. I sat on the radiator for a few minutes, until I defrosted, and then I got paid by Mom. Then I went upstairs and counted the twelve dollars over and over again.

When I had absolutely convinced myself that twelve dollars was twelve dollars, I started calling the other kids to see how they were doing. Lisa was already home, but Margie and Ted were still shoveling. So I rested on my bed and thought about all the ten percents they owed me. Out of a sense of great generosity, I decided not to take ten percent of the money they earned from their parents. But even without that, they still owed me three fifty. Never being able to move again was a small price to pay for fifteen fifty. I fell asleep fully dressed on my bed, trying to decide what sort of computer to buy.

The next day at school, Ted and Lisa and Margie paid what they owed me. I put the money in an envelope, so I wouldn’t get it mixed up with my lunch money.

“What are you doing there, Golden?”

I looked up at the sound of the voice and saw Johnny Richards. Johnny was in Carol’s grade, and I knew him mostly through her. He was a real creep, big and mean. I shoved my money into the envelope and pushed the envelope into my pants pocket. If Johnny wanted it, he was going to have to steal it from me.

“What do you want?” I asked him, trying to keep my voice from quaking.

“I don’t want anything,” he said. “I was just wondering what you were doing, taking money from this kid here, and stuffing it in your pocket like that. That’s all. A perfectly innocent question.”

There was nothing innocent about Johnny, and we both knew it. I considered refusing to answer his question, but then I decided that would be a mistake. “This is my friend,” I said. “And she owed me some money for Kid Power. That’s all.”

“Kid Power,” Johnny said. “Oh, yeah, I know that. I saw the sign up in the supermarket. You do jobs.”

“Right,” I said. “We’re shoveling snow this winter, that’s all.”

“I shovel snow, too,” Johnny said. “All my friends, we shovel snow. Are you gonna take our business away from us?”

“Of course not,” I said, trying to smile at him. “We just have a few contracts with people. You probably have lots and lots of people’s walks to clear. We just have a few.”

“A few too many,” Johnny said. “Listen here, Golden, I don’t like the idea of anybody muscling in on my territory. See what I mean?”

“Don’t worry,” I said. No reason for him to; I was worrying enough for both of us. “It’s a big town. There’s lots of snow. We’ll both end up rich by the time winter’s over.”

“How much are you charging?” Johnny asked. I noticed Margie slipping away from us. I certainly didn’t blame her.

“A dollar fifty for sidewalks, two dollars for driveways,” I said. Maybe all he wanted was some business tips. I’d certainly be happy to supply him with those if he spared my life.

“That’s less than I charge,” Johnny replied. “A lot less. You trying to undercut me?”

“Oh, no,” I said. “We just charge less because we don’t do nearly as good a job as you probably do. I’m sure you do quality work. You’re so strong and everything.” I swallowed hard. It might not have been a good idea to remind Johnny just how strong he was.

“Me and my friends plan to stay in business,” Johnny informed me. His smile made my intestines shrivel. “We’ll do what we have to, to see to that, Golden. Get my meaning?”

“I can certainly respect that,” I said. “No problem, Johnny. You shovel your jobs, and we’ll shovel ours.”

“I don’t know about that,” he said. “You’d better be careful, Golden, or you’re going to end up on the wrong end of the shovel.”

“I’ll be careful,” I said. “Thanks for the warning, Johnny. Oops, I’d better be running. I had no idea how late it was. Bye.” And I scurried down the hallway into the safety of the cafeteria.

I sat down at the table next to Lisa and Margie. “Margie told me what was happening,” Lisa said. “Do you think Johnny is going to cause trouble?”

“Of course not,” I said. “There’s plenty of work for all of us. Besides, it may never snow again. Maybe all we’ll have from now on is rain because of the greenhouse effect. You know about that. The world is warming up, and places where it used to snow are turning into Florida. No more snow here, I’ll bet. One snowfall at Thanksgiving time, and then it’s surf’s up for the rest of the winter.”

“I don’t think we should count on the greenhouse effect,” Margie said.

“I’ll talk to my father,” I replied. “Sometimes he has very good advice on problems.”

