Soon after meeting Robbie, Jamie invited him to join his cub scout troop. Robbie loved it, especially when a zookeeper visited the troop. He talked all about the animals. Then he told the children that the Des Moines Zoo was opening up a snake exhibit. They needed snakes. He said that they would pay children to bring them healthy snakes!

Robbie ran all the way home to share the news with Mom, Dad, and Ireentje. Their little brothers Pete and Mike were not even two-years-old, much too little to understand.

Robbie’s blue eyes shone. He could hardly get his breath, “All we need to do is catch snakes, and we’ll be rich!” When Robbie was three, he wanted to be a Mom when he grew up. When he was five, he wanted to be a garbage man. Now, at nearly seven, he had a new goal. To be rich. And he knew how to do it.

Ireentje thought for a few minutes, “I’ve never seen a snake here. In Canada, they lived in the grass in our ditch. But, there’s no ditch here.”

 “Let’s ask Jamie and Donna!” Robbie shouted, too excited to keep his voice down. The children ran across the street. They rang and rang the doorbell until Jamie answered.

 Jamie, an attractive boy with dark brown eyes, knew just where to find snakes. “You know the vacant lot near here? It has an old, broken, blow-up swimming pool. The snakes hide under that.”

 “Let’s go!” Robbie exclaimed. Jamie called for Donna, and the four children raced to the vacant lot. There it was. The broken, rather dirty, plastic pool.

 “Ready?” asked Jamie, as he carefully lifted a tiny corner of the pool. The other children backed up a little, and he quickly pulled the pool to a different spot.

 Oh, the wriggling and squiggling! Under the pool there were lots and lots of Garter and Fox snakes. Jamie explained that those snakes aren’t poisonous, but that they can bite. Ireentje and Robbie listened admiringly. Donna figured it was her turn for some attention.

 She decided to demonstrate how to catch a snake safely, “To pick up a snake, you gently step on its tail. Then, fast, grab it just behind the head. That way it can’t turn around and bite you.” Ireentje and Robbie’s mouths dropped open as she actually did it. Really! Donna offered Robbie the snake, but he didn’t really dare to touch it. He put his hands behind his back.

 “It’s okay,” Donna encouraged. She moved her fingers away from just behind the snake’s head so that Robbie could grab the snake in the right place. He was just reaching out when, quicker than a wink, the snake turned its head and bit Donna on the hand. “Ouch!” she said and dropped it.

 Ireentje grabbed Donna’s hand and looked. There was a little bit of blood, but not a big hole. “You should go home and wash that,” she said. So, Donna went home. Ireentje and Robbie didn’t think the bite looked too bad, so they decided to practice catching snakes. Jamie supervised. It was easy! Just step on the tail and grab the head fast. To Ireentje’s surprise, they weren’t slimy at all. But, they had to let the snakes go, since no one wanted to put them in their pocket.

 The three children decided to go sit on the porch steps and plan. They needed something to put the snakes they caught in. How about a bucket? Robbie was sure he’d seen one in the garage. Whose parent would drive them to the zoo? Jamie said his dad was out-of-town. Ireentje thought that her dad would help. He was usually willing to go along with his childrens’ schemes.

 The next day, the children went out again, armed with a bucket and lid. Would the snakes be under the pool again? Yes! Jamie, Donna, Ireentje and Robbie swooped onto the unsuspecting snakes. They stepped on the tails (carefully), grabbed their necks, and picked them up. The tails lashed around angrily, but the snake couldn’t bite. Then, they dropped the snake in the pail before catching another. Soon the bucket was writhing with snakes. So many! It was hard to count, because they were moving so much, but Jamie thought that there might even be 30.

 “Irrrreentje, Rrrrobbieee, diiinnnnerrr!” Mom trilled. She had the loudest voice in the neighborhood. When Mom called, all the children knew that it was time to go home. Their moms never had to bother calling. Ireentje thought that was pretty cool.

 Jamie and Donna ran to their house. Robbie put the lid on the bucket of snakes and carried them home. After all, it was his project. “Mom, Mom, look at all our snakes!” he shouted, running into the kitchen.

 Mom wasn’t happy. “Out! Snakes don’t belong in the house. Put them in the garage!”

 Ireentje and Robbie didn’t understand why she was so upset, but they obediently took the precious bucket of snakes to the garage. Robbie, who was a soft-hearted boy, worried, “How will they breath in there? Won’t they be lonely for us?”

 “Well,” Ireentje answered, “let’s not put the lid on properly. Leave a crack. They won’t notice, but it’ll let them breathe. And they have each other for company.” The two children cracked the lid, closed the garage door, and went in for dinner.

 When, Dad came home, they told him all about the snakes and the zoo and the money. He agreed to take them to the zoo after work the next day. Robbie fell asleep dreaming of how rich he was going to be.

