Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

Author:Gary Paulsen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307536983
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2008-12-29T22:00:00+00:00

When I came to, there was a damp paper towel over my face.

“I'm sorry,” Arnold said. “I thought I eased into it but I guess the shock …”

I thought of a really important question.

“I …” I was still woozy. “I'm still not sure I heard you right. Did you say I now have over fifty thousand dollars?”

“Are you going to faint again?”

“No. I don't think so.”

“Then yes. You are now worth that.”

“Where is it?”

“In your account. Under my name, but in your special account.”

“Can I see it?”

“Of course. I have your account information on the computer.” He turned to his keyboard and tapped a few keys.

“No. The money. Can I see the money?”

He shook his head. “It's not like that. First you'd have to sell all your investments and get a check, then you'd have to take the check to the bank and cash it, and then, yes, you could see the money. And when you sell, you then owe taxes on your capital gains. At the end of the year, capital gains is what they call the profit you made from your initial investment.”

“Oh.” I didn't quite follow all that.

I thought.

“So I don't really have the money,” I said slowly. “I have a computer screen and numbers and stocks and things … but not the actual money.”

“That's right. That's how it works. You—or I, acting for you—will reinvest the money in safe stocks, which will give you what's called a diversified portfolio—so if one thing goes down another might go up—to cover you. But it's all there, and you can cash it in anytime you want. Except …”

“Except what?” I smelled a rat.

“Right now the money appears to be mine because legally you can't invest in the market because you're too young. You have to go through an adult. And I'm a little uncomfortable with this because first of all, I'm not your legal guardian, and second, since the money appears to be mine the government will want me to pay taxes on it and that shouldn't be my responsibility—to pay taxes on your money.”

“So what do we do?

“Soon, very soon, we talk to your parents and get them involved.”

Mom, I thought, Dad, I have something to tell you. I've been mowing lawns … I've been mowing a lot of lawns and I have fifty thousand …

Please pass the green beans and by the way I have fifty thousand …

Breakfast. Over toast.

Mom, Dad, you know how I've been mowing lawns every day? Well, guess what? I have—no, we have—something like fifty thousand … and change.

“There's something else.”

What on earth could it be? How could anything in the world top this? “What is it?”

“As I said, I put your money into this Walleye stock, but I should remind you not all your money. I thought it might be good to do some investing for fun.”

It isn't fun, I thought, to have over fifty thousand dollars?

“So there was this kind of fund for people interested in sports and I thought you might like to invest in that….

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