Chapter 7: Linus Van Pelt: The Neighborhood Manager

Like Peppermint Patty had told Lucy and the others at the frozen pond/skating ring,Marcie was over at the local library down by Birchwood Elementary school and was looking around for any possible job that she and the others could partake in so they could start making some money. Franklin and Freida had also decided to accompany her in an attempt to help her out and hopefully make the search easier as the former enthusiastically stated once they made it to the front doors "Alright,it's time for us to get serious and start looking for jobs,every little penny counts here." to which Freida sighed and ironically retorted as she looked around for any possible job flyers on the walls "I never thought that I'd be looking for a job when I'm not even in or out of High School yet. I guess this could be a nice head start to the concept."

"Well let's hope that this head start can be something close to enjoyable." Marcie sighed and nonchalantly remarked in the hopes that they'd be able to find a nice and easy job before they slowly creaked the front doors open and headed inside. Given the fact that they were now standing in the middle of a library,the whole building was of course dead silent and was filled to the brim with kids reading books and checking them out at the front desk,all the while the old woman running the desk merely smoked a small cigarette and kept her eyes glued onto the computer despite the no smoking signs being plastered everywhere.

Freida was quick to notice that the woman was clearly breaking the rules and potentially causing second hand smoking among kids that passed by her and quietly lamented her for it "Well that's not a complete disregard for the rules at all,I'm surprised she hasn't been fired yet." before Marcie shushed her and whispered as quietly as she could while she pointed to a small table by the front desk "Alright,let's head over to the job table. It's where they put copies of all the job flyers around town for people to look at while they're here,we're bound to find at least something we can do."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that Marcie,look there's barely anything on the table." Franklin sighed and regretfully retorted when he saw that there was hardly any type of flyer on the table as Marcie and Freida got a closer look at it and indeed saw only one flyer on the dusty old table to which the latter grew a look of concern and stated with worry "Oh no,will we not be able to find a job?"

Marcie on the other hand was trying to keep herself calm about the situation as she quietly stammered in response while she headed over to the table "Well,uh,we should at least take a look at what we got here. We never know what we'll find." before she picked up the only remaining flyer,dusted it off and took a look at it. As Marcie continued to look at the job flyer and see what it offered,she would strangely enough begin to show a huge look of intrigue and she even began to grow a small smile,could this possibly be a good and promising job offering?

"What does it say? Is it something good?" Freida anxiously asked out of curiosity on whether the job offering was any good to which Marcie slowly turned around with a satisfied smile on her face and happily dropped a huge bombshell "I think we've just got ourselves a job you two. Come on let's go tell the others."


Meanwhile back in their main area of the neighborhood,Charlie Brown,Lucy,Linus,Ed,Sally and Peppermint Patty were all leaning on top of the brick wall,the same old typical place where they and some of the others would gather around from time to time and let loose what was ever on their mind,and 99% of the time it was a very good place to speak out how you were feeling without any repercussions.

"I hope Marcie gets back from the library sometime soon,the sooner we can start working and making our money,the better." Charlie Brown anxiously remarked as he looked around the snowy fields around them in the hopes of seeing Marcie on her way back to town with a possible job application before Sally looked up at some of the clouds in the sky and nonchalantly asked "Do you think maybe she got herself stuck there? Like she got too caught up in some books and she can't stop reading them?"

"Hey I wouldn't put that past her,one time we went there to study for a book report and she ended up checking out 5 books instead of just the one we needed." Patty shrugged her arms and jokingly retorted before Lucy groaned out of impatience "Well she better hurry herself up or I'm gonna go over there and get her."

"Hey you guys! I've found something!" The voice of Marcie suddenly called out to the others afterwards as everyone turned their heads to the left to see Marcie,Franklin and Freida frantically running towards them,with Marcie holding none other than a paper flyer in her hand as Patty greeted her friend with relief "There you are Marcie,I was worried that you may have gotten yourself lost at the library." before Rebecca meekly asked out of curiosity "Did-did you find anything useful?" to which Freida happily confirmed that they did "You bet we did,and it was actually the only flyer they had there. How lucky we were huh?"

"Oh really? Well what is it?" Charlie Brown raised an eyebrow and politely asked with intrigue as Marcie took a look at the flyer and explained the job offering "The job offering is for something along the lines of neighborhood management,here one person will be required to sit around at their place of residence for the day and resolve people's complaints/concerns about the neighborhood." to which Linus got a huge look of intrigue and retorted "Hmm,so it's sort of like the Parks And Recreation division,except it's for the general neighborhood instead of the city parks and landmarks."

"It appears so." Marcie nodded her head and calmly agreed with the boy's guess as she handed Rebecca the flyer and allowed her to take a look at it while she continued "The flyer says the job is only for the rest of the day,apparently the last kid in charge of it is sick and they had to stay home. So why doesn't one of us go ahead and call the phone number on the flyer so we can get started?" to which Patty happily complimented her and the others for what they had done "Nice going there Marcie,you three managed to dig us out of a deep hole. So who's the lucky winner that gets to do the job?"

Unfortunately however it seemed that most of the kids were quite reluctant to volunteer for the job as most of them stayed completely silent,it wasn't like they didn't want to do any jobs to get the money they needed to get themselves out of the hole the bank dug for them,but none of them had any kind of experience in this field of work before and it made them feel rather conflicted about whether they should take the job or not.

"Come on there has to be someone who wants to do it? This money isn't gonna make itself!" Patty groaned and pleaded that someone step up and volunteer before Linus suddenly spoke up "I'll do it,if all the job requires me to do is quell typical neighborhood drama,then I think I have a better shot at it than the rest of you guys,no offense." to which Charlie Brown grew a small smile and playfully retorted as he lightly nudged Linus on the shoulder "Hey none taken Linus,honestly the more that I think about it,I actually think you're the best person for this sort of job."

