Money Hungry by Sharon Flake

Author:Sharon Flake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction - Young Adult
Publisher: Disney Publishing Worldwide

The day before we’re supposed to go clean for Miss Neeta again, Miss Neeta calls me and says she made a mistake. She paid us too much money for cleaning her place. Losers weepers, I’m thinking. Then Miss Neeta starts talking about how she has to hold off on paying her gas bill, because her money is short. And how she can’t use her lights so she can save on electricity.

I want to say, “Dag, you act like you gave us a thousand dollars.” But Miss Neeta’s on a fixed income. Her money is tight. I hold my tongue. “How much you want back, Miss Neeta?” I ask, hoping she will just get off the phone.

“You girls did such a nice job,” she says. “You can keep ten, ten dollars each.”

Ten dollars for all that work. For lugging boxes, and sniffing dust, and almost breaking my neck on top of a ladder. Ain’t no way, lady, I say in my head. Then I tell her I’ll talk it over with Ja’nae.

When Ja’nae and I talk it through, I realize I never should have bothered mentioning it to her in the first place. Ja’nae tells her grandmother, who says we should clean Miss Neeta’s house out of the goodness of our hearts. No way. I don’t work for free. So, we give Miss Neeta fifteen dollars back and tell her we can’t clean for her no more.

Ja’nae’s grandmother says she knows somebody else looking to hire us. I tell Ja’nae I ain’t listening to her grandmother no more. But when she says the person owns an elderly care home, and don’t mind spending money, I straighten up. “We can give your grandmother one more chance, I guess,” I say, thinking about all the money we can make.

At school, Zora acts like she’s mad at me. She don’t invite me over to her house or nothing. I’m thinking it’s cause of my mom and her dad. I guess she don’t like what’s happening no more than I do.

For the next few days I stay clear of Zora. But going straight home to an empty place ain’t my thing. So today I go with Mai to her folks’ food truck. It’s parked a few blocks from school. That way, her parents get kids from our school, the college crowd, and the high schoolers two blocks away. Mai is embarrassed working on that food truck. She’s got to serve food to the same kids she sits next to in class all day. And she’s got to hear them make fun of her dad’s English, or her mother’s weight.

To make matters worse, kids is always loud mouthing her dad.

“This ain’t the right change,” Jo Jo Miller says to Mr. Kim.

Mr. Kim takes the money and counts it out for Jo Jo again. “Right,” he says. “Here is the quarter I owe you.”

“Y’all always trying to get over on us,” Jo Jo says, walking away.

Mai’s mother goes over to Mr. Kim. She rubs his back with her soft brown hands, and says something to him in Korean.

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