Lara Bergen: Sophie the Zillionaire

“No,” Sophie said. She did not.

“About one in a zillion,” her mom said.

“You know, a zillion is not a real number,” Hayley chimed in.

Sophie rolled her eyes. “All I know is that you have to play to win,” she said.

Sophie’s mom reached over to Max. She pulled a noodle out of his nose. Then she turned back to Sophie. “What gave you that idea?” she asked.

Sophie shrugged. She pointed to her dad.

His mouth was full. So he made a “who, me?” face. Then he swallowed.

“Who, me?” he said.

“Yes, you. You always say that when we win the lottery, we’ll buy a new TV. Or a new car. And every time Mom says, ‘In your dreams,’ you say, ‘You have to play to win!’” Sophie said.

“No, I do not,” said her dad.

Hayley nodded. “Yes, you do,” she told him.

Now Sophie’s mom rolled her eyes. “That’s just the way Daddy talks. We both know that the lottery is a much better way to lose money than to make it, right?” She looked at him.

“Um, yes,” he said.

But he didn’t sound like he meant it. Not to Sophie, anyway.

Sophie’s mom turned back to her. “Do you know what the best way to get money is?” she asked.

Sophie could think of only one other way. “Find it?”

Her mom sighed. “No. Earn it.”

Earn it? Hmm. That sounded more like the hard way than the best way to Sophie.

“Maybe it’s time to start giving you an allowance, like Hayley,” Sophie’s mom went on. “That means you have to do chores around the house, of course.”

“Okay,” Sophie said.

“You could help do the dishes,” Sophie’s mom continued. “And take out the trash. Or — oh!” She looked down at the pile of noodles under Max’s chair. “You could clean up after Max!”

Sophie looked down, too. Yuck! “How much would you pay me?” she asked.

“Let’s see. How about four dollars a week?” her mom said.

Four dollars? A week?

“That’s it ?” Sophie frowned.

Just then, Max tossed his dish onto the floor. Sophie’s mom looked down at the mess.

She turned back to Sophie. “Okay. Five dollars,” she said.

Sophie nodded. It was better than nothing, she guessed. But five dollars a week was not going to make her a zillionaire fast. She still needed to make more money some other way, too.

She tried to think of how … but the idea did not come to her right then.

And it did not come while she was scooping Max’s dinner into a dustpan, either. Gross!

(What came to her then was this: When Sophie was a zillionaire, the first thing she would do was pay someone else to clean up after Max!)

But the idea did come to her later, when her mom put out dessert: cupcakes from a bake sale at the high school where Sophie’s dad had fixed computers that day.

“The seniors were raising money to help pay for a trip to New York City,” her dad said.

Right away, Sophie was paying attention.

“How much did they make?” she asked. She tried to sound casual.

Her dad shrugged. “I don’t know…. A lot.”

A lot? That was how much Sophie needed. Exactly!

That was it — she would have a bake sale!

The next day was Saturday. That was a great day for a bake sale!

Except that it wasn’t. Because that was the day Sophie and her friends were going to Mrs. Belle’s daughter’s horse farm. Of course!

Mrs. Belle was Kate’s babysitter. She had her own kids, but they were grown up. And now one of them had a horse farm. With real, live horses. To ride on!

Kate was allowed to bring her five best friends: Sophie and Eve and Mia and Sydney and Grace. They were going to ride horses. Sophie was sorry they could not sleep over. That had been the plan. But that plan had changed when Kate asked to invite more friends. Still! They were riding horses. And Sophie could hardly wait!

Sophie’s dad dropped her off at the farm in the morning. Right away, she saw Kate standing with a grown-up outside the barn. Both of them waved as Sophie walked up.

“This is my friend Sophie,” Kate said.

“Hey, there! I’m Mrs. Belle’s daughter, Tallulah. Welcome to Blue-Belle Farms,” said the grown-up.

Sophie stared. Mrs. Belle’s daughter did not look like Mrs. Belle. At all.

Mrs. Belle had very short, very blond hair. It was also very curly.

Tallulah had a thick ponytail. Her hair was long and brown and straight.

Mrs. Belle wore very pink lipstick. And very tight pantsuits. Most times they were very bright.

Tallulah did not have on lipstick. She had on jeans. They were torn and loose and very light.

Sophie would never have thought that they were related. She did not say this, though.

What she did say was “Nice to meet you. I’m Sophie the Z —”

But she did not get to finish. By then, Tallulah had turned around.

“Come check out the barn!” Tallulah called over her shoulder.

“Come on, Sophie the Zillionaire!” said Kate.

Sophie grinned. Together, they followed Tallulah into the big barn.

Grace and Sydney were waiting inside. Sophie was not surprised. She was never the first — or the last — to get anywhere. But maybe she would be when she was a zillionaire. Instead of her dad, a chauffeur could drive her. And she could buy a car that was long … and very fast.

But she would worry about that later. Right now, she had horses to ride!

She was happy when Eve and Mia walked in.

“Hey! Everyone’s here. Can we see the horses now?” Sophie asked.

“Hay is for horses.” Tallulah laughed. “But you bet we can!”

She led them to a row of stalls. Sophie grinned and held her breath. She grinned because she was excited. She held her breath because of the smell.

She sure hoped they were going to ride outside. It was kind of stinky in there.

Then, all of a sudden, Sophie’s heart knocked her breath loose. She forgot about the smell.

A long black face poked through a stall door. It was looking right at her!

“This is Prince,” said Tallulah. She reached up and rubbed the horse’s nose.

Prince! That was perfect. What a great name for a zillionaire’s horse, Sophie thought.

She waved her hand. “Can I ride him?” she asked.

Tallulah patted his neck. It looked strong and smooth. “Have you ridden before?” she asked Sophie.

Sophie shook her head. “But it is my lifelong dream!” she said.

Tallulah smiled. “Mine, too. But Prince here is a handful. I have some ponies who would be much better for you,” she said.

Ponies? Sophie was not sure she liked the sound of that. Her dream was to ride big beautiful horses. Not little ponies.

Then Tallulah turned to the other girls. “Has anyone ridden before?” she asked.

Sophie looked around. She really hoped not! Sophie the Zillionaire should not be riding a little pony when everyone else had a big horse.

Luckily, the girls all said no.

Phew.

Tallulah led them to another row of stalls. Over the doors, Sophie saw signs with the horses’ names painted on them.

There were Sinbad … and Ringo … and Joker … and Daisy … and Penny … and Duchess …

Duchess! That would work! A duchess was kind of like a prince — or a princess. Sophie was pretty sure, anyway.

She almost said, “I’ll take that one!”

Only, before she could, Mrs. Belle’s daughter gave Duchess to Grace!

“Here, Sophie. You take Penny,” Tallulah said. “She’ll be perfect for you.”