The meeting had a set agenda, and the mayors were going through the usual discussions first before they talked about the supply emergency. Legal changes, directions from the governor, rumors from the capital about the Royal Family and such things…

  Lily’s mind raced, and she was scribbling on a piece of paper.

  Her business was in trouble!

  She had been counting on sales from the next week to cover her bills at the end of the month!

  Would she even have enough money now to pay everything off?

  She was going to be losing money from now on!

  The question was…

  How much!

  Already, she had done the calculations for the Lilyburgers.

  She would lose ten cents on each Lilyburger with cheese, and twelve cents on each Lilyburger without cheese.

  And she couldn’t just stop selling Lilyburgers without cheese.

  Some peoples’ tummies hurt if they ate cheese!

  So there needed to be a cheeseless option.

  The last three days, all the Lilyburgers locations together had been producing $603.36 in gross profits.

  That was before any of the overhead costs.

  Normally she thought about her business on a day to day basis, assuming that each day she would set aside some money for the rent.

  But now she needed cash on hand.

  As much as possible!

  Thankfully, Mayor George was already going to cover the rent for Lilyburgers #2.

  Lilyburgers #1, the cart at the mine, didn’t have any rental payment.

  Those locations were safe!

  At least for the next month!

  The Stone Pit locations, however, were not!

  Rent was due at the end of next week!

  It was nine hundred dollars for Lilyburgers #4, in the city square, and one hundred and fifty dollars for Lilyburgers #3, the cart at the stone quarry.

  A total of one thousand and fifty dollars!

  Lily checked her ledger book.

  She was carrying it everywhere these days!

  She’d come a long way from keeping her saved up money in her Papa’s lunch box…

  Now she had a bank account (that she actually used as intended, not just to hide her parents’ money…)!

  Before the price hike this morning, she had a total of $4016.16 in cash on hand.

  That was…

  Lily stared at the number, and her mouth fell open!

  That was a lot of money!

  But then…

  Her eyes drifted to her upcoming expenses notes.

  Rent on her home: $1000.

  The loan payment for this last month’s rent her Mama had taken out: $600.

  That loan only had two payments, for a total of $1200.

  Then there was the medical debt payment.

  The monthly fee alone was $3000.

  That didn’t even touch the principle!

  The original loan amount was $60,000!

  If she ever wanted to pay it off, she needed to pay more than $3000 each month!

  It was a huge burden.

  A high hurdle!

  She had been on track to make it, and start making payments…

  Lilyburgers was expanding!

  On her first day at the cart, she had made gross profits of sixteen dollars and seventy-three cents…

  And the last few days she had been making over six hundred dollars a day!

  But that was going to change.

  Fast!

  Whiplash!

  With ingredients so expensive, Lily was going to lose money…

  But…

  It wasn’t hopeless!

  It was only those three ingredients that were so much more expensive!

  The French Fries and lemonade were the same as they always had been!

  A serving of each of those was priced at fifty cents.

  And each serving only cost five cents in ingredients!

  So Lily made forty-five cents of gross profit on each serving!

  And a Lilyburger set wasn’t just the Lilyburger…

  It was a set, and included fries and a lemonade!

  So if she lost ten cents on a Lilyburger with cheese, and made ninety cents on the fries and lemonade…

  A Lilyburger set with cheese was still profitable!

  Eighty cents!

  Lily’s ghostly advisors were looking over her shoulder, and saw her reach this conclusion as she did the math.

  “Oh, that’s true. That would make the Lilyburgers a loss leader…” Mac said.

  Lily looked up and tilted her head.

  The mayors were still talking about other stuff!

  Something about the capital…

  “A loss leader is something you sell that you lose money on,” Rich explained.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Lily’s eyes went wide.

  Why would anyone want to do that?!

  Ray continued the explanation. “You see, it draws people in. In our case, most people buy their Lilyburger as a set, right? So even though we lose money on the Lilyburger, we’ll still make profit on the fries and drinks. But would people come to buy just fries by themselves? Or the lemonade? Sure, some people do, especially at the mine and the stone quarry, but most people have lemonade at home, or they don’t feel like just french fries as a snack. They want a whole meal, and that means a Lilyburger as the centerpiece…”

  Lily nodded, to show she understood.

  She actually understood this time!

  “Now, do the math to project our profits through the end of next week.”

  “It’s a bit easier since we’ve been selling out every day…”

  Lily did the math.

  But then she remembered that mayor George was getting five percent of gross profits of the sales from Lilyburgers #2.

  She had to start over!

  It felt like she had been doing math all morning!

  But the meeting kept going on, and she still had time!

  Her gross profits each day were projected to be $321.53.

  Then, every day she paid her workers, so she had to subtract her labor costs!

  She paid everyone a hundred and forty-two dollars a day…

  She was a big time employer!

  She was helping the economy grow!

  But that left her net profits for the day, ignoring rent, at $179.53.

  And including today, Lilyburgers would be open for eight more days this month, so…

  More math…

  Good thing Lily was a good-at-math girl!

  Lily frowned.

  Tears formed in her eyes.

  She sniffled a little bit.

  At the end of the month, she’d have $5,452.40.

  If nothing else went wrong.

  She needed $5,650.

  She checked her calculations again…

  She even checked if she did chores every day, making ten more dollars a day in the next ten days…

  But it wouldn’t be enough.

