The Kid Who Became President by Dan Gutman Read Free Book Online

and peeked inside.
    It was my dad. He was unloading office supplies and stuff from a big cardboard box.
    â€œDad, what are you doing?”
    â€œSetting up our home office.”
    â€œIn the Lincoln Bedroom?”
    â€œIt’s the only bedroom that isn’t being used.”
    Before I won the election, Dad was a salesman. He sold corrugated cardboard boxes for a company in Wisconsin. My mom was in sales, too. She sold carpet tiles. They both really loved their work, and they weren’t sure they were going to move to Washington, because it meant they would have to give up their jobs. In the end, they decided it was more important to be with me.
    â€œYour mother and I decided to start our own business,” Dad informed me. “See?” He held up a piece of stationery that read, WHITE HOUSE BOX AND CARPET TILE COMPANY.
    â€œYou’re going to sell cardboard boxes from the White House?” I asked, incredulous.
    â€œAnd carpet tiles,” he added. “Plenty of people start businesses in their homes nowadays.”
    â€œBut they don’t live in the White House, Dad! It’s not cool.”
    â€œAre you ashamed of what your mother and I do for a living?” Dad asked, a little hurt. “No.”
    â€œDid you expect us to give up our careers when you became president?”
    â€œNo.” I hadn’t really thought about what my parents were going to do, I had to admit.
    â€œJudson, do you understand how capitalism works? Do you know what free enterprise means?”
    â€œUh, selling stuff?”
    â€œIt’s more than that, Judd. It means we live in a country where people compete freely to provide things they think other people want. That’s the basis of our American way of life. It’s why our standard of living is so high. The government didn’t tell me to sell cardboard boxes or some other guy to open a restaurant. I discovered there’s a need for cardboard boxes, so I’m filling that need. I sell boxes, and I’m proud of it. Starting this business out of the White House is my way of being a good American.”
    Dad always finds a way to make it seem that life itself revolves around cardboard boxes. He once spent an hour explaining to me what the world would be like if we didn’t have cardboard boxes. I won’t bore you with the details, but basically civilization collapses because we don’t have anything to put stuff in.
    â€œI see what you mean,” I sighed. “But if Abraham Lincoln’s ghost shows up one night and tells you to get your stuff out of his room, can you move your home office someplace else?”
    â€œSure, son,” he chuckled.

“Okay, Mr. President, let’s get cracking!” Chief of Staff Lane Brainard said cheerfully when he walked into the Oval Office the first thing Monday morning.
    The weekend had been great, but I was excited and anxious to get to work doing good things for America.
    â€œLane,” I began, “when I was campaigning, I promised the children of America the first thing I would do as president would be to abolish homework. So we should start working on that right away.”
    Lane looked at me with a blank expression on his face.
    â€œYou’re joking, right, Moon?”
    â€œNo, I’m totally serious.”
    â€œYou don’t honestly think the president has the power to abolish homework, do you?”
    â€œWell, yeah,” I admitted.
    Lane threw back his head and laughed. “You think the president just dreams up new laws and suddenly everybody has to obey them?”
    â€œThat’s not how it works?”
    â€œMoon, with all due respect, get a clue! This is how it works. Our government is sort of like a tree. There are three big branches. The first is the Executive branch. That’s you, the president. The second is the Legislative branch. That’s the Senate and House of Representatives, which make up Congress. The third is the