Lunch Money

On Saturday, Maura arrives just after two p.m. She has lettered Greg’s inked pages and done more sketches. They go downstairs and, without a word, continue their work. By the time Maura leaves at five p.m. for a family dinner, she has finished the last three sketches, and Greg has inked five more of them. That evening, Greg inks four more pages. 

Maura returns on Sunday and finishes the last of the lettering. They trim each page, and Greg shows her how to glue-stick them onto two master sheets. They go upstairs to make copies. His brother Ross is there, and he tries to taunt Greg about “your ladyfriend,” but Greg just says they are working on a big art project.

At the copier, Greg and Maura run a couple of test prints of the first master sheet until the machine’s settings are just right, and then they make 14 more copies. Greg flips these over, puts them back in the machine’s paper bin, switches master sheets, and makes a test copy on the back of one of the first copies. This comes out well, and Greg shows Maura how to fold it three times so all the pages are in the right order: “Maura looked like a kid watching a magician’s best trick” (157). He staples it in the right place and trims all the other edges, and suddenly it is a minicomic book.

Maura sits with the booklet and slowly turns its pages, rereading everything. Greg pushes the copier button to print the rest of the two-sided sheets. He watches Maura read her comic and feels something new that he cannot name. His part in Maura’s comic-book project somehow feels like his gift to her.

She looks up, smiling, and her smile “had to be worth at least a million dollars” (159). Greg trims up a second copy, admires it, and says he will make a ton of money on it. Maura corrects him: “We.” Greg agrees. She says she does not care about the money; she just wants the comic to be great. He says of course he wants the comic to be great—so that it will make money. She says money is a distant second priority. Greg asks why she made her beautiful potholders, if not for money. She says that was to show him up, but also they were beautiful.

Greg wonders, then, why she fought so hard for a 75 percent share of their profits. Maura replies that she did not want him to try to take advantage of her, so she made sure she would get a fair share. But she does not really care about money, “[l]ike some people” (161), she adds. Irritated, Greg says she and Mr. Z are wrong to think it is bad to want money.

Quietly miffed, they continue folding, stapling, and trimming in silence. Greg grabs a batch of Maura’s finished comics. He criticizes three for being poorly trimmed or stapled wrong and insists they have to be perfect. Maura looks stricken; then she brightens and says, “Ha-ha—gotcha!” (162) Greg does care how the comics look; thus, for him, it is also not just about the money.

Gruffly, Greg tells her to finish the stack and go home. She salutes stiffly and promises to make every comic as perfect as she can. He turns away: He knows she is right that it’s not always about money. He smiles. 

Maura brings copies home to her family. They love it. On Monday, she gives an autographed copy to Allyson, a friend, who reads it and says, “This is so good!” (165). In class, Maura reads on the bulletin board a printed version of Mrs. Davenport’s announcement that the minicomic books are forbidden. Maura notices that the ruling is based on what the town’s School Committee says “may and may not be sold at school” (167).

Maura glances around at the covers that the students have to put on their books, and all the covers include ads for Nike sports equipment. In gym class, she notices the colorful, professionally printed wall posters with pictures of candy to be sold at fund-raisers. The soccer field scoreboard has an ad for Coke. At the gym door, a machine sells drinks. In the cafeteria, a banner proclaims Pizza Day, sponsored by Domino’s.

After school, Maura runs up to Greg with an eight-page flyer from her last class. It is an ad from the school’s book club for ordering everything from classics to Garfield and Scooby-Doo cartoon books. “And where did all this buying and selling happen? At school” (170). 

Maura finds Allyson, who snuck the unicorn comic into school, and borrows it. Maura and Greg rush to Mr. Z’s classroom: They ask him why the book club can sell comic books but Maura cannot sell her unicorn minicomic. She shows the teacher the new version of her booklet.

He sees that it is well produced. The credits include both their names; apparently they are working together now. Maura says the comic is not violent, and that they should receive permission to sell them. Mr. Z says they can probably argue their case at the monthly School Committee meeting, but it is “complicated.” The books clubs are managed by companies who give away books to the teachers and school libraries, hire educators to help them, and get kids more involved in reading. The minicomics are just little stories for sale.

