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Beth Kane
Andy Nieman
Bill Montano
Kristin Collins
Michael Kane
Russell Armand
Tom Kane

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Learning about $ the Hard Way

by Beth Kane

I used to get 10 cents allowance as a kid, so it took forever to buy anything decent. Jump ropes cost a dime, so did bubble stuff. You could buy a couple of Mexican jumping beans, but the worm inside the bean always died after a couple of days, so that was a pretty bad investment from my point of view.

The money used to burn a hole in my pocket every Saturday morning (payday), but I got sick of jump ropes and bubble stuff after awhile. So, I decided to save for the future. After losing a few teeth and collecting a dime from the tooth fairy for every tooth I lost, I finally accumulated one dollar.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw an advertisement in the Sunday paper that read "1,000 Dolls for $1" I wrapped my dollar bill up as fast as I could and mailed it off. A few weeks later my "dolls" arrived. There were 1,000 paperdolls on paper so cheap it was hard to cut. At age 7 I probably wasn't too good with scissors, but that 1,000 doll scam turned me into a real sceptic. I should have known better.

After all, I tried to fool the tooth fairy one night by putting a piece of macaroni under my pillow. I confided in my mother what I planned to do that evening, and we chuckled about my clever plan. Little did I know ....
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"That's funny - I knew about the macaroni; I didn't know you shared the plan with Mum. I remember getting a Mexican jumping bean from the Smithsonian. It came in a tiny plastic box and the bean would jump and click against the inside of the lid. I LOVED it - I had always seen Mexican jumping beans in cartoons but I never knew there was a worm doing the jumping; I just thought they were exotic and strange."

by Michael Kane 

"I also thought they were just exotic and filled with chili so hot that it bounced around. Its a little sad to me that I was amused by the giggleing bean that was actually a worm stuggleing for it's life. Does someone put those in there? Is there a special factory where they have jars of beans and jars of worms, where someone with a little tweezer puts one worm in each bean?"

by Kristin Collins 

"Kris, while you and I and millions of other kids were alseep those beans stopped jumping because they had flown the coop, so to speak. While we were dreaming, they flew right over our heads in thier brightly-colored serapes and sombreros with not so much as a "hasta la vista , Baby." Don't feel bad, even Michael didn't know what they were up to...and he knows tons about science. Anyway, for both of you, the thing that makes the beans jump is a tiny moth larvae that lives inside the bean. The moth lays its eggs in the flower of the plant, and the eggs are incorporated into the seeds. The larvae then eat out the interior of the bean and live there. When the larvae move, so does the bean. When the larvae turn into moths they poke a hole in the bean and escape. We call it the "The Great Escape" I wish I had all those dimes back."

by Beth Kane 

"Oh, so they don't die? I thought they did. Weeeird. Now I can sleep at night. Unless I have nightmares about serape-clad moths. Serape-clad moths that have been eating beans, no less."

by Michael Kane