Karen's Lemonade Stand

by Ann M. Martin

  “I can sell lemonade to the Krushers at softball practice, Moosie!” I said.

  The kids on the team are not the only ones who come to practices. Parents and baby-sitters come with them. A lot of them stay to watch the game.

  I would sell my lemonade to all those hot and thirsty people. I would sell it before and after each practice. I would sell it during the breaks, too.

  Yippee! I ran to tell Kristy my plan.

  “It sounds good,” said Kristy. “Our next practice is on Thursday. Try it out and see how it goes.”

  On Thursday morning, I made a big batch of lemonade. (This time I let Nannie help me measure.) In the afternoon, Charlie drove Kristy, Andrew, and me to practice. Kristy was in charge of bringing the softball equipment. I was in charge of my lemonade stand. I had lemonade, the card table, plenty of napkins, cups, and my sign.

  Charlie helped me set up the stand when we reached the schoolyard.

  “Thank you, Charlie,” I said. I gave him a free cup of lemonade for being so helpful.

  We were the first ones at the school. But it was not long before kids started showing up with their parents and baby-sitters.

  “Come and get it! Come and get your ice cold lemonade!” I called.

  “Four cups, please,” said a voice.

  Was I hearing right? Did someone say four cups?

  I looked up and saw Dawn Schafer. Dawn is in the Baby-sitters Club with Kristy. She had brought Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie Barrett to the practice. Buddy and Suzi are on the team. Buddy is eight. Suzi is five. Marnie Barrett is two. She comes to watch almost all the games. She even has a Krushers’ T-shirt.

  “Four cups coming right up,” I said.

  Jamie Newton and his mother were next. Then Hannie, Linny, and David Michael came over. Nancy bought three cups, too. One was for her. The others were for her mother and her mother’s friend.

  Do you know what? People were lining up to buy my lemonade. It was hot outside. They were thirsty.

  “Come and get it! Come and get your ice cold lemonade,” I called.

  I did it! I found the customers. I sold my lemonade at the break and after the game. I could hardly wait for the next practice to sell my lemonade again.

  Be Back Soon

  “Come on, Karen,” said Kristy. “We are starting.”

  We were at the next practice. My lemonade stand was set up again. Business was booming. I wished I did not have to leave. I did not want to leave any thirsty customers behind.

  I got an idea. I borrowed a pen from Nancy’s mother. On the back of my sign I wrote in big letters BE BACK SOON. I hung up my new sign and returned the pen. Then I grabbed my glove and took my place behind third base.

  Matt Braddock was first at bat. Matt is an excellent softball player. He hit the ball on his first try. He ran all the way to third base.

  The kids on his side cheered and signed, “Yea, Matt!” (Matt is deaf, so we use sign language to talk with him.)

  I looked at the sidelines to see who was up next. It was Nina Marshall’s turn. Nina is four. She is not a very good softball player. But she tries very hard.

  While I was looking that way, I noticed Claire and Margo Pike eyeing the lemonade stand. They looked thirsty. I did not think they should have to wait for the break.

  “I will be right back!” I called to my teammates.

  I raced to the lemonade stand. Claire and Margo came running to me with their dimes.

  I quickly turned over my sign so it said KAREN’S LEMONADE STAND again. Then I poured two cups of lemonade. When I finished, I turned the sign over so it said BE BACK SOON. Then I returned to the outfield.

  I watched two players at bat. They did not hit any balls. I peeked at my lemonade stand. Two grown-ups were standing there talking. They were probably getting thirsty talking in the heat.

  I raced to the stand. On the way, I passed Kristy.

  “I will be right back!” I called.

  I turned over my sign so it said KAREN’S LEMONADE STAND again. The grownups each bought one cup.

  “Your side is up at bat, Karen!” called Kristy.

  I decided not to turn my sign over anymore. If anyone wanted lemonade I would run to the stand and serve them.

  I grabbed a bat and raced to home plate.

