Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire

by Sundee T. Frazier

  Cleo had the flyers out of her backpack long before she, Caylee, and Josh reached school. She gave them to kids they passed on the way. She pressed them into kids’ hands at the crosswalk. She gave some to Josh to give to his friends. As soon as they hit the playground, she handed Caylee a bunch too. “Let’s split up. We’ll get more done that way.”

  Caylee hesitated. “But you’re better at talking to people about these things — I mean, talking people into things.”

  What could she say? It was her superpower, persuasion — or as she thought of it, Persuasion Power™, a set of skills that she planned to package and market as a series of business-success seminars with titles such as, “Stop Whining, Start Winning” and “Charm Them to Disarm Them: How to Be So Cute They Can’t Say No.”

  “Okay, we’ll stick together. For now. At first recess we’ll split up.”

  Caylee looked relieved.

  Cleo spotted Tessa playing tetherball with Steffy. With two loose teeth, Tessa was a top prospect. Unfortunately, Lexie Lewis waited to take on the winner.

  So what, Cleo thought. She wouldn’t let Lexie Lewis get in the way of making a sale. In fact, she might even have a loose tooth in that big mouth of hers. Cleo would get Lexie Lewis to use her business! The thrill of conquest drove her to the tetherball pole. Caylee trailed along.

  Steffy had just beaten Tessa, who stepped out of the circle so Lexie could have her turn.

  “Oh good, LeSnore is here. I can beat her next.” Lexie’s lips curled into a power-hungry smile.

  “In case you hadn’t heard, my middle name is Edison.”

  “Edison! That’s a boy’s name.” Lexie Lewis cackled.

  Cleo ignored the jab. “Yes. I am now Cleopatra Edison Oliver, CEO and president of Cleopatra Enterprises, Inc.”

  “That’s not even a real company.” Lexie smirked and folded her arms.

  “Come on, Lexie. Let’s play,” Steffy urged.

  “Corporation, actually. I’m here to tell you about my latest business.” She handed flyers to Tessa, Steffy, Lexie, and the few other girls waiting for a turn to play.

  “Tooth removal?” Lexie looked aghast. “Why would I ever let you touch my teeth?”

  Cleo was ready. Her superpower surged. “Well, since you asked . . . You know that awful feeling of having a loose tooth, and how you don’t want anything to touch it because every time it wiggles it makes you think of pain and blood?”

  Lexie Lewis was actually listening. Cleo saw begrudging agreement in the girl’s light brown eyes.

  “Ooo, yeah, and that gross squishy stuff that’s in the hole that’s left behind!” Tessa said. “It feels like something you’d find in a tide pool — all furry and yucky.”

  They were getting off track. Cleo wanted them to want their teeth out, not fear the holes left behind. “And you spend weeks worrying about how you’re going to get your tooth out and when will you be able to eat crunchy things again and what if you accidentally swallow it in your sleep?”

  Tessa’s normally big eyes got even bigger. “That happens?”

  “Oh, yeah. My little brother swallowed his.”

  “Eww,” Lexie said, dropping the flyer and grabbing the ball. “That means he pooped it out!” Mia, Steffy, and Taylor laughed. “Were you the one who found it?” They laughed again. Lexie hurled the ball. The chain clanged as she and Steffy swatted it back and forth.

  Cleo focused on Tessa. “Look, those teeth need to come out. Am I right?”

  Tessa’s mouth twitched as she tested one of the loose canines with her tongue.

  “And you must really miss eating Tootsie Rolls.” Cleo was glad she remembered her friend’s favorite candy.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “I can help you, Tess! It will be easy and quick — so quick you’ll barely feel it.” She pointed to the flyer. “Watch this video on YouTube. Then come to Wilson Park tomorrow morning. I’ll have it done for you in no time.”

  “I’ll record it for you too if you want,” Caylee added.

  “And we’re giving away twenty percent of what we make to a really good cause,” Cleo said.

  Steffy came over. She had lost the game to Lexie, who was now pounding Mia.

  Time to close this deal. “So, will you come?”

  “Umm . . . I don’t know. Maybe.” Tessa read the ad again.

  “I’ll go with you,” Steffy said.

