Baby For Sale

by Betty Jo Schuler

BABY BOY FOR TEN CENTS

Baby for Sale. That's what the sign on the lamppost in front of the Bailey house said. Eight-year-old Alex read it aloud to his brother Max and his friend Jeffie Green. "Baby for sale."

"Whose baby is it?" Max asked.

"How much do they want for it?" Jeffie squinted at the sign. He'd started first grade and could read a little. He pointed to a word. "That says ten. Do they want ten dollars?"

Alex answered Max's question first. "It doesn't say whose baby it is." He answered Jeffie's question second. "The sign says they'll sell it for ten cents."

"Ten cents isn't much to charge," Jeffie said. "It must not be a good baby. My mom says if something is priced too cheap, it's not worth anything."

"Is the baby a girl or boy?" Max asked. "I'd like to have a little brother and I have a dime. That's ten cents. If it's my buddy Mark, I'm going to buy him."

"The sign says the baby's a boy. But it can't be Mark. He's four-years-old. Almost as old as you," Alex said.

"Mark is a little-little kid. I'm a big-little," Max said. Max was five and the youngest kid allowed to roam the block. He was proud of that.

"Skylar Van Hart isn't even one yet," Jeffie Green said. "I'll bet Mr. Van Hart is going to sell him so he can go back to work."

Mr. Van Hart quit to care for their baby while Mrs. Van Hart worked. But even when people teased and called him Mr. Van-Mom, he didn't mind. "He'd never sell Skylar," Alex said. "He's crazy about him. And it's not the Collins, that's for sure. They just adopted Kaitlin."

"Then who is selling their baby?" Jeffie asked.

George Maxel came down his driveway and read the sign. "That's easy. What other family has a baby? And what girl hates her little brother?"

"Megan Whitney!" Alex said, slapping his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"She's jealous of Jon," Jeffie said, nodding. "My two sisters baby-sit there and they told me."

"I wouldn't be jealous of Jon. I like the way his nose turns up. And I like his bald head. I'm going to ask Mommy if I can buy him." Max Bailey ran up the walk, into the cream-colored house with burgundy shutters.