OMG! The Cuteness!
A knock came at the back door yesterday. I wasn't expecting company so I was surprised to see two faces peering through the window into the kitchen.
A couple of extremely polite eighth graders from the nearby public school. One of them was holding a rake.
"Hello. Would you like us to rake your yard?"
You see, I've meant to rake the leaves in the yard. I really, really have. My neighbor across the street is an enthusiastic leaf raker and his front lawn is cleaner than my kitchen floor. He rakes it every day. It's intimidating. (He is also in his seventies and he jogs every day. Not a slow loping gait, but a brisk run. I am now just accepting that, compared to my across-the-street neighbor, I am a crazy slacker.) Anyway. The point is that if you drive down my street and look at each house in turn, you might be saying to yourself, "Raked lawn, neat lawn, nicely cleaned up lawn, raked lawn, WHOA! Who lives in THIS hovel?"
The hovel? That would be mine.
I ask them how much it would be. They get shy and stammer. "Ten? Um, five?" I can tell that I am perhaps the first person to take them up on their offer and they really didn't expect me to say yes. I look out at my yard, my yard which is piled high with mounds of unraked leaves. "How about twenty for the front and back yard, if you can bag them up for me too?"
When two nice, eager young men appear magically on my doorstep with their OWN RAKE, who am I to stand between them and a twenty dollar bill?
Jimmy and Ayoub are adorable. They leap down the steps two at a time to attack the lawn. I can hear them coaching each other by the garage. "Hey, man. You need to get ALL of those leaves off of their sidewalk." "Hurry up! I'm gonna need the rake in the front."
Thirty minutes later, they march back up the steps. I survey the yard thoughtfully. "Hmmmm...."
Jimmy pipes up without prompting, "Maybe I should clean up that corner there some more?"
I nod. "Okay, great. That would be great. And then you're done. Looks really professional, guys."
Five more minutes, they're back again and I hand them a twenty. I am going to ask them what they have planned for the money. What special treat are they saving up for? But they answer my question before I can open my mouth.
"We're raising money for our basketball team. We're going to get some real jerseys!" Their excitement is obvious.
Man. Now I'm wishing that I had hundreds more leaves and a stack of twenties for these amazing, great city kids with their rake and their enthusiasm. I tell them that I hope they have a great basketball season. They offer to take the bags of leaves to the alley behind the garage for me.
I look out over the back yard, the dry, brown daylily stalks leaning against the chipping paint of the garage wall. And I'm really happy that I didn't get around to cleaning up the yard last Sunday.
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Comments
Okay, you had me at the cute part. Kids doing honest work for pocket money. How old timey, like 1979 old timey when I was a kid and the nearest video game was a mile away at the 7-Eleven (and it needed to be fed quarters). But they want to buy jerseys for their basketball team - and they didn't even tell you beforehand? That blows me away! I wish my neighborhood was filled with such kids. Somebody - a parent or coach - is feeding those kids the right ideas. That's awesome.
Posted by: davidLBC | November 15, 2006 11:08 AM
Is it weird that this blog entry brought tears to my eyes? People are always saying negative things about city kids or kids who get a public school education and here these wonderful kids pop up on your doorstep. I love stories like this.
Posted by: Mei | November 15, 2006 12:02 PM
OMG, I have been wishing for a knock on my door just like that. Because, I too have "that" house....the one with all of the leaves. I also have "that" neighbor....the one that is out at the crack of dawn raking the leaves as they fall from the trees.
Posted by: Stuccohouse | November 15, 2006 1:48 PM
Sigh...I miss Chicago. It's kids like that and people like you who make the neighborhoods such nifty places.
Posted by: tully monster | November 15, 2006 3:52 PM
What a sweet story. My yard in Marrakesh doesn't have any leaves some how....it's all fruit trees and olive trees. hmmmm....come to think of it, that's kind of odd. (Is somebody coming in the middle of the night and raking...?)
Posted by: Maryam in Marrakesh | November 15, 2006 10:21 PM
I wish I lived down the street and I'd have you send them to our yard next. How wonderful. I absolutely love it when teenagers surprise you with doing exactly the opposite of what the stereotypes about them are.
Posted by: Trissa | November 15, 2006 10:32 PM
Man, I wish I lived on your street! (Then we could compete for Hovel of the Year.) My husband has leaf mold allergies, so he's off the hook for raking/blowing duties and I've been so exhausted/nauseated that I have just not gotten out there. Luckily my in-laws were in town for Miss P's birthday party and they spent about 2-3 hours cleaning up our yard. It still could use a final go-round, but frankly, if the snow falls before I get to it, so be it.
Posted by: pink | November 16, 2006 8:01 AM
we live in a fairly urban neighborhood, and we have this same experience a few times a year---if not with leaves, then with snow. usually, it's kids, and i always hire them, but one night, we had a young adult man knock on our door in the middle of a party, because he saw the lights on and all the people through the windows. he gave me a long story about needing money to buy diapers for his baby, etc. i told him that i didn't feel comfortable handing him cash, but if he came back in the daytime and shoveled the drive, i'd happily give him $20. i was amazed that he returned the next day, with his own shovel, and got right to work. he did a very nice job. i gave him 20 bucks, a coke, and a tip. i never saw him again around the neighborhood.
Posted by: mary | November 16, 2006 8:48 AM
Very cool. Like the other commentors, I'd love to have some kids come up to my door willing to work for some pocket money. Unfortunately, the kids in my area seem either too young to do it or old enough to have part-time jobs and not be interested in helping me out. Ah well.
Posted by: Mark | November 17, 2006 10:19 PM