  The recess monitor blew her whistle. Kids swarmed like bees, headed for their lines. Cleo stayed put, waiting for Tessa’s answer.

  Mia and Taylor had started toward their classroom, but Lexie had to butt in one last time. “You’re crazier than I thought if you let this girl pull your teeth.”

  Tessa grinned. She looked a little crazy. “I’ll be there!” she said.

  Cleo let out a little whoop of glee and wrapped her arms around Tessa. “Thanks, Tessa! I knew you’d do it!”

  Lexie Lewis rolled her eyes and walked away.

  But Cleopatra Edison Oliver didn’t care. She had won her first customer!

  In class, Mr. Boring started off by asking for volunteers to read their Passion Project paragraphs. Cleo raised her hand right away, but he called on several other kids first. Quentin would be doing his on robot building — no surprise there. Amelie planned to conduct a songwriting workshop. Cool! Cleo had never tried to write a song. Maybe she could even come up with a jingle for her tooth-pulling business.

  Noah’s passion was race cars. Steffy’s was gymnastics, and Tessa’s, horse rescue. Cole was still deciding between taiko — a kind of Japanese drum — and trading cards. Mr. Boring enthusiastically recommended the cards. Ms. Sanchez, the teacher next door, might not appreciate drums.

  The big surprise was Rowdy Jimmy Ryerson. His passion was gardening — with his grandpa.

  “Gardening?” Cole blurted, interrupting Jimmy’s paragraph. Cleo had been thinking the same thing. Good thing she hadn’t said it out loud. Cole got a strike for that.

  Caylee never raised her hand. Cleo hadn’t thought to ask what her best friend planned to do. Every time they’d gotten together lately, they’d talked about Cleo’s project.

  Finally, Mr. Boring called on Cleo. “My passion,” she began reading, “is business. Starting new businesses is especially thrilling to me. I made my first sale when I was two years old. It was a Disney princess sticker to a man who didn’t speak English. He gave me a whole dollar for it! Since then, I have sold many things. One day, I plan to run a huge corporation. My latest venture is a tooth-pulling business” — she held up a flyer — “Cleo’s Quick and Painless” — she left out the nearly this time (people could read the fine print themselves) — “Tooth Removal Service. In my Passion Project presentation, I will talk about my business and how well it is going.” She looked up from her paper and grinned.

  “I see we have an entrepreneur in our midst.” Mr. Boring wrote the word entrepreneur on the board. Under that, he wrote enterprising. “Cleo, I love your” — he pointed to the board — “enterprising spirit. Thank you for giving us two more vocabulary words for next week’s spelling test.” A few kids groaned, but not Cleo. She could spell those words in her sleep.

  “May I pass out copies of my ad?”

  “Sure!”

  She started with Mr. Boring, then continued around the room.

  Mr. Boring chuckled. “Before you can say ‘Tooth Fairy,’ eh? And what exactly is your ‘quick and nearly painless’ method?”

  “I use my Extractor Extraordinaire (trademark)!”

  “Love it!” He laughed again, then raised an eyebrow. “What is your Extractor Extraordinaire (trademark), and is it safe?”

  “You’ll have to come to the park to find out — or watch this video online.” She pointed to the YouTube link. “And yes, it’s safe. Absolutely. I tested it on my brother. It’s all in the video.”

  “Intriguing.”

  Cleo buzzed with excitement. “I know you can pull your ow
n teeth for free,” she said to the class, “but when you use my service, you’re also helping homeless moms and their kids.” She pointed to the ad where it said she was giving away twenty percent of her profits to Horizon Home.

  “So, this is sort of a fund-raiser as well as a business,” Mr. Boring said.

  “It’s a socially conscious business,” she said. For a flash, she felt like Fortune.

  “This is great, Cleo. I’m really impressed,” Mr. Boring said.

  He was so impressed that during lunch he copied more flyers for her and asked some of the other teachers if she could advertise her business in their classes as well.

  Cleo couldn’t believe it. By the end of the day, almost everyone at New Heights Elementary knew about Cleo’s Quick and Painless Tooth Removal Service. The only people left to tell were her parents.

  On their walk home, Cleo told Caylee about going from class to class that afternoon, promoting her business. “Lexie Lewis looked like she was going to vomit the whole time I was talking.”

