Sunday, June 15, 2008
Lemonade
After weeks of being away, I finally arrived home today. Around dusk, I stepped outside my apartment building and heard, “Lemonade! Fresh lemonade!”
Two adorable boys, maybe ten years old, had set up a lemonade “stand” using a long concrete bench.
“I’ll take one,” I said. “How much?”
“Seventy-five cents!”
“How about I give you a dollar?”
“For a dollar,” one of them said very seriously, “you get mint in it.”
Such little Manhattanites! When I sold lemonade as a kid, it was little more than a bag of yellow powder mixed with water. But this lemonade was freshly squeezed and, as promised, came with a sprig of mint.
When there are lemonaide kids? I mean, I WANT to help. Except…no I don’t. I never have a dollar! Also, I am going home kid, I need a drink. A DRINK drink. Also, I am creeped out enough by the ticking of my biological clock without finding your crass consumerism cute. Cute! Bah!
(I need to stop using the internet & go to bed!)
Ah, but you see, I WANTED that lemonade. I love lemonade. Also, those kids live in my building. Also, I channel my grandparents and parents to say that it’s good for kids to know firsthand that money needs to be earned.