Pink Flamingoed by Steve Demaree Page A

thanks, Mrs. Henderson,” Kenny said,
excited that he had made some money and forgetting for a moment that it was
only one half of the twenty dollars he planned to charge.
    Brad had gotten up early and had already shoveled his
walk and Amy’s walk, so Kenny missed out on the next two houses. Kenny figured
that both of them would have paid him well. That meant Kenny’s next try would
be at the Conklin’s. Too bad for Kenny that Harry was taking a computer break
and answered the door.
    “Hi, Mr. Conklin. Would you like your walk shoveled?”
    “Do you do it for free?” Harry asked.
    “No, Harry, he’s doing it to make money. Let him
shovel the walk,” Ethel said, as she sat in the living room reading.
    “How much do you charge, Kenny? We don’t have much
money.”
    “My dad says I’m to charge whatever the people are
willing to pay,” Kenny said.
    “Wise man, your father. Okay, you can do it. You’re
going to do the driveway, too, aren’t you?”
    Kenny had not thought about shoveling driveways, but
taken off guard, he said, “Uh, yes sir.”
    Kenny started to shovel the Conklin’s walk and driveway.
The snow was so heavy it took Kenny an hour to finish. Not only did it give him
a chance to develop character and muscles, but it gave him time to think of an
easier way to make money. Kenny finished and headed to collect his money.
    “Here’s two dollars for you, Kenny.”
    Kenny remembered what his dad said about the family
name and tried his best to appear pleased to receive the skinflint’s two
dollars. He thanked Mr. Conklin and left. As Kenny  headed  to  the  next 
house, he  noticed Mrs. Conklin waving frantically from the side door. She
motioned for Kenny to come to her.
    “How much did he pay you, Kenny?”
    “Two dollars, Mrs. Conklin.”
    “That’s what I was afraid of. Here’s five more.
This’ll be our secret. Mr. Conklin doesn’t need to know a thing about this.”
    Kenny swore a vow of silence and hurried to Melanie’s
house. After all, his house could wait and there was no way he was going to the
wicked witch’s house.
    Late that afternoon Kenny dragged the snow shovel back
into the garage and trudged into the house.
    “Oh, hi, Son,” his dad said. “How did you do today?”
    “I made $37.50 and I’m going to bed.”
    “But Mom will have dinner ready soon.”
    “I’ll eat mine tomorrow afternoon when I get up.”
    “But Son, it’s supposed to snow again tonight. Look at
all the money you can earn tomorrow. You could be rich before the week is
over.”
    “I could be dead before the week is over. Tell Mallory
she can have all my customers.”
     
    +++
     
    Harry checked his e-mail every day hoping he had
received another message from Rachel. He enjoyed receiving e-mail so much that
he got more excited when he received an e-mail from his daughter than he did
when she phoned. Ethel, on the other hand, looked forward to hearing her
daughter’s voice, and, true to her word, Rachel stayed in touch with her parents
more often.
    One morning, Harry became excited, because not only
did he hear from Rachel, but he got an e-mail from Scott, otherwise known as
[email protected].
    Harry read the message and then looked at all of the
other e-mail addresses at the top. He figured all of them must be someone else
in the church, but since Harry was the first one to sign the paper, he had no
idea what anyone else’s e-mail address was except for Frank and Cora.
    Harry looked over the list. He knew that redbuick
@mailbox.com had to be Barney and he thought that [email protected] was
probably Brad, but Harry was not sure of any of the others.
    Then Harry got an idea. If the pastor can e-mail
everyone, why can’t I? Harry thought, so he fired off a message to each of
the people on the list. Do you go to The Church on Aylesford Place?” the
e-mail read. “If so, I’m Harry. Who are you?
    Harry took an hour break to watch The Price Is
Right , where he got an idea. He googled