  “Was she sick?” Josh lagged behind, banging his lunch box against every street sign and lamppost.

  Cleo threw her hands up in the air. “Why won’t she just leave me alone already?”

  Caylee looked sympathetic, but she had nothing to say.

  “If only I hadn’t been chosen to be her Welcome Ambassador when she came to New Heights last year.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think she’s liked you much since that first day when you accidentally knocked a tray of spaghetti into her lap.”

  Cleo grimaced. “She was wearing brand-new white jeans. Who wears white jeans?” Lexie Lewis, that was who.

  “I think she’s just jealous that people like you and they don’t really like her.”

  Cleo thought about that. Could Lexie Lewis actually be jealous of her? It seemed impossible, but Caylee made a good point. Was there anything to like about Lexie?

  They reached Cleo’s house. “See you tomorrow. You’ll have your camera, right?” Caylee had agreed to bring the super-nice camera her dad had bought her on her last visit. It could record videos as well as take pictures.

  “Sure. See you tomorrow.” Caylee kept walking.

  Cleo turned to her brother. “I need to borrow your Nerf gun.”

  “Why?”

  “For my business, of course.”

  “What are you going to give me?”

  She crossed her arms. “Give you? I gave you the Nerf gun!”

  “Only part of it.” His lips pursed. He made a clicking sound with his tongue against his teeth. “I’ll rent it to you for a dollar.”

  “Rent?” When had her brother become such a business shark?

  An idea sprang into her mind. “I know! I’ll let you be in a picture with everyone who gets a tooth out. Since you’re the star of the video.” That might be worth something, she thought, getting to take a picture with the kid on YouTube.

  He smiled. “Am I going to be famous?”

  She wrapped her arm around his neck, grateful he’d moved on from the rental thing. “Stick with me, kid, and you just might be.”

  She rolled out her business over dinner, telling her parents all about going around the school to promote it, and how she would use the same method she had on Josh, and her plans to give twenty percent of the profits to Horizon Home. The only thing she left out was the one tiny detail of her and Josh being on YouTube — and the fact that she’d used the tablet without permission to film themselves.

  She couldn’t tell them. Not yet. Mom might shut down her business again, and Cleo couldn’t risk that. Practically the whole school knew about it. She could have dozens of customers!

  Mom took a deep breath. “Cleo, I can tell you’re excited about this, but did it ever cross your mind to check with us first — before going out and telling the whole world?”

  “I’m checking with you now.”

  “No you’re not. You’re telling us what you’ve already done!” Mom looked exasperated.

  Two green beans hung from Josh’s lips, like fangs. Julian stuck one up his nose. Josh laughed, spewing his beans and little pieces of green muck onto the table. “Boys!” Mom was mad. Cleo had been laughing too. She bit her lip to stop.

  “Your mom’s right, Cleo,” Dad said. “It’s always better to get us on board first.”

  Okay. So she had mixed up the order of things a bit. Time for Persuasion Power™! “It’s for school, Mom. I need to do it — for my Passion Project!”

  “I’m not saying you can’t do it —”

  Cleo squealed. “Thank you!”

  “Hold on.”

  Uh-oh. What was the catch?

  “Maybe we should have people sign a liability release form.”

  “A what?”

  “A form that says people can’t sue us. Standard risk management.” Before the boys, Mom had worked at Saint Luke’s Hospital, making sure the hospital wouldn’t get sued.

  “Mom, sometimes you just have to take a risk and not worry so much about it.”

  Dad raised an eyebrow. A smile crinkled the corners of his mouth.

  “Whatever you’re thinking, you can keep it to yourself,” Mom warned.

  “No one’s going to sue us, Mom. It works! You saw it! Right, Joshy?”

  “Right!”

  Mom looked at Josh, a smile on her lips at last. “Okay.”

  “Yay!” Cleo jumped up and squeezed her mom. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Mom’s head bobbled as Cleo jiggled up and down.

  “But we’re all going with you.”

  Cleo didn’t protest. Mom had said yes!

  “I have a soccer game, remember?” Dad said.

  “Oh . . . right. Well, the boys and I will go, then.”

