That Cool, Refreshing Drink

Marley and Rudy were tiny entrepreneurs, running a lemonade stand in the brisk sunshine yesterday. We thought we'd take advantage of the open house next door, and when I asked Todd if that was obnoxious, he said, "If they don't want to buy lemonade from my kids, I don't want them to be my neighbors."

No one from the open house bought lemonade from us. But it wasn't a very busy open house anyways. Thankfully, Heather and Danielle each drove out with their kids to buy a couple of cups. Marley was a little flustered each time she had to make change and pour a glass, but she was a sweet little shopkeeper.

The lemonade stand did take on a life of its own, though. Our neighbors from across the street, two boys, ages three and seven, were involved from the get-go. And just when we were wrapping up, two sisters from a few houses down pedaled over and got in on the action. And then two boys and their sister from even farther down the road joined the company.

So by the time Todd and I finally closed up shop, the stand had been open for almost five hours, and we hadn't made much since I told all of the employees that they could help themselves to the lemonade. It was fantastic because Marley had all the neighborhood kids over her house to play. But she was also sort of glum because they were all older kids, and I think she felt too small to elbow her way back in when they were running the joint on their own for a while.

At twenty-five cents a cup, we made about twelve or thirteen dollars, mostly through large tips. Marley put all of the coins into her piggy bank, and she used five dollars to buy a pack of sand toys this morning. The five dollars that's left will be a donation for our library. And believe me, we're not doing another lemonade stand for at least a couple of months. Even though Bean asked me to set one up again this morning.