  Lily’s ghosts shared a glance.

  Then, they crowded in close.

  They couldn’t give her a hug, but they did their best to encourage her!

  “Lily, it’s not over yet!”

  “Don’t give up!”

  “You have ten days, let’s spend that time figuring something out!”

  Lily rubbed the tears from her eyes.

  She took a deep breath, and put on her brave thinking cap!

  That’s right!

  She was still making money.

  She was close!

  She was soooo close!

  She was going to do her best!

  “...and with all the usual business out of the way, let’s discuss the food supply problem. Philippides, come on in.”

  A young man came in!

  He was wearing a runner’s outfit: a tank top and short shorts!

  His legs were really muscly!

  George leaned over to Lily. “Philip is one of the fastest long-distance runners in the world, and he carries messages all over.”

  Lily tilted her head.

  “Why doesn’t he just drive a car?” she asked.

  George grimaced. “Well, cars break down, and on average, Philip is still the fastest. One time… oh, I’ll have to tell you later, he’s about to give his report.”

  Lily and George both sat up straight to listen.

  They had to be polite!

  Julius and Marcus, the mayors from Lumberville and Grassy Hill, were giving them looks.

  Henry cleared his throat. “Ahem, go ahead, Philippides.”

  “Aw shucks, you guys, I told y’all you could just call me Philip. Heck, even Phil’s alright.”

  Philip was a super relaxed guy!

  He was super zen!

  All that running made him really chill and relaxed!

  He just got in the zone and the miles flew by…

  But he always took a break every twenty-five miles, and said a prayer to the God of Running!

  His Piety Points were pretty high, actually!

  “Anyway, like I told ya before, there’s problems in the neighboring countries!”

  Lily’s eyes widened.

  Other countries!

  “Right, so as you know, being on the edge of Appalashia, we do most of our trade in beef, wheat, and cheese from the neighboring countries, rather than suppliers in our own country, because they prioritize the bigger cities and towns of the interior.”

  Lily didn’t know that!

  But she still nodded like all the other mayors!

  Fake it ‘til you make it!

  “So, there’s been a problem with cattle rustlin’ in the Great and Everlasting Free State of Texas!”

  All the mayors gasped. “Cattle Rustling?!”

  Lily leaned over to George. “What’s cattle rustling?” she whispered.

  George whispered back, covering his mouth with his hand. “It’s stealing cattle!”

  Lily, belatedly, gasped as well.

  Stealing was wrong!

  Who would do such a thing?!

  “Who would do such a thing?!” she said, out loud!

  Philip leaned in dramatically. “It was the famous thieves out west, Connie and Blyde! They’re causing such a problem, there’s not enough cattle to make the beef for Texas to export to us anymore! They’re keeping all the beef for themselves!”

  Philip continued, “Of course, the Texans need it. They eat steak three meals a day!”

  Lily remembered her feast from earlier in the week. Her steak had been yummy, but every meal, every day?

  “So that’s what’s going on in the Great and Everlasting Free State of Texas,” Philip said. “In the Friendly Commonwealth of Wisconsin, the dairy cows have gone on strike!”

  “That’s where we get our cheese from,” George added helpfully.

  “The dairy cows are unhappy, and the dairy farmers aren’t sure why! The cows don’t talk, you see.”

  “Ohh…” Lily said.

  She could see how that would make things hard!

  If Mr. Cat didn’t constantly tell her he liked and wanted more french fries, how would she know?

  Plus, she was sad that the dairy cows were unhappy!

  But, Philip had even more news!

  He really got around!

  “And finally, in the country known for its bountiful fields of wheat, the Glorious Sun Kingdom of France had descended into anarchy!”

  Lily gasped.

  “Wait!” she cried!

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  “Is that where French Fries come from?!”

  Everyone stared at her blankly.

  “Wouldn’t you know more than us?” Henry asked.

  “Ah!”

  Lily panicked a moment, but she recovered gracefully!

  “Uh, oops, I said that wrong. I meant, that’s where French Fries came from!”

  “Uh huh…”

  The mayors didn’t really care, though!

  Lily sighed.

  “Phew, safe…”

  The mayors were trying really hard not to care!

  The Glorious Sun Kingdom of France descending into anarchy was a big deal, and a big problem!

  “Yeah, their Queen ordered everyone to eat cake all the time, and not to eat bread, and everyone got mad! Now all the farmers have stopped farming and they’re protesting in the capital of France!”

  Mayor Marcus, of Grassy Hill, gasped.

  “But if they’re not farming, the harvest…!”

  That’s right!

  If the farmers didn’t tend to their crops soon, the next harvest would be ruined!

  No wonder bread prices had soared!

  “Well, that’s it for the meeting. Thanks, Phil, for bringing us the news as always.”

  “No problem, guys. I want to try out that new restaurant I heard about!”

  Everyone looked at Lily, Henry and George with pitiful expressions.

  Henry spoke first. “Lily, is Lilyburgers going to stay open?”

  Lily’s eyes flashed!

  She was determined!

  “Yes!” she declared. “Lilyburgers is going to stay open!”

  She was still at least a little profitable!

  She just had to figure something out.

  Connie and Blyde…

  Unhappy cows…

  Protests about being told to eat cake…

  Up in heaven, Homer, the God of Literature, groaned under the strain of his words of power.

  “This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.”