“Maybe,” Lisa said. I could see she was thinking about quitting altogether. I knew it wouldn’t take much to get everybody to quit. We were all suffering from aching muscles. And the other kids might not have an important goal, as I did. A talk with my father was definitely in order.

I waited until after supper to bring up the subject with him. Dad had gone into the den to read, so I followed him upstairs and knocked on the door.

“What can I do for you?” he asked me, as I sat down.

“There’s this guy,” I said. “Johnny Richards. Carol’s mentioned him because he’s in her grade. He’s a big bully.”

“Sounds familiar,” Dad said. “Is Carol having problems with him?”

“I am,” I said, and I told Dad about the conversation Johnny and I had had. Dad nodded thoughtfully when I finished.

“That’s what happens in the open marketplace,” he said. “You didn’t think you were going to have a monopoly, did you?”

“What’s a monopoly?” I asked. I knew what the game was, but I had the feeling Dad was talking about something else.

“It’s when you’re the only person doing a certain kind of business,” Dad explained. “Suppose there were only one kind of car manufacturer. Then it would have a monopoly on the car industry.”

“That sounds good,” I said. “I like that.”

“Sure you do,” Dad said, “you little capitalist exploiter of the masses. If you have a monopoly on something, you can control what it’s going to cost. Since there’s no competition, people can’t buy your product anywhere else, so they have to pay what you ask.”

“It’s sounding better and better,” I said. “How do you get to be a monopoly?”

“You buy your own country and make up your own rules,” Dad said. “In the United States, we try to avoid monopolies for the most part. We’re big on freedom of choice around here.”

“But if I had a monopoly, Johnny would have to leave me alone,” I said.

“And if Johnny had one, you’d have to leave him alone,” Dad replied.

“That isn’t fair,” I said. “It was my idea to get Kid Power into snow shoveling. I thought of it first.”

“I doubt that Johnny sees it that way,” Dad said. “It sounds as if he was shoveling snow last winter, before there even was a Kid Power.”

“Does that mean I have to give it up?” I asked. “Just because he got there first? He was born before me, so he had a head start.”

“Neither one of you has to give up anything,” Dad said. “First of all, there are plenty of walks to shovel. But even if there weren’t, that’s what the open marketplace is all about. Whoever does the better job will get more customers. It doesn’t sound as if Johnny is going to keep his because of his charming personality and delightful smile.”

“I don’t want his customers,” I said, thinking about my aching back. “I just don’t want him to steal mine.”

“Well, you’re going to have to be careful, then,” Dad said. “Because if he wants to, he can get into a price war with you.”

“What’s a price war?” I asked. It sounded like a place where people threw prices at each other.

“It’s a way of taking business away from your competition,” Dad replied. “Suppose Johnny decides to offer prices lower than yours. Your customers might all go over to him. And then you might decide to cut your prices, too, and maybe go after his customers. You could each slash your prices until you’re barely making a profit. Price wars are good for customers, but bad for businesses.”

My head was starting to ache almost as much as my back. “You don’t think that’s going to happen, do you?” I asked. I wasn’t sure I could bear it if it did.

“No,” Dad said. “I doubt that Johnny has the imagination to think of lowering his prices. And since yours are already lower than his, there’s no reason for you to cut yours.”

“What else could he do to me?” I asked.

“Not much,” Dad said. “After all, if he does something really wrong, we’ll contact his parents. Even the police, if necessary. And I’m sure he knows that. Most likely, he’ll just growl at you and try to intimidate you. If you stand your ground, you should be fine.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do,” I said. “I’ll stand my ground and make sure Kid Power does the best possible job and hope that Johnny keeps all of his old customers, and then we’ll all be happy.”

“Excellent,” Dad said. “I’m glad you respect Johnny’s needs, too. Sometimes I think you want Kid Power to take over the entire world.”

“Me?” I said, trying to look innocent. “You really think I want that?”

Dad raised his eyebrows at me. “That’s exactly what I think,” he said. “Are you going to try to deny it?”

“See you later, Dad,” I said instead, and left the den fast. I didn’t really want Kid Power to take over the entire world. At least not before I had my computer set up so I’d know what to do with the world once I got it.

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