Greg says he and Maura can give copies to the teachers. Maura offers to donate 10 percent of their sales to the school library fund. (Greg looks stricken but says nothing.) The Committee meeting is in three days. The kids sweet-talk Mr. Z into meeting with them the next morning before school to help create a plan. He insists, however, that they inform their parents.

Maura and Greg rush off. Mr. Z’s head spins with “an uneasy feeling—the kind that comes just before a storm” (176).

The next morning at his desk, Mr. Z hopes the kids do not show, but Maura walks into the classroom right on time. She opens a spiral notebook and sets up a page for notes. Greg arrives shortly after, and Maura chides him for being late because it is “not businesslike.” He makes a face and sits.

Mr. Z asks if their parents approve of their new campaign. Greg says yes, and that they will try to attend the Committee meeting. Maura’s dad thinks the idea is ill-advised, but both her parents will also attend. Mr. Z feels cornered: He hates controversy, especially if it leads to bloody noses. He also dreads having to inform Mrs. Davenport about this new development.

Greg wants advice on what to say to the Committee so it is professional and convincing. Maura wants to speak first at the meeting, and the two kids start to argue, their voices rising, until Mr. Z slaps his hand down on the desk and insists they either stop fighting or leave. They both apologize and back down.

Quickly, the group forms a plan. Maura takes lots of notes. They finish the meeting; Maura hopes her art will finally be seen, Mr. Z believes their argument has a convincing “mathematical logic” to it, and Greg thinks that “maybe, just maybe, Chunky Comics might actually make him a whole bunch of money” (182).

On Wednesday, Mrs. Davenport asks Mr. Z about an agenda item on Thursday’s School Committee meeting: “Students and faculty advisor to propose new comic-book club at Ashworth Intermediate School” (183). He says Greg and Maura are united and determined in their plan, and that he was dragooned into helping. As bravely as he can, he says that, frankly, he believes the two kids have a point.

Hanging in the air is the idea that Mrs. Davenport isn’t doing her best for the school. She surprises Mr. Z by not getting mad. Instead, she chuckles at the notion that Mr. Z has suddenly become a “reading expert.” She says she will attend the meeting, and that “I just might have an agenda of my own—to represent the best interests of the school” (186). 

On Thursday, Greg cannot wait to go to the School Committee meeting and make his case for selling minicomics. For the last several days, though, he has been wondering if he really is “a money maniac—a moneyac” (189). He thinks about how the teachers make less money than they might in another career, and about Mr. Z’s comment that a person can only use one bathroom at a time. He just heard on TV about billionaires who give away huge chunks of their money. 

Maura talks Greg into dressing up in a jacket and tie, so he doesn’t look like a playground school kid. He arrives at the meeting and, fidgeting and itching in his woolen slacks and shiny shoes, sits near the back with his folks. Maura sits a few seats away, wearing a brand-new pantsuit. Her parents and Mr. Z sit between them.

Greg won the coin toss with Maura and will speak first, but now he is nervous and wishes he had lost the toss. Suddenly the Committee chair asks for the speaker on the proposed comic-book club. Greg jumps up and walks down to the front. He hands each Committee member copies of his and Maura’s minicomics, along with a flyer for the proposed comic club. He sits at the microphone table; a video camera records him.

Nervously, Greg says he developed and sold comics at school: “But I didn’t know I had to have permission from the School Committee to sell things at school. Until Mrs. Davenport told me” (195). He shows his comic and Maura’s, then holds up a flyer from the school book club, which contains a printed order form for buying books. He says he and Maura would like to do the same for a comic club.

Greg introduces Maura, who walks down and hands each Committee member a set of printed sheets. She explains the first sheet, an order form for the many minicomics soon to come, and says that, like the book club, the comic club would provide free copies to teachers.

As Maura describes the second page, an agreement that gives the school library fund 10 percent of profits from minicomic sales, Greg notices that she is very polished, looks like she’s 23, and has the pink cheeks she gets when she is excited about something.

The third page discusses tutoring other students who want to learn how to create comics. The last page promises that all comics will be vetted by teachers, to guard against too much violent content. Maura introduces one of the teachers who has volunteered to do so, Mr. Zenotopoulous. He goes to the mic, where he defends Maura and Greg as responsible, creative youths. He declares that they make good use of the skills they have learned at school and are teaching themselves even more skills that help prepare them for adulthood.

