Everett Girl Scout sells cookies with a song

EVERETT — Lexi Cathcart started singing as she stood behind a small table filled with boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

A man interrupted when he asked her how much a box of Thin Mints cost.

Four dollars, she told him. The man paid in cash and Lexi, 10, told him to have a nice day.

“Where was I?” she said, before the Junior Girl Scout restarted her song.

“I’m singing at the store, just singing at the store,” she sang. “What a wonderful feeling. I’m happy again.”

Lexi told everyone she encountered Wednesday evening at the Safeway store on Evergreen Way to “have a nice day” whether they bought cookies or not. Politeness is part of what Lexi, a fourth-grader at Emerson Elementary School, brings to her Girl Scout cookie-selling routine. During storefront cookie sales a year ago, she added something else.

To keep warm, Lexi and her mom, Connie Cathcart, started step dancing. Then Lexi started singing. She made up one line about selling cookies to the tune of “Singing in the Rain” and then made up some more.

The girl continued her tune Wednesday between handing customers boxes of cookies.

“Look out camp, here I come. I can’t wait to have fun. I’m just singing, just singing, at the store.”

She did some dancing, too. For one particular move, Lexi ran in slow motion. She switched to moving her arms in a robotic fashion and then put one hand behind her head and left the other outstreached as part of a sprinkler imitation.

It might seem like silliness, but it’s all part of Lexi’s serious effort to sell 900 boxes of cookies. That many boxes sold earns her five days at a camp, according to Girl Scouts of Western Washington.

“I need to get 900 boxes to go to horse camp,” Lexi said. “I like selling cookies so I can go to camp.”

She also wants to use the dough she earns selling cookies for baby-sitting classes.

The last day of cookie sales is March 18. So far, Lexi’s sold about 500 boxes. She and her mom plan to sell the rest needed to reach her goal during a dozen more 2-hour shifts.

Cathcart believes her daughter will reach her goal. Her daughter’s positivity makes a difference.

“People who have ignored her have actually gotten into their cars and then come back and bought cookies from her,” Cathcart said. “When one gentleman said he already bought some and she said, ‘Thank you for supporting the other Girl Scouts and have a nice day,’ he turned around and he came back and bought five boxes.”

Cookie selling helps Lexi use math skills as she determines how much money is owed and then makes change, Cathcart added. It helps her learn goal setting and self confidence.

The activity helps teach another thing, too.

“It teaches kindness,” Lexi said.

Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.