A business enterprise here in our Little Washington seems like an interesting endeavor. My old friend Fritz told me about it recently.

Rather than me tell you about it, let’s let Fritz tell it. So. In his words:

I was in my office ( in his home) one day this past week around 10:30 a.m. when I heard a knock on my front door. When I opened the door I thought I was being invaded by “Little People.” (children) There in the front yard stood nine of these little people. Their ages looked to be anywhere from five to nine years old, boys and girls.

The oldest looking boy was on a bike with a clipboard and pencil in hand. There were two little girls with a green wagon with a water can, that they were pulling.

Two little girls, probably the youngest, maybe five years old, were just smiling and holding hands, as though they knew some big secret.

Then there were two little fellows that seemed to be the spokesmen (spokeskids?) for the group.

One said, “We would like to clean your yard, sir.”

I asked him why they were doing this.

“We are trying to make the neighborhood more ‘boodiful’.”

I asked him how much would it cost me.

One of the two spokesmen, the one with the red hair, very loudly said, “Only three dollars!”

I said, “Okay.”

Then, all of a sudden they were like bees buzzing around the yard. They only had one rake, which they used in picking up pinecones.

I told them they only had to do the front yard, as the two girls with the wagon and water bucket very carefully poured water on the plants by the walkway.

The two little smiling girls continued holding hands as they walked around the yard. Inspectors? The young man on the bike left, probably to look for more jobs.

They were moving all over the yard when the redhead came up and said,“ I think we will have to charge you $4 instead of $3.”

I thought for a moment then said, “You know, when you give a price to work it is not right to change it. It is like a contract when two agree on it. You can’t change the price.”

Then the little boy with the rake spoke up and said, “He is right. You can’t change the price. I used to work in landscaping and you can’t change the price.” Mr. Redhead seemed to accept that.

I then asked Mr. Rake what landscaping company he had worked for. He thought, then said, “I actually owned my own landscaping business.”

I said, “Oh, I see.”

Then the two water girls came up and wanted to know if I had a water hose they could use to fill their bucket back up.

Time went by very quickly, and there came a knock on the door. Mr. Redhead announced they were done. I opened the door and handed out the money, but Mr. Rake reached out and took the money, which I had folded.

Mr. Redhead asked, “Hey, how much did we get?”

Mr. Rake very quickly stuffed the money in his pocket and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll handle the money,” and off they went to find Mr. Clipboard, I suppose. (They really touched my heart, so I slipped them $8.)

I closed the door, then all of a sudden I thought, I may have just had a visit from the past.

Were they the “Little Rascals”?