  “Here I am!” I said.

  David Michael was pitching. The balls he was throwing were going wild. I did not swing at any of them. After four balls I got to walk to first base.

  Oh, boy. While I was standing at first base, I saw someone at my lemonade stand. I thought about asking Hannie to take my place on first base. But I did not think Kristy would like that. Luckily for me the next three players struck out.

  “I will be right back!” I called.

  I raced to the stand and sold two more cups. By the end of the practice my money cup was filled with dimes.

  The next practice was on Saturday. I spent even more time at the lemonade stand then. I was selling lemonade more than I was playing softball.

  During the break, Kristy came to the stand to talk to me.

  “What if a ball is hit to the outfield when you are not there? You will let down your teammates.”

  I could tell she was angry. And she was right about letting down my team. So I made an important decision.

  “I am going to quit the team for a while,” I announced. “My lemonade stand needs me full time.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Kristy.

  “I am sure,” I replied.

  Playing softball was fun. But selling lemonade was even more fun than that.

  Bobby’s Stand

  “Come and get it! Come and get your ice cold lemonade!” I called.

  It was my first day as a full-time lemonade sales person. I had set up everything by the time kids started arriving with their parents and baby-sitters. I was lucky because it was hot and sunny again. That meant everyone was going to be thirsty.

  “Hi, Karen,” said Bobby Gianelli.

  Bobby lives near the little house. He is in my class at school.

  Bobby and his father were doing something interesting. They were setting up a table next to mine. Hmm.

  “Are you going to sell lemonade, too?” I asked.

  I was worried. Bobby used to be a bully. Now he is nice most of the time. But it would not be nice if he set up his own lemonade stand near mine.

  “I am not going to sell lemonade,” Bobby replied. “I am going to sell chocolate chip cookies.”

  “Cool!” I said. “Cookies and lemonade are very delicious together.”

  Bobby got everything ready. Then he called, “Cookies! Chocolate chip cookies here!”

  “Lemonade! Ice cold lemonade here!” I called.

  Wow! Kids did not walk over. They ran! They were hopping from one stand to the other. They were buying cookies and lemonade. It was a good thing I had made extra lemonade for my first full day on the job.

  “Practice is starting, team,” called Kristy.

  “I have to go,” said Bobby. “See you at the break.”

  I watched the game and took care of some customers. Bobby was back in no time. We sold cookies and lemonade during the break. Then Bobby closed his stand again. When the game was over, he reopened it. We kept our stands open until the last person left the field.

  At the next practice, Bobby set up his stand next to mine again.

  “We are ready to start the game, team,” called Kristy.

  “Um, Kristy, can I talk to you for a minute?” asked Bobby.

  He talked to Kristy, then ran back to his stand.

  “I quit the team,” said Bobby. “I am now a full-time sales person, too.”

  When the game ended, Hannie came to keep me company.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “Sure,” I replied.

  I was glad Hannie wanted to help me. Business had been good that day. My arm was gigundoly tired from pouring lemonade. We took turns.

  “This is fun,” said Hannie. “Maybe I will op
en a stand, too. I could sell my home-made friendship bracelets.”

  “You could set up a table next to mine,” I said. “That would be so great!”

  “What would be so great?” asked Kristy from behind me.

  “Hannie might open a stand,” I replied.

  “I am thinking about selling friendship bracelets,” said Hannie.

  “Oh,” said Kristy. “Come on, Karen. It is time to go.”

  Kristy looked disappointed. First I quit the team. Then Bobby quit. If Hannie opened a stand, she would probably quit the team, too.

  This was not good news for Kristy.

  Melody’s Pool

  “The temperature just hit the one hundred degree mark, Connecticut.”

  “Oh, no, not again,” I said. “It is so hot out.”

  It was Saturday. I was having lunch with my big-house family. It had been three days since the last softball practice. No softball practice meant no lemonade stand. No lemonade stand meant I stayed inside. Inside it was air-conditioned.

