dealti1108

@@@@@ For the next several weeks, Mike and I ran around our neighborhood, knocking on doors and asking our neighbors if they would save their toothpaste tubes for usWith puzzled looks, most adults consented with a smileSome asked us what we were doingTo which we replied, "We can't tell youIt's a business secret My mom grew distressed as the weeks wore onWe had selected a site next to her washing machine as the place we would stockpile our raw materialsIn a brown cardboard box that one time held catsup bottles, our little pile of used toothpaste tubes began to grow Finally my mom put her foot downThe sight of her neighbors' , messy, crumpled used toothpaste tubes had gotten to her"What are you boys doing?" she asked"And I don't want to hear again that it's a business secretDo something with this mess or I'm going to throw it out Mike and I pleaded and begged, explaining that we would soon have enough and then we would begin productionWe informed her that we were waiting on a couple of neighbors to finish using up their toothpaste so we could have their tubesMom granted us a one-week extension The date to begin production was moved upMy first partnership was already being threatened with an eviction notice from our warehouse space by my own momIt became Mike's job to tell the neighbors to quickly use up their toothpaste, saying their dentist wanted them to brush more often anywayI began to put together the production line One day my dad drove up with a friend to see two 9-year-old boys in the driveway with a production line operating at full speedThere was fine white powder everywhereOn a long table were small milk cartons from school, and our family's hibachi grill was glowing with red hot coals at maximum heat Dad walked up cautiously, having to park the car at the base of the driveway, since the production line blocked the carpor