Youthful Optimism

I ran into a former student and one of his buddies while walking the dog the other day. I spotted the duo from afar; they were climbing the steps to a porch and knocking on the door. I watched as they spoke to whoever answered and saw their shoulders slump slightly as they retraced their steps and started down the sidewalk towards me, pulling a heavy wagon behind them. I waved as they approached, and they greeted me with huge smiles.

"Whatcha up to?" I asked, pointing at the wagon, which I could now see was loaded with a hose, buckets, sponges, and rags.

"We're trying to do car washes to earn some money," my student told me.

"To buy pit bikes," his friend added.

"That's very enterprising!" I said. "How much are you charging?"

"Twenty-five," they told me together.

"How much are the bikes?" I asked.

"A thousand twenty-five," the other kid said, and my student sighed.

"Each?" I clarified, and when they nodded, my eyes grew wide. "That's 82 car washes!" I tried not to sound too discouraging, but it seemed pretty daunting to me. "How many have you done?"

"None," he reported.

"But we just started," his friend shrugged confidently.

"Well," I said, "I better let you get back to it. Good luck!"

"Thanks!" they replied and rolled their wagon on down the hill.