Lara Bergen: Sophie the Zillionaire

Sophie checked all the cabinets. And the drawers. And the fridge. But there was not even one chocolate chip!

“What do we do?” Sophie cried.

“Well … I guess we could put in something else,” Kate said. “Do you have any other kind of chips?”

Sophie shook her head. She did not.

She guessed she could use some of her money to buy more chocolate chips at the store. But she really did not want to.

One thing was for sure: When Sophie was a real zillionaire, she would always keep chocolate chips around. A whole cabinet full!

“I know! How about we put in gum?” Kate suggested.

Sophie shook her head again. “I don’t have any. And besides, you’d have to keep chewing the cookies forever then. That might be sort of gross.”

“We should have made Rice Krispies Treats, I guess,” Kate said.

Sophie started to sigh. But then she stopped. “Hey!”

“Hay is for —” Kate said. But Sophie held up her hand.

“Horses. I know,” Sophie said. She grinned. “But listen to this. We know Rice Krispies are good in treats. Do you think they’d be good in cookies?”

“Yes!” Kate’s eyes lit up.

They ran to the pantry and grabbed the cereal box. They dumped a few Rice Krispies into the dough. Then they dumped in a lot. Then they stirred and stirred until they couldn’t feel their arms anymore.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Kate asked.

“I think so,” said Sophie. “It’s oven time, Mom!”

While the cookies baked, Sophie fixed her sign. She crossed out CHOCKLIT CHIP and wrote RICE KRISPEE. And she added TOP SECRET RESSIPY across the top.

She tried to taste one cookie right out of the oven. It was so hot that it burned her tongue. Ouch!

She waited for another to cool. Kate did, too. Then they tried again. Yum! The Rice Krispies were good! Sophie missed the chocolate chips, but not as much as she thought she would.

They piled the cookies high on a plate.

“Ready to make some money?” Sophie asked.

“You bet!” Kate said.

Kate grabbed the plate, and Sophie grabbed the sign and an empty baby wipes box. That was for keeping the money they made in. She hoped it was big enough.

Their plan was to get the folding table from the garage. They would set it up on the sidewalk out front and sell and sell until every single delicious cookie was gone.

But before they got to the door, Sophie’s dad came in with Max. Sophie stopped and stared at them. They looked like they’d been swimming — in their clothes!

“It’s raining cats and dogs out there!” Sophie’s dad said. Then he shook his hair. A puddle was forming under him. Max jumped down and splashed around.

Sophie’s jaw fell. No, no, no! It could not rain! Not now! Not on her bake sale!

“No, no, no! It can’t rain! Not now! Not on my bake sale!” she cried.

“Sorry, Sophie,” her dad said. “I think that will have to wait now.”

He took off his coat. Then he sniffed. “Mmm, smells good!” He grinned. “Hey, can I have a cookie?”

“Hay is for horses. But yes,” Kate said. She held the plate out.

Sophie’s dad reached for it. But Sophie quickly stopped him. She held up her sign. “That will be five dollars, please!”

Her dad’s jaw fell open this time.

“Five dollars ? For one cookie? That seems like a lot,” he said.

Sophie shrugged. “It’s for a good cause, Dad,” she said.

“Really? What?” he asked.

Sophie raised her chin. “So I can be a zillionaire!”

“And so I can buy gum,” Kate added, smiling wide. She held out the cookie plate again.

Sophie waited for her dad to take out his wallet. But his wallet stayed in his pocket. “I might have to think about this,” he said, rubbing his chin.

But Max did not have to think. He just grabbed a cookie in each hand. Then he ran.

“Hey! That will be ten dollars!” Sophie yelled after him.

Sophie had really hoped to make a zillion dollars at her bake sale. Or at least another fifty. But that did not happen.

She and Kate still set up their bake sale table. But they set it up inside, in Sophie’s front hall.

And they waited. And waited. And waited.

Sophie had hoped the mailman, or a neighbor, or even her Aunt Maggie would stop by.

But then she remembered that it was Sunday. The mailman did not work. And Aunt Maggie went out to eat with the other old ladies at her church.

At least her dad bought one cookie. Finally. After she let him “test-drive” some.

Soon it was time for Kate to go home. Sophie counted up what they had: one five-dollar bill in the wipes box and two aches in their tummies. One for each of them.

Sophie wished they had sold more cookies. And eaten fewer.

“I guess there’s just one thing to do,” she told Kate. Then she stood up. “Going-out-of-business sale! Everything must go!” she yelled.

Sophie’s mom popped out of the kitchen. “I’ll give you ten dollars for the whole plate,” she said.

Kate held her stomach and nodded.

“Deal,” Sophie said.

That meant fifteen dollars total. Seven fifty for her, and seven fifty for Kate.

Kate was happy. She could buy lots of gum.

But Sophie was not. $69.30 plus her $5.00 allowance plus $7.50 equaled $81.80.

Sure, it was better. But it was still not enough to make Sophie a zillionaire!

By Monday morning, Sophie still had $81.80. (Her loose tooth had not fallen out yet. Sigh. )

Plus it was still raining. And her left rain boot was missing. But at least her stomachache was gone.

If only Sophie were richer than Mindy already. It was hard to wait to be special. She wanted to be special right now!

Sophie wondered if she was rich enough, at least, to buy a new pair of rain boots. Her sneakers were all squishy by the time she got to school.

In room 10, she hung up her raincoat. Lily had just hung up Mindy’s coat for her.

“How does Mindy get her to do all that stuff?” Kate whispered to Sophie. “You so couldn’t pay me to!”

I know , Sophie thought. Then, suddenly, she froze.

Hang on!

Getting paid to do things for people? She could do that! Why not?

Sophie looked at the other kids walking into the classroom. She thought about what Hayley had said about a little money adding up to a lot.

There were twenty-four kids in Sophie’s class. What if she could make a dollar from every one of them?

She did the math. (That was another thing about being rich that was fun.) If she added $24.00 to her $81.80, she’d have more than a hundred dollars. Way more!

But wait. She couldn’t count herself. Of course. And she couldn’t count Kate, either. So that was not as much. But it was still more than a hundred….

What am I waiting for? Sophie thought.

She ran up to Ben as he walked through the door. “Hi, Ben!” she said.

“Hi, Sophie,” Ben answered. He looked very happy to talk to her. And a little surprised, too.

“Can I hang up your coat for you?” Sophie asked.

“Uh, sure …,” Ben said. He looked even more surprised as he passed his coat over.

“Great!” Sophie took his drippy raincoat in one hand. “That will be one dollar,” she said, holding out her other hand.

Ben looked a lot surprised now. “A dollar? For what?”

“For hanging up your coat,” Sophie said. She smiled at him, really big.