i have come back from the dead and bring you this short story about a feisty six year old business woman. enjoy.
"Where were you last night?" Poppy whispered to her pink clipboard as she tugged it out from behind her bed where it had fallen. She tucked it into her Monsters Inc. backpack, along with the sparkly green pen that Aunt Julie gave her on her birthday. She slipped it onto her shoulders and flicked off her light switch before hopping through the house in her red rain boots. The sugar from the Froot Loops she ate for breakfast was kicking in, so she knew it would be a great day. On her way out the door she kissed her mother on the cheek and patted Susie the Mastiff on the head, her hands appearing more tiny than usual when compared with Susie's head. Climbing into the car, her neighbor's shih tzu, Carl, came sprinting to the fence, yapping as loudly as possible.
"Susie would eat you for lunch Carl," Poppy teased, as she struggled to climb into her father's truck. In her opinion, trucks were way too big and whoever designed them needed to think about the fun-sized kids who dangled half-in and half-out of the door, waiting for assistance. Even though Poppy was small, she was an independent woman who could get into the truck on her own with a few grunts and hops. She flopped into the seat, out of breath, just as her father walked outside.
"Penelope, it wouldn't be so hard if you'd just take your backpack off before you climb up there," he chuckled, buckling her into the polka-dotted booster seat.
Her parents called her Penelope, but her most favorite Aunt Julie called her Poppy, so that's what she preferred. Her mother and father said Aunt Julie needed to "respect their parenting decisions," but Poppy thought they should respect Aunt Julie's superior opinions.
On the way to school Poppy swung her feet back and forth as she unzipped her backpack to peek at her clipboard. Safe and sound. It was her most prized possession, now that she was a boss. Even though Poppy was only six and a half, she was still a savvy and accomplished business owner. During recess, she wrote down the questions of her clients, who also happened to be her classmates. When Aunt Julie picked her up after school, she and Poppy would work through the questions and decide on the best answers. For the cheap price of 15¢ per question, Poppy would give them their advice the following day.
Her best friend, Olive, helped her with the business by looking out for their evil teacher, Mr. Anderson. He told the class at the beginning for the year that students could not take anything outside for recess and were forbidden to exchange money in any fashion. Mr. Anderson was no fun. Poppy wondered at least three times a day if he had any friends. She would definitely not want to be his friend. The only books he ever read didn't even have pictures in them. It was just words and boringness.
Olive was waiting for Poppy in the coat closet when she arrived at school ten minutes later. Olive was much quieter than Poppy, but it worked out beautifully. When people wanted to talk to Olive, Poppy steered them away from her friend and into a lively chat with her instead. She loved redirecting people for Olive. It made her feel in charge, and relieved Olive from having to carry on a conversation.
Poppy attempted and failed to catch the packaged lined paper that Olive tossed to her. They had to restock for the clipboard. Business was booming because everyone needed advice about what fall sports to do and what kind of sweets to bring in for birthday parties. Poppy was a very busy boss and Olive made her job so much easier by being her assistant.
"Olive?" Poppy started, bouncing on her toes. The Froot Loops had definitely kicked in.
"Yeah, Poppy?"
"Do you think we should design some business cards to give our clients when they ask questions? My Aunt Julie has a big stack of business cards for her bakery on her counter. I could make ours look like those," Poppy said. Aunt Julie's business cards were for her bakery, and had sprinkles drawn on them. Poppy loved sprinkles.
