Alec stared at the five coins in his hand.
The first money he and Abby had earned.
He looked at them as if they were gold.
It had been a month since they moved into the room above the garment shop.
Their small family had settled in, and their mom worked tirelessly every day without complaint.
Ever since Alec found the request slip, he’d been thinking about how to earn money.
He was six.
No one would hire him.
And he didn’t want to get in trouble by getting mixed up with suspicious people.
He kept the paper folded under his clothes.
His mother couldn’t find out that they knew about the surgery.
At night, when she and Abby were asleep, he would crawl out of bed to read it.
The number remained unchanged.
He knew it was huge, and it might take them a very long time to earn that amount.
But Alec was six, and he didn’t know the word “impossible” yet.
He believed that as long as there was a way, they could earn the money.
He knew ‘hard’.
He knew ‘scary’.
But he didn’t know about ‘failure’.
Then one day, he found George cleaning at the back of the shop.
The old man was throwing away strips of fabric.
Alec asked if he could have them.
George looked at him, amused, then shrugged.
“Take whatever you want.
It’s trash to me.
Just don’t leave a mess.”
Alec thanked him.
He carried the scraps up to their room and sorted them by color.
Blues with blues.
Reds with reds.
He was still sorting when Abby found him on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
Alec looked at her.
“I think I found a way to raise money, Abby.”
Abby’s face lit up.
She hurriedly joined her brother on the floor.
“What is it?”
“Sir George said he didn’t need these scraps anymore.
I’m thinking of making small coin purses and hair ties with these.
Mom taught me how to stitch before.”
“Then can I help with cutting the cloth?” Abby asked, then raised her right hand.
“I promise to be careful with scissors!”
Alec hesitated, but gave in.
All their lives, they lived with scissors nearby, and they got the hang of it.
Their mother was exceptionally good with scissors and blades.
She knew how to keep them sharp, and she taught them how to hold them properly.
“Okay.” He nodded.
“You do the cutting, I’ll do the stitches.
If Mom catches us, we’re practicing.
I’ll hide whatever we finish somewhere she won’t see.”
Together, they worked until they had enough to sell.
Alec stitched the fabric the way their mother taught them.
The double-looped rose stitch.
A tight little knot that turned a seam into something pretty.
His hands were small.
His stitches came out crooked at first.
But he practiced every day until they were straight and neat.
The purses they made were as big as their palms.
Big enough to hold coins and a few candies.
The hair ties Abby made were small but pretty.
She tied a sample in her hair and asked Laura for an opinion.
The old woman said it was stunning, and Abby smiled, satisfied with her work.
That happened two weeks ago.
Now, Alec and Abby were at the market plaza, where vendors set up their own stalls and tables to sell fruit, clothes, and anything else.
By midmorning, the place was loud and crowded.
They found a spot and spread their blanket on the ground.
Purses on one side.
Hair ties on the other.
Then they waited.
No one stopped for an hour.
Abby fidgeted as she sat on the curb next to her twin brother.
Alec couldn’t stay still.
He called out for customers, but none came to look.
He only stopped when he heard Abby’s stomach growling.
“Alec, I’m hungry,” she told her brother.
They had breakfast before leaving, and Alec left a note on her table saying he and Abby would go to the playground and be back soon.
Alec considered their choices.
He couldn’t let his sister stay hungry, but they had already been waiting almost two hours, and they still hadn’t sold anything.
A woman with a young girl stopped at their blanket.
“Hello, ma’am.
Is there something you like?”
The young girl beside the woman tugged on her mother’s skirt and pointed at the pink ribbon ties.
“Mom, can we buy those?” she asked.
Her mother smiled and nodded.
She then glanced at the other purses spread out in front of them.
She bent down and pointed to a coin purse that matched the pink ribbon her daughter wanted.
“How much?” she asked.
Alec did not know what to charge.
He said the first number that came to mind.
“Five coins.”
The woman took a few coins from her pocket and handed them to Alec.
Abby packed the pink ribbons and coin purse into a paper bag they had made the night before.
The woman peeked at the bag and smiled.
“They are pretty,” she said.
“Did you make these?”
“We did!” Alec replied.
The woman nodded and walked away with her daughter.
Abby watched them go with a wide smile on her face.
She tugged Alec’s sleeve as she stared at the coins in her brother’s hand.
“Alec, we made a sale!
She liked them!”
“I know.”
Alec put the coins in his pocket.
They felt warm against his leg.
He smiled.
It was a good start.
By the end of that first morning, they sold three hair ties and five coin purses.
Twenty-one coins total.
Alec counted them twice before putting them into an old milk can he had found behind the shop.
They went back to sell at the market plaza the next day.
And the day after.
And every day that week.
They told their mother they were just playing every morning.
Sarah believed them—or wanted to.
She worked twelve hours a day mending clothes.
She didn’t have time to check.
They always came back before lunch, took a long bath, and helped her at the shop.
By the end of her first month, customers were recommending her.
Her stitches were clean.
The modified coats fit perfectly.
Clothes they thought were beyond repair came back looking new.
The veiled woman at the garment shop on Arlington Drive had become popular.
George was pleased.
He decided the tips would go to Sarah.
Sarah thanked him.
The tips alone were more than enough to cover her medicine expenses.
Meanwhile, the milk can Alec and Abby had been hiding had gotten heavier.
Twenty-one coins, then thirty, then fifty.
It was nowhere near the number their mother needed, but they were happy.