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Saturday, April 13, 2019

L - Lemonade Stand #AtoZChallenge

My A to Z Challenge: Micro fiction, using 300 words or less, inspired by selected words along with a photo for inspiration. The words were chosen in reverse order from this lesson plan page.
(For example, for the letter A it was the 26th word on the list, for Z it was the 1st word on the list)



"Pop-Pop, tell us a story."

He looked at his three grandchildren and smiled. "What story?"

They chimed in unison, "How you named your company!"

"Well, I was barely able to drive and I found this old car for sale really cheap. It was painted an ugly yellow and had rust and dents all over it, but it ran. Most of the time, anyway. I had been saving my money for a long time, starting when I was only eight."

His youngest interrupted. "You and your sister had a lemonade stand. Right?"

He chuckled. "Yes we did. We made good money every summer by setting up near construction sites. When we got into high school, we started making lemonade all year and bottling it."

This time it was his oldest that barged in. "But you had a special ingredient, didn't you?"

"We did. Do you remember what it was?"

"Vanilla!" all three exclaimed.

"You're right. A dash of vanilla extract in each pitcher added a bit of exotic taste. Many told us it was addictive. For years, we never let anyone know what our special ingredient was. Back to when I found the car. It was what we would call a 'beater' car but I loved it. I knew I needed to do something more than just bottle and sell lemonade so your great-aunt Shelley took over that business and I started a small taxi company with my one beat up yellow car.

Because I didn't want people to know I only had one car, I named it the Lemon Cab Company in honor of both the car color and our childhood lemonade stand. In a couple of years I had several cars, all of them old yellow beaters. We became the ugly ducklings of the taxi business."

"Pop-pop, can we have some lemonade now?"

"Sure thing."



20 comments:

  1. We all know what became of the ugly duckling! A delightful tale of modest enterprise.

    My A-Z of Children's Stories

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  2. I've heard of lavender lemonade, but not vanilla lemonade. Fun story.

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    1. I've never heard of lavender lemonade but know there are a lot of variations people try.

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  3. I kind of want to try vanilla lemonade now. That sounds like it could be really good.

    https://planetpailly.com/2019/04/13/sciency-words-a-to-z-lgm-1/

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    1. Hey, why not! It is a real thing in some areas. Worst case, you toss it out!

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  4. Now I have to know - did your family make lemonade this way?

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    1. LOL! Nope, I just wanted something a little different and did a little research. Seems like it is a thing in some places.

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    2. "Sweet" interaction with grandkids/grandfather

      Beth
      https://bethlapinsatozblog.wordpress.com/

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    3. Thanks, Beth, I appreciate you taking time to visit/read/comment!

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  5. Cool story. I've never had lemonade with vanilla in it. Now I wonder if that'd be good.

    Pretty sure the beater cabs I've used in NYC. Ha ha...

    J Lenni Dorner~ Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge, Debut Author Interviewer, Reference& Speculative Fiction Author

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    1. In some places vanilla lemonade is really a thing. Not sure if I'll ever try it or not. I remember a car rental place in FL that advertised ugly cars. LOL!

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  6. Another cute one! The Lemon Cab Company took a chance on that one being that bad cars are called lemons :)

    Janet’s Smiles

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    1. I had fun coming up with this one...much more fun than a picture of a lemon. LOL!

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  7. It is always enjoyable to hear old-time stories.
    And to think that now those poor children would be arrested, either for selling products without a license or for selling food without a permit.

    http://gail-baugniet.blogspot.com/
    (AtoZ Theme: very short stories/various genres)

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    1. It always makes me sad when I read those stories. Budding entrepreneurs, shot down by bureaucrats (and noisy neighbors). Sad...

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  8. Most enjoyable tale. It is nice to read something light and bright. Even with the limited space in a micro story, for description, it is easy to imagine the evens.
    Fran
    TravelGenee visiting from the A to Z challenge.

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for stopping by to take time to read and comment.

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  9. Replies
    1. Thanks, Jeanne. I appreciate the drop-in and hope you will check out some of the other stories.

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