Attention All Parents! At one time or another your children have done something, or said something that makes you smile. Other times, they do something or say something that makes you angry. There are times when they do something or say something that makes you cry. And once in awhile they do something or say something that just makes you laugh.
I realized that although I am often smiling at the things Lilly does, there aren’t a lot of things that out right make me laugh. Possibly that has something to do with my own personality. There are only a few movies or tv shows that make me laugh out loud. When it happens to me, it seems to be almost overwhelming. My body just doesn’t know how to react to that level of humor.
The holidays are over and I was all set to tell a couple of different stories that are more specific to the season, but for some reason I just couldn’t get this story out of my head. So the other stories will just have to wait until the next time I sit down to write.
In early October Lilly and I were shopping at Lowes. They practically know her by name when we go there. We were looking for some fall flowers and a couple of mums for the porch. While walking through the garden center, Lilly had spotted a pre-packaged collection of gourds and mini pumpkins. It also included the corn ears, a small scarecrow and stack of hay. All the things one would need to make a fall center piece. Lilly was obsessed with it. I wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do with it, but for $12.00, I felt that it was worth the investment.
Upon returning home, Lilly had the package open and was playing with them before I could get the mums out of the car. While I went to work in the back yard, Lilly was set up in the garage. Soon after, her friend joined her in the garage. And soon after that, two little girls were standing on the deck next to me with enthusiasm and excitement. “Daddy, we want to set up a store. Can we sell the pumpkins on the corner?”
The corner she is referring to is just across the street on our caldesac. It is filled with opportunity but not so much with success. It was the spot of the unsuccessful lemonade stand, the disappointing effort to sell individual cookies right out of the package and the equally depressing results of the plastic flower sale. How could a Dad say no to this new venture? Just like Sue Heck from the TV Show “The Middle”, Lilly is high on energy, low on results, but happy just the same. So off they went.
I didn’t have to walk out front to see the set up. It is the same every time. A small pink folding table from her friends garage, two chairs to go with it. A basket on the table with the sellable merchandise. A toy cash register from the play room. And two little girls jumping and waving to every car that passes by, of which there are few. And just like every other time, after about an hour, two little girls came back up on the deck just about in tears.
“Daddy, no one is buying our pumpkins.” She sadly tells me.
“They’re not?” I ask back. “How much are you selling them for?”
“They’re FREE!” She tells me, her face red from the tears.
“Well, do you have a sign that says they are free?”
“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Her smile returns and her friend smiles too. The two of them run off, a new bounce in their step, a new enthusiasm and excitement. I can hear them talking out the plan as they head out of the backyard. One will get the paper, the other will get the markers.
I start to think to myself about the free pumpkin sale going on in the front yard. Two little girls so eager for success that they scrapped the financial model and jumped right into the free goods market. An age where success is not measured by dollars, but by customers. One customer that isn’t related to the store owners is all they need. And it wouldn’t be long until they get one, actually, it would be two.
A short time goes by and then I heard the scream. Two screams. Three screams. I stop what I’m doing and start to run to the front yard. Now I’m hearing sobs and crying. I get to the street corner where her friends Dad and I meet up with the two crying girls. Soaked in tears.
“Are you okay? What happened?” We both are spitting out the same questions.
Lilly gets herself together first and begins to talk. “Well, you see we have our store, and then we made our sign for free pumpkins and well, Peyton and his friend came over and asked us if they could buy some, so we told them that they were free.”
Looking over her shoulder, I could see the home made sign on the table: FREE PUMKINS. Peyton lives across the street. He is in second grade, a year older than Lilly. We never really see him, he seems nice enough.
Lilly continued on. “The boys said that if they were free, they would buy them all, so we put them in two bags for them and then they took them out of the bag and started to smash them on the street! We screamed at them to stop, but they smashed all of our pumpkins, ALL OF THEM DADDY!”
I started to laugh.
“It’s not funny Daddy. I just don’t like that Peyton! He is mean!”
I looked at my neighbor while he was turning to hide his smile. I laughed some more. And then I couldn’t stop laughing. Lilly was getting more angry by the minute and I just couldn’t get it together. Each time I thought I was done laughing, I just pictured the two little boys doing what little boys do. Free pumpkins? Great, we will buy all of them. The two girls so happy. One putting the pumpkins in the bag while the other one rings up the free sale on the cash register. I laughed some more.
“Daddy!” She was yelling for my attention. “They were supposed to give them back. That’s what it means when they are free.”
I tried to explain to the girls that once they sold them, the boys were free to do what they wanted with them, but it was definitely not soaking in. I laughed to myself the entire time we cleaned up the mess.
Three Weeks Later
Lilly was again out playing in the front yard and on this day, there were no friends around. There are several that come out to play on any given day, but this Saturday morning, no one was out but Lilly. She entertained her self, asking me frequently when someone was going to come out to play with her. I had no answer.
Shortly after, while Lilly was zipping around on her bike, out popped Peyton and his friend. We hadn’t seen them since the great Pumpkin Smashing Incident. I heard her yell to them. “Peyton. Peyton! Peyton!!!! Do you want to play?” She was over to him quickly, desperate to find someone to play with. Next I knew, the three of them were playing together, running around, some game of chase or exploring the yards.
I continued about my business while they played. An hour or more passed by when Lilly came back up to me. “Daddy, Peyton and Me are playing. I like playing with him.”
“You do?” I challenged her. “I thought you didn’t like him?”
“I do.” She said so matter of fact. “I like him. He’s nice to me. We’re friends now.”
And just like that, she went off again to play. After another 30 minutes or so passed by when I heard Lilly talking again. I looked up to see Lilly out near our mailbox and further off in the distance, two boys running around.
“Peyton?” She called out across the way. “Peyton? Where are you going?” She started to run toward them. “Where are you going? Come back?” She kept running toward them. And then I heard her call out ever louder. “Peyton? Come back! I love you Peyton!”
I’m not sure I have ever heard this boy speak until this moment. He looked at Lilly. He looked at his friend. And then rose his voice and spoke. “Oh boy! We are outta here!”
And off they ran.
Lilly ran after them, but they crossed the street where she is not allowed to go. She watched them disappear and then came back to the garage. “Daddy?” I looked at her. “Peyton and I are friends now.”