"You always were sort of the voice of reason in the gang." Rebecca chuckled and also showed her support for Linus taking the job as Sally tightly hugged the boy and happily cried out "You're are hero! Your name will go down in the history books!" to which Linus rolled his eyes and respectfully replied while Sally let go "Thanks for the votes of confidence everyone,I'll do my best." before Lucy sternly retorted "I hate to say it,but I think we may actually have a chance of winning here,so you better do your best Linus."

"We're really gonna be counting on you here." Freida stated with a little bit of concern in her voice as Franklin happily nodded his head in support to which Ed suddenly perked up in excitement and enthusiastically added while he reached into his pocket "And just to make sure you don't disappoint us,here's a little something from me for good luck." before he pulled what appeared to be a gold tooth out from his pocket and handed it to Linus.

"Gee,thanks for the…..tooth Ed." Linus timidly thanked Ed for the gift of good luck in a shaky and confused tone of voice as the boy chuckled and replied with gratitude "Hey Papa Duffy's gold tooth has never let me down before. Why whenever we saw him at the orphanage he always showed off this bad boy in his mouth like it was a sacred treasure." to which Charlie Brown raised an eyebrow and asked in confusion "But Ed…..if the tooth was Papa Duffy's,then how'd you get it in the first place?" only for the boy to decline to answer with an evil grin "I'm not telling." After a few more moments of everyone staring at Ed with even more raised questions than they could ever imagine,Patty eventually brushed the mysterious case of his gold tooth aside and heroically stated "Well enough of that everyone,let's say we save our neighborhood." before the others nodded their heads in determination.


After Linus had called the phone number that was on the flyer and told the operator that he wanted to take the job for the day,the next thing he knew it,he was the official neighborhood monitor for the rest of the day. It was around 12:00 in the afternoon at the Van Pelt residence and he and the rest of the Peanuts gang were sitting in the middle of their living room with the intent to support him throughout his first day of work,even Rerun was determined to help his brother out in any way possible despite how young he was compared to the rest of the kids.

"Alright gang,my shift should be starting any minute now. Wish me luck,I'll need it." Linus sighed and announced to the others in a half nervous,half excited tone of voice as he glanced over at his Grandfather clock before the others started giving him words of encouragement over each other while Snoopy,Amy,Woodstock and Jasper proudly saluted like soldiers to which the boy gratefully thanked them for the support "Thanks everyone,but I think I'll need to be alone for this."

Afterwards the others left the living room and instead headed out into the front yard so Linus could be by himself and concertante better on his work,despite them still intending to watch him work from one of the outwide windows as the boy took a deep breath and confidently told himself "Okay,here goes."

Linus: Royal decision making,hey I was born to do it,yeah sure I'm slightly thinking,but there's not that much to it. Bring it on I'm ready 'cause I got this,I've got this,just watch.

"Okay Linus,time to meet your must humble subjects." Linus told himself in determination as he sat down in the master chair in the living room before kids started pouring in and giving out their concerns.

Boy #1: He won't let my shop live next to his without a fight.

Linus: Hmm.

Boy #2: How can dad cut hair with this guy fiddling day and night?

Linus: Gosh.

Boy #3: Lately half the city's overrun by cats and kitties.

Girl #1: Eating everything in sight!

Linus: Right,sidewalk land is public I decree you'll have to share. (Hmm.) Ear plugs will do wonders you'll receive a free pair. (Thanks!) Henceforth it is written we'll feed every cat and kitten,here within the town square,fair?

Crowd: Yeah!

Linus: Folks the line stars there.

Meanwhile the rest of the gang was continuing to watch Linus carry out his duties for the day through the outside window and they were actually quite impressed with what he could do.

Peppermint Patty: He's got a knack for reading.

Marcie: So far he's holding steady.

Lucy: But folks are still complaining,so let's not throw confetti.

Sally: Nonetheless I guess our boy has got this,he's got this,no prob.

*Seven Hours Later.*

"That,that should be the last of them." A nearly out of breath Linus choked out as he slouched on the master chair absolutely exhausted at the end of the day,but he would be suddenly startled and confused when he saw the same people from earlier barge right through the front door as he sat up straight and nervously asked "W-why are you all back? Didn't I fix you're problems?"

Boy #1: Since we shared the sidewalk we can't who tell whose shop is whose.

Linus: Oops.

Boy #2: Dad can't hear his customers and ruin all their do's.

Linus: Sorry.

Boy #3: Now the cats are quiet-

Girl #1: but the rats are running riot. Up and down the avenues.

Crowd: *Bickering.*

Linus: No more interviews.

As all of the disappointed and angry crowd members left the Van Pelt's house and headed off into the slowly darkening neighborhood due to the sun starting to set,Linus felt a huge feeling of disappointment and failure build up inside him as he got out of the master chair and trudged on outside to collect his mailed payload from the mailbox.

Gosh what a huge disaster,and everybody knew it,I had one job to master and I completely blew it. I was so darn certain that I got this,but I'm not this,not yet. Who would have thought how far from getting this I could get?

Once Linus headed back inside his house and towards his bedroom with the brown envelope that contained his pay in hand,he sat it down on his bedside dresser and groaned as he changed into his pajamas "Oh boy,today was rough,who knew that someone would complain for ten minutes about someone hurting their feelings? And then not even asking me to do anything about it?" before he glanced over at the envelope and somberly continued "I bet there's not even that much money in there,but it's a start I suppose. It's gonna be a long winter."

"I've Got This" Copyright Of Walt Disney Records