Chapter 4Petty Real Heiress

Sadie stood in front of the chauffeured car, her brow furrowed, refusing to get in. "I will not ride in that. It's a waste of gas and money."

My mother tried to reason with her patiently. "Sadie, honey, we're not short on money."

Sadie just shook her head, her chin held high. "I don't like waste. Having money isn't a license to be extravagant. If they want to ride, let them. I'll walk to school myself."

My parents looked stressed. "But it's your first day. How can you walk?"

My mother then turned to me and Dan. "Why don't you two walk with Sadie to school?"

"WHAT?" Dan and I yelled in unison.

Mom sighed. "It's two and a half miles… that is a bit far."

Just then, an old man on a motorized tricycle puttered past the end of our driveway. Sadie's eyes lit up. She pointed. "We can take that! And we'll be helping that old man earn some money."

My parents looked at Sadie with pure admiration.

Dan and I looked at each other in pure misery.

The three of us, all high school students, squeezed onto the tiny trike. The whole vehicle swayed precariously. Even on a perfectly flat road, it felt like we were adrift at sea, lost and helpless. Every time we went over a speed bump, it felt like a direct assault on my spine.

The old man up front kept shouting, "Whoa, whoa, you're leaning left! Everybody lean right!" And then, "Hey, hey, don't move, don't move!"

Dan and I were so terrified we were barely breathing. How could we possibly be moving?

"Now you're too far right! Lean left, lean left… lean…"

The trike flipped.

Instinctively, Dan and I threw our arms around Sadie to protect her.

His left arm was broken. My right arm was broken.

Sadie simply stood up, dusted herself off, and turned to leave. "You two wait here. I can't neglect my studies. I'm going to school."

And she left the two of us, with our broken arms, to cry together on the pavement.

When the police arrived, the old man, trembling, finally got to his feet, tears streaming down his face. "I was just out for a little spin! This girl flagged me down, insisted that a trike was more economical and that I had to take the three of them to school. I'm almost eighty! I don't need the six bucks!"

In the end, my parents came, bought the man a new trike, and gave him a hefty sum for his troubles.