Twelve Weeks To Midnight Blue by Steve Searfoss – Blog Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway:

As I walked over, I practiced what I would say to get a new customer. May I interest you in our pool cleaning service? Do you need more than just a clean pool? Do you need reliability, promptness and peace of mind? How would you like to have a clean pool every week? There are clean pools, and then there are clean pools. Clean! Clean! Clean! And for the low, low price of $20.

When I got to the first house on the street I paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. No answer. This time I knocked more forcefully. Still no answer.

Ok, no problem. I moved on to the next house and knocked. No response. I knocked again. Still nothing. I knocked louder. Oh well, on to the next one. I knocked on the next door. Three times. No answer. Ok, so maybe this was going to be harder than I thought.

Five more doors and I finally got a response. A nice old lady opened the door and before I could get two words in she disappeared into her foyer and returned a couple minutes later and handed me some candy.

“You seem nice,” she said. “Have some candy.”
“I can clean your pool.”
“Oh you don’t need to do that,” she smiled. “I’m happy to give it to you. I keep a bowl of candy in my kitchen for guests. It’s leftover from Halloween. You’re welcome to have some.”
“I mean for $20.”
“You want me to give you $20?”
“Yes.”
She was horrified.
Oops. “No, no,” I said. “I don’t want $20. I mean, I do want $20.” I stammered. “But I don’t mean for you to just give me $20. I mean I will clean your pool for $20.”
She still looked confused.
“I’m grateful for the candy, Ma’am.”
“Oh, why didn’t you say so. I don’t have a pool.” She seemed relieved.
“Oh.” I smiled awkwardly. “Well, I’ll be going now. Thank you for the candy.” 

I sat on the curb and as I bit into one of the candy bars she gave me. I had to admit I wasn’t feeling great. They always made it look so easy in the movies. I thought for sure I’d have a new client by now. After all, I was a vendor now, not just a kid. I was offering a clean pool and peace of mind at a good price.  

After a few minutes of feeling sorry for myself I got back up and knocked on the next door. And the door after that. And the door after that one. And four more doors after that. Finally, someone answered. A pimply teenager wearing a backwards baseball cap.

I started telling him about my pool cleaning services when he said, “hold on a second”, pulled out his phone and start taking notes.
This is good, I thought. He’s really interested. I explained it’s a weekly service, he could pick the day and time and I would be there at that time to clean his pool.
“So it’s not just a clean pool, it’s peace of mind for the low, low price of $20.” The last part I sang like a jingle. Just like I’d heard on the radio.
“That’s really good,” he said.
“Awesome. So you’ll do it?”
“Oh no,” he said quickly. “I need some money this summer and this sounds like a good way to make some extra money.”
“Hey!” I shouted. “No fair! It’s my idea.”
“Cleaning pools is your idea?” he asked sarcastically.
“Yes!”
“No it’s not. Anyone can clean pools.”
“Not like this, not like I can.”
“Whatever dude.” He waved his hand dismissively.
“Yeah dude, whatever.” It was all I could think of saying and stormed off.