When the doorbell rang, I just figured it was a package. My mom’s been having insomnia lately, and when she can’t sleep, she orders some seriously weird stuff online. It’s kind of entertaining to see what she buys!
But it wasn’t a delivery. It was a Girl Scout. She had a wagon full of cookie boxes at her side.
“Would you like to buy some cookies?” she said. She wasn’t much bigger than Brianna—maybe eight. Her mom was untangling herself from a giant dog’s leash on the sidewalk. She gave me a little wave.
“Oh, hi!” I gave her a big smile. “You know, those cookies look great! But…I don’t have any cash.”
Her chin wobbled. “They’re only $5 a box.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s a great price! It’s just that I really don’t have any money on me right now…”
I mean, okay, maybe that was a bit of a fib. I had some cash in my bedroom, but that was my own money, and I didn’t really feel like spending it on cookies.
“But I haven’t sold any,” she whispered, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
I looked at her mom for help, but now she was getting out a plastic bag to deal with her dog’s poop.
“Wait a minute!” That’s when I remembered that my mom keeps a stash of cash in this jar on the counter. There’s always a wad of cash in it for tipping pizza delivery people. Or in this case, emergency Girl Scout cookies, I guess. “I do have cash! Stay right there!”
I ran to the kitchen, dug into the jar and pulled out the wad of cash. I raced back to the door, where the girl wasn’t crying anymore, but her chin WAS still wobbling. I don’t know why I didn’t just buy a box or two like a normal person. I panicked, okay?! I shoved all the money at her.
She counted it with wide eyes, then she turned and hollered at her mom, “How many boxes is fifty dollars?”
“Ten boxes!” her mom called with a little cheer. “That’s my little saleswoman!”
What was I going to do then? Say, “Never mind, I only want one”? So I picked out what kind I wanted and she walked away with a much lighter wagon.
Ten boxes of cookies! I considered hiding them somewhere so my mom wouldn’t know what I’d done. But she’d notice the money was missing, and probably think I spent it on something selfish. At least this was for a good cause! It just happened to come with a delicious pay-off!
So I arranged the boxes on the counter and waited.
When Mom got home and saw the boxes, she looked confused at first. And then she started laughing. She laughed so hard, she cried!
“Mom?” I said. “Are you okay? Would a thin mint help? Because I’ve got plenty!”
She reached into the grocery bags she was carrying and pulled out…Girl Scout cookies! She had six boxes!!
“There were girls selling them at a booth outside the grocery store!” she chuckled. “I couldn’t say no!”
“Yeah…me either.” I grinned sheepishly.
That’s when my dad got home. The first words out of his mouth were, “Okay, I can explain. Just hear me out.”
That’s when Mom and I turned and saw what HE was carrying – an armful of Girl Scout cookie boxes!!
He’d been working on a house with a pest problem, and he told them he was going to need to exterminate their whole house, which meant they had to move out for a few days. And the little girl who lives in the house was really upset, and he saw her Girl Scout sash right there on the kitchen table, and to distract her, he started asking about it and one thing led to another…
He’d bought six boxes. Which meant that between us, we had 22 boxes of Girl Scout cookies!!!
So like, I maybe could have been a little cooler under pressure. But I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t resist the lure of the Girl Scout cookie! 🙂