  These hot days were getting to be just like rainy days. One is fun. Two are okay. Three or more are bor-ing!

  “I am going to call Hannie,” I announced. “Maybe she will be brave enough to go outside with me.”

  Hannie and I decided to call Melody Korman. We invited ourselves over to swim in her pool. Melody is seven. Her brother, Bill, is nine. They live across the street with their baby sister. Melody told me to bring my brothers, too.

  I put on my pink bathing suit, a big purple T-shirt, and my blue pool shoes. I was feeling better already.

  Hannie rang the bell. Linny was with her. The five of us went to Melody and Bill’s house. Wow! I was glad we had called. Half the neighborhood was there.

  “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Korman,” I said.

  “Welcome to the party,” Mr. Korman replied.

  (Mr. and Mrs. Korman always stay outside to watch the kids who are in their pool.)

  I took off my pool shoes and threw my T-shirt on a chair. Then I held my nose and jumped into the deep end.

  “Who wants to play Marco Polo?” asked Melody.

  All the kids did. Marco Polo is fun. Whoever is “it” closes his eyes and calls out “Marco!” The other kids have to answer “Polo!” That way the person who is it can hear where the other kids are and try to tag them. Whoever is tagged gets to be it.

  Linny was it first.

  “Marco!” he called.

  “Polo!” we answered.

  I was safe at the far end of the pool. Then Linny started heading in my direction.

  “Marco!” he called.

  “Polo!”

  “Marco!”

  “Polo!”

  He got me! I was the next it.

  We played Marco Polo for awhile. Then we played follow-the-leader in the water. That was fun, too. We did silly strokes and underwater tricks.

  While we were playing, the sky grew very dark. Then all of a sudden there was a flash of lightning.

  “Everyone out of the pool and into the house, please,” said Mrs. Korman.

  By the time we had hurried inside, we heard thunder rumbling. Then more lightning flashed.

  “Maybe we will finally get a storm that cools things off,” said Mr. Korman.

  We waited and wished for the storm to come. But it never did. This was the third time we had seen lightning and heard thunder, but no rain had come to cool us off.

  When the sky grew bright, we went outside and played in the pool again. Then we went back home to our air-conditioned houses.

  I wondered if the heat wave was ever going to end.

  Kristy’s Question

  “Come and get your ice cold lemonade!” I called.

  “Get your chocolate chip cookies!” called Bobby.

  “Get your homemade friendship bracelets here!” called Hannie.

  We were at a Krushers’ practice. The game had not started yet.

  “Hey, team. Would you come over here, please?” said Kristy. “I have something to tell you.”

  The kids gathered around. Bobby, Hannie, and I listened, too. Kristy was going to tell us something important.

  “I have decided that we should play a World Series against Bart’s Bashers,” said Kristy.

  (Bart Taylor is Kristy’s age. I happen to think that she has a crush on him.)

  “We will have to work hard if we want to beat the Bashers. That will make our practices a lot more fun,” said Kristy.

  Kristy led the Krushers in a team cheer.

  “Are we ready to get to work?”

  “Yes!”

  “Are we going to work hard?”

  “Yes!”

  “Are we going to beat the Bashers?”

  Only a couple of kids shouted “Yes!” The rest of the team looked kind of scared. We have played lots of games against the Bashers. We even played a World Series and won. But mostly the Bashers are better than us.

  “I know the Bashers are a little older than you guys. But we can win if we try hard. Now I want to hear that team spirit,” said Kristy. “Are we going to beat the Bashers?”

  “Yes!” (I shouted “yes” too even though I was not a Krusher anymore.)

  The practice was just starting when Nancy showed up. She was dragging a big shopping bag and a little folding table.

  “Guess what. I have decided to be a salesperson,” said Nancy. “I have to go help Kristy with the equipment now. I will see you at the break.”