In the morning, Ireentje woke up to a terrible noise. “Arrghh, AAHH, Get away! Arrggh! IREENTJE, ROBBIE!  Come here now!” yelled her dad. Uh oh, this was not good.

Both children sleepily stumbled outside in their pajamas. Dad was standing in the garage, hopping from foot to foot. Snakes were slithering everywhere.

“Dad,” accused Robbie, “You’re letting them go!”

Dad’s face was red, “I didn’t let them go. The lid of the bucket wasn’t on properly. They escaped.”

Ireentje quickly began running around, catching as many snakes as she could. Robbie helped. But, they could only find 20 of them. They put those back in the bucket. The rest were probably hiding. Would that be enough? Dad thought that it would.

 Dad then poked a couple of holes in the lid of the bucket so that the snakes could breath, but not get out. He assured Ireentje and Robbie that he’d get home early so they could go to the zoo. And, yes, he said they could bring Jamie and Donna with them. He was a nice dad. They waved as he went to work.

Finally, it was time. Jamie, Donna, Ireentje, and Robbie sat on the porch steps waiting for Dad to come home. There was the car. A beautiful light pink station wagon. Ireentje loved it. Robbie did not. He thought it looked girly. But, all the kids fit in it, and it drove.

Dad got out, “Okay kits (he couldn’t say kids because he was Dutch), I’ll put my briefcase away. Put the bucket in the car, and then, we can go. We can have dinner afterwards.”

In those days almost no one wore seatbelts, so all the children sat in the back of the station wagon near to the bucket. Robbie grew worried that the snakes might be feeling carsick. “Shall we peek and see if they’re okay?” he asked. Dad overheard, “No, no one opens that bucket. Not even a crack!” Robbie was sad, but he knew by his voice that Dad really meant it.

Finally, they arrived. It was a long drive—at least half an hour! It seemed even longer. Dad told the kids to stay put and went out to find the zookeeper. Soon, a man in a zoo uniform came out. “I hear you have some snakes to sell me,” he said with a smile.

 Robbie couldn’t contain himself any longer, “The cub scout leader said you wanted snakes. We got you a lot!” He proceeded to open the lid of the bucket. He bounced up and down in excitement. Ireentje just watched to see what would happen, as was her way.

The zoo man carefully inspected the writhing snakes, “They look uninjured. Good job! How many are there?”

Robbie piped up again, “We had about 30, but Dad lost some in the garage, so now there are only 20.” Dad raised his eyebrows, but didn’t correct Robbie. “We can get you more, if you like,” Robbie offered, hopefully. 

The zookeeper’s gray mustache twitched as he tried to look serious. “No, I think that 20 will be enough. Our cages aren’t that big.” He paused, “How much are you charging?”

 Ireentje wanted to be sure that they got what they’d earned, “A dollar per snake. That’s $20.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of money. But, you did bring us enough snakes for the entire year.” The zoo man handed each child $5. If you add 5+5+5+5, you get $20, so that was right. The children all said, “Thank you!” and Dad said, “Sank you”, because he was Dutch. Then, after the children said good-bye to the snakes, they got back in the car. They figured the snakes would have a better life in the zoo than hiding under an old swimming pool, anyway. 

On the way home, Dad asked them what they planned on doing with their money. Well, just about a mile from the house was the only store that the children were allowed to visit on their own. Dahls. A grocery store. They figured that’d be a good place to spend what they’d earned.

When they got home, it was too late to go to Dahls. Jamie and Donna had to go home for dinner. Mom said dinner was ready at Ireentje’s house, too. Tuna fish pie. Their favorite!

The next day Ireentje and Robbie asked for permission to walk to Dahls. It was a hot day, but they took a short cut by the little lake, Lake Halice, where the Mulberry trees gave some shade. Finally, they got to the big road next to Dahls. They knew that it was important to wait by the traffic light until it turns green. Then, they watched for cars turning right before crossing. In those days, there were no pedestrian crossing lights. Finally, it was clear, and they carefully crossed.

Of course, Ireentje and Robbie didn’t want to buy meat, fruit, vegetables or even cereal. Near to each check-out was what they wanted. Candy! Ireentje loved giant Sweet Tarts and candy cigarettes. You could buy a lot for $5.00! Hmm, which cigarettes should she choose? Those with white paper wrappers and pink bubble gum in the middle? If you blew on those, the powdered sugar looked like smoke. Or the wintergreen flavored candy cigarettes with a pink-tinted end? She decided on the candy ones because it was fun to pretend to smoke and then suck the cigarette in your mouth and eat it. Ireentje imagined that people in the cars going by would be so shocked to see that. The idea made her giggle. Robbie went for the chocolate.

 The children sauntered home with their bags of candy, each “smoking” a cigarette. Of course, when they got there, Pete and Mike wanted some, too. Ireentje and Robbie loved the little tykes, so they let them pick the best.