  Cleo could barely contain her excitement. She jiggled Mom some more. “Thank you!”

  Mom narrowed her eyes and bit her lip, as if she were thinking. She wasn’t changing her mind, was she? “I have an idea.” She went to the kitchen and brought back a big baggie full of the lumpy cookies from the day before. They looked like something from the Natural History Museum — like plasticized armadillo poo. “What would you think about doing a little test marketing for me? You can hand them out to your customers.”

  Cleo eyed the cookies. “Are they any good?”

  “That’s what I want to find out!” Mom sat again. “Since you think I need to take more risks.” She held out the bag. “Want to try one?”

  “That’s a risk I’m not sure I’m ready for,” Cleo said.

  Dad stifled a laugh.

  Mom shook the bag. “Come on. They’re breakfast cookies!”

  “Cookies for breakfast?” Mom was working some persuasion power of her own. “Now, that’s a great idea!” Cleo nodded in approval. “But they still have to taste good.”

  Barkley barked from his spot under the table. He didn’t bother standing up. “Sorry, Barkley, not for you,” Mom said, and pulled out a cookie.

  Josh grabbed it.

  “Me too!” JayJay shouted.

  “Ew!” Josh’s nose wrinkled. “They stink!” He dropped the cookie back in the bag.

  “As I was saying . . .” Cleo crossed her arms.

  “Josh!” Mom fished it out again. “You can’t touch it and put it back in.”

  Mom tipped the bag toward Dad. He raised a hand and shook his head. “I’m pretty full from dinner, thanks.”

  Cleo sniffed the cookies. They smelled like something familiar . . . black licorice, maybe? “What’s in them?” she asked.

  Mom ticked off the ingredients on her fingers. “Let’s see . . . amaranth flour, oats, organic cage-free eggs, prune juice —”

  “Prune juice?” Josh stuck out his tongue. “Yuck!” He and Jay ran from the room. Dad started clearing the table.

  Mom continued listing ingredients. “Dried apples, cinnamon, anise . . .”

  “What’s that?”

  “A seed that tastes like li
corice.”

  “And smells like it too,” Cleo said. She pinched her nose.

  “Anise is good for your digestion and your breath. A great way to start your day!”

  “That could be your slogan!” Cleo said, still excited about Mom’s business venture, even if the cookies didn’t sound — or smell — very appetizing. “I’ll try one tomorrow,” Cleo said. Her stomach was feeling a little shaky, although she wasn’t about to mention that to Mom. She didn’t want Mom to have any reason to keep her home on her business’s launch day.

  Mom shrugged. “Suit yourself.” She zipped up the baggie. “I’ll need your help with a name for them — you’re good at that — and let’s keep working on a slogan.”

  Cleo tapped her cheek. She and her mom had never brainstormed for a business together. This would be fun! “Hmmm . . . how about, ‘Nicki’s Breakfast Cookies: They taste better than they smell’?”

  Mom swatted at her. “Very funny.”

  Saturday morning, Cleo packed her backpack with everything she needed: floss, a beach towel, tacks, tape, and a big rolled-up banner with the name of her business. The only thing missing was her Extractor Extraordinaire!™ She went to find it.

  Mom came out of the boys’ room. Her hair looked like a raccoon nest. Dark shadows circled her eyes. “Julian’s sick,” she said. “I’ve been up with him all night. Sorry, honey, but there’s no way we’re going to the park.”

  Josh came bounding up the stairs. “Chocolate chip pancakes are ready! But don’t give any to JayJay. I don’t want to see what that looks like coming back up!”

  Cleo ignored her brother’s grossness. “Can Josh and I still go?”

  “By yourselves?” Mom shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.” She headed toward the stairs.

  Cleo followed on her heels. “What? Mom, I have to go! Customers will be expecting me. If I don’t show, I’ll lose people’s trust. We’ll just be at the park. It’s not that far away.” She was not giving up. “I’ll take your cell phone. I’ll wash the dishes for a month. We’re test marketing your cookies! Remember?”

  “I want to go!” Josh cried. “Emilio’s coming.”

  Dad held out a huge platter of pancakes. “Breakfast is served!”

  “Dad, can you come to the park with us? Get your assistant to cover for you?”