  Nancy ran to the field and lined up the bats for the players. She made sure there were enough balls in the ball bucket. She handed out gloves to any player who needed one.

  As soon as Kristy called for the break, Nancy grabbed the table. She opened it up next to Hannie’s.

  “What are you selling?” I asked.

  “You will see,” replied Nancy.

  She dragged the shopping bag to the table. Then she started pulling out armloads of small plastic bags. Each bag was filled with trail mix and tied with a colored ribbon. Nancy lined the bags up on her table and called, “Trail mix! Trail mix for sale.”

  “Ooh. Cool idea,” I said.

  We did great business over the break. Then Nancy helped out Kristy during the second half of the practice. When it was over, she returned to her trail mix stand.

  “Trail mix. Get your trail mix here!” she called.

  Soon Kristy appeared. “I thought you were going to help me put the equipment away,” she said.

  “Um, I would like to talk to you,” said Nancy.

  “I know,” said Kristy. “You quit.”

  “That is right,” said Nancy. “I am sorry.”

  “So am I,” replied Kristy. “If everyone quits the team, how are we going to play a World Series game?”

  This was a very good question. No one had a very good answer.

  Clunk! Thunk. Zap.

  Clunk! Thunk. Zap.

  “Oh, no!” I cried.

  “This is terrible,” said Elizabeth.

  “I will call the repair service,” said Daddy.

  The air-conditioning in the big house had broken down. It was already ninety-six degrees outside. I listened to Daddy talking on the phone.

  “We need someone to come over here right away,” said Daddy. He listened for a minute. Then he said, “Oh, I see.”

  “What happened? Are they coming right over?” I asked.

  “I am afraid not,” replied Daddy. “The company is overloaded with phone calls today. Everyone needs repairs. They would not even put us on their waiting list.”

  “I will get the phone book,” said Elizabeth. “There must be a company who can help us out.”

  Daddy and Elizabeth took turns calling every repair service in the book. A few of them took our name and said they would call back. But Daddy said we should not count on getting the air-conditioning fixed very soon.

  “All right,” said Elizabeth. “Here is Plan B. We go into town to buy air conditioners or fans that we can install in the windows. Who wants to come along?�
��

  “I do!” I said.

  So did everyone else. If we went shopping, we could go from the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned stores.

  We put down big bowls of fresh cold water for Shannon and Boo-Boo. (We figured our other pets would be okay until we came home.) Then we piled into the mini van.

  We started at Bellair’s Department Store.

  “Sorry. We are all sold out of air conditioners and fans,” said the salesperson.

  We got the same news at every store in town.

  “It is time for Plan C,” said Elizabeth.

  “What is that?” asked Daddy.

  “I do not know yet,” Elizabeth replied. “We will think of something on the way home.”

  By the time we returned to the house, we had Plan C. It was not great. But it was the best we could do. The plan was this: Anything goes!

  We all ran around the house opening windows and putting up screens.

  Sam and Charlie helped Daddy drag a few old, rinky-dink fans down from the attic.

  We took turns taking cold showers. (Kristy was the timer. Three minutes per person.)

  We drank a lot of lemonade. (I was the lemonade mixer, of course.)

  I made paper fans from old newpapers. (I was too hot to decorate them.)

  The Kormans let us use their pool a lot. Our friends let us visit a lot.

  You know what? We had fun. (Sort of.) But at night, we had a big problem. Really we had a lot of little problems. Bugs. Nannie called them no-see-ems. They were attracted to the lights and they were tiny enough to get through our screens.

  They were everywhere!

  “Here is our choice,” said Nannie. “If we open the windows so we stay cool, we will have to keep the lights off so the bugs stay away. If we leave the lights on so we can see, we will have to close the windows to keep the bugs out.”

  I was not having fun anymore. And it was two more days before the air-conditioning was repaired.

  Making Plans

  It was a Thursday morning. Kristy had called for an early practice. That is because it is usually cooler before noon.