Mr. Z asks for a show of hands from people who read comics as children. Nearly all did so; he says this proves that comics do not prevent kids from growing up to be responsible adults.

The chair thanks Mr. Z, Greg, and Maura, says the Committee will discuss the comic-club request, and then asks if there are any comments before the meeting moves on to the next item of new business. Mrs. Davenport raises her hand. 

Principal Davenport sits at the mic. She says her family did not allow comics or cartoons in the house. Instead, her mother read to them Tom Sawyer, Charlotte’s Web, and other classics. When she grew up, she realized that, despite her childhood resentment at not being allowed to read comics, the classics she heard were much better.

Mrs. Davenport says that on Wednesday she received an anonymous box containing several comic books. For the first time, she read comics about Donald Duck and Superman, and she enjoyed them. Her concern now is what will happen when students want to sell dolls or baseball cards: The school will become a “flea market.” Many in the audience nod in agreement.

Mr. Z replies that it is appropriate to teach kids about economics and buying and selling, and that the school already sells lots of things to the students. Maura names 11 companies that vend products or have their logos displayed at the school. Greg provides several more examples, including student bake sales, car washes, and the logos on all the computers.

Mr. Z says America’s elementary school kids spend 13 billion dollars every year. Greg is stunned by the number. His efforts seem tiny in comparison. He targets students not to benefit them but simply to make money, and now he realizes that he is a similar target for the big corporations that sell products at schools. He realizes he is asking the Committee to grant him a “hunting license” to sell more stuff to kids.

Mr. Z says the plan should serve the school’s interests; he wants it to work for Mrs. Davenport as well. She accepts his offer to work together on it. Everyone heads back to their seats except Greg. He returns to the mic and says Mrs. Davenport is right: It is unfair if two students can sell their comics but other students cannot sell things.

Someone asks what he is proposing. He struggles to answer, but Mr. Z steps in and suggests that a student store might be ideal. Greg quickly agrees and proposes that other kids sell things there, too, and that they all donate 50 percent of their profits to school activities.

As he walks back to his seat, Mrs. Davenport stops him and hands him the box containing the old comics: “I won’t be needing these anymore” (214). 

As everyone leaves, Maura says sending Mrs. Davenport the box of comics was Greg’s best idea. He tries to protest, but she goes on about it until Mr. Z interrupts and tells her he sent Mrs Davenport the comics. Mr. Z retrieves the box from Greg, saying he knew they would be okay for her to read because the stories have no “b-l-o-o-d.” He asks them not to tell the principal that the comics came from him.

The Committee approves the student store idea. Following some “spirited negotiations in the principal’s office” (217), Mrs. Davenport agrees to a two-month trial. She will also be on the committee that approves the comics. Mr. Z creates an accounting process for the store, and Greg and Maura open a “Chunky Comics” account at the bank. They help set up the student-sales corner at the store, hold minicomic workshops, and decide which of the other kids’ efforts will move forward for publishing.

In mid-October, the student store holds a grand reopening. The kids’ sales section includes a rack for comics—hand-built by Greg and painted by Maura—plus used CDs, collectibles, and arts-and-crafts. New ideas for products appear before the approval committee: Of the first 12, five are chosen. Other nearby schools adopt the same system, and Chunky Comics racks appear at their stores.

In December, two new comics co-created by Greg and Maura appear: “Creon: The Strong Survived and The Princess’s Nightmare.” A third, “The Trumpets of Mars,” drawn by Maura and inked by Greg, is written by Ted Kendall (219). Maura develops a new series “about a girl detective computer genius named Haxy Spectrum” (219-20). It is a hit. The two also produce a comic written by Mr. Z about Pythagoras, but it is not very popular.

With help, Greg and Maura start a Chunky Comics website. By February, it attracts 1,100 visitors per week. By spring, their email newsletter goes out to 2,300 subscribers, and online sales begin. In May, first editions of their early comics are selling on eBay for up to seven dollars. A national book club wants to distribute their works.

Despite all this effort, both kids get good grades. In June, at the annual school award ceremony, Mr. Z, Maura, and Greg present Mrs. Davenport with a check from kids’ store sales for $1421 donated to the school library. Most of that comes from Chunky Comics sales. “Greg Kenton could not believe how good it made him feel to give that money away” (222).