Annie was so excited to open her lemonade stand for the
summer! She was going to use all of the
money she made from the stand to buy a ticket to a concert by the Shaggy
Kittens, her favorite band. If she made
enough money, she could even afford a special t-shirt only available at the
concert with pictures of the band on the beach.
Based on what she’d learned before[1],
Annie knew the best place to open her lemonade stand would be a busier street
than 11th Avenue, where she lived.
The more people walking by, the more people would spend money on her
lemonade, and the closer she’d be to seeing the Shaggy Kittens in person. Annie decided the perfect spot was the corner
of 11th Avenue and Clark Street.
It only takes a few minutes to walk there from her home, so it isn’t too
far to carry the table, sign, cups, and of course the day’s supply of lemonade,
as long as she used a couple of trips.
It is also right near a bus stop and some office buildings, so there are
lots of people walking by all the time.
Annie went to the corner on the first day of summer with her
table, humming her favorite Shaggy Kittens’ tune, “Now I’m going to Meow.” She almost switched from a hum to a scream
when she turned the corner. Guess what
she saw? Her best friend Milton was
sitting there, with his own lemonade stand and a big grin on his face.
Annie walked up to Milton and asked him exactly what he
thought he was doing. Milton said, “I’m
selling lemonade. I want to see my favorite
band, The Naughty Bulldogs, and need the money for a ticket.”
“But this is my
corner. I’ve been planning for months to
use it!” Annie cried.
Milton said, “It’s not
your corner. This is a free
country. Anyone can sell lemonade
wherever they want.”
Annie thought for a moment.
She could complain to her parents or Milton’s parents. They were always so busy though, and
sometimes got annoyed when she complained.
They might even take Milton’s side.
She could make herself cry, and hope that Milton would feet bad and
would go home. She tried that for a
minute, but Milton just ignored her, singing “Bow Wow Then and Now,” his
favorite Naughty Bulldogs song. Hmm,
crying didn’t make things any better.
Annie then looked around and decided that the spot right next to Milton
was as good as anywhere, and she could just as easily sell lemonade down the
street as on the corner. Maybe Milton’s
lemonade stand wasn’t such a problem after all.
Annie returned to her house a couple of times to get the
rest of the things for the lemonade stand, and was ready for business. Both she and Milton were selling lemonade for
25 cents a cup. Annie had thought hard
about the math. If she sold 10 glasses
of lemonade at that price every day, she could go see the Shaggy Kittens, buy a
t-shirt, and even have some money left over for snacks at the concert.
The first customer came by.
He looked like a nice man, who was very tired and sweaty from walking
around on this hot day. The man looked
at Milton’s stand, then at Annie’s stand, seeming confused as to why there were
two lemonade stand on the corner, and which one to pick. “Are you thirsty?” Asked Annie.
Come buy my lemonade!” The man
took a step towards Annie’s stand.
“Come buy my
lemonade!” said Milton. The man turned and took a step towards Milton’s
stand. Then he scratched his head and
said, “Well, why should I buy your lemonade?
Both cost 25 cents. Both look
really delicious.” Milton said, “I’ll
only charge you 20 cents!” The man took
another step towards Milton’s stand.
Annie got frustrated. How could
she stop the man from buying from Milton?
She thought quickly, “Two can play this game.”
“I’ll charge you 15 cents!” she called out. “l’ll charge you ten cents!” yelled Milton.
“Five cents! You can have my lemonade
for just a nickel!” said Annie. The man
kept on taking steps in one direction and then another, and finally tripped on
his own feet and fell. An ambulance had
to come and take him away to the hospital.
The rest of the day was miserable. Annie and Milton kept cutting prices in order
to take customers away from each other.
Happily nobody else had to go to the hospital. However, one time Milton offered to pay
someone ten cents to drink his lemonade instead. It was frustrating, and worst of all,
lowering prices meant that she would make less money each day. By selling lemonade for so much less than she
had planned, there was no way whatsoever that Annie could earn enough money to
see the Shaggy Kittens. She could try
selling lemonade somewhere else, but there was no other good corner
nearby. What could she do?
Annie walked home at the end of the day, dragging her table
and other equipment behind her. She was
too sad to even hum one of her favorite songs, “Fur Ball Blues.” Her Dad was home when she got there, and he
offered Annie a glass of lemonade. That
was the last thing she wanted after such a day!
She took a glass of nice apple juice instead and went into the backyard
to recover from the day and think.
How could she earn enough money to go see the Shaggy
Kittens? There was no way she could make
Milton close his stand or move it. Milton
was so stubborn, and loved the Naughty Bulldogs almost as much as Annie loved
the Shaggy Kittens. But as long as
Milton’s stand was there, there was no way she could sell enough glasses of
lemonade to go to the concert. She could
try to make an agreement with Milton, that they would both charge 25
cents. However, she knew it would be so
tempting to offer less money to customers whenever they were choosing Milton
over her. It was so exciting to get one
of his customers. It was like she could
feel herself a couple of steps closer to the concert each time that
happened. Annie saw the same happy look
on Milton’s face whenever he tempted one of her customers away. It would be too hard to keep such a
promise. Besides, she wanted to teach
Milton a lesson: nobody gets between her and the Shaggy Kittens. Making such an agreement would be too close
to letting Milton win.
Annie felt frustrated.
Her teacher, Mrs. Frederick, had taught her to take a nice deep breath
whenever she felt this way. She tried
it. The air went ssshhh though her
nose. She still felt frustrated; it
didn’t work. She tried another
breath. Ssshhhh went the air.
What was that smell?
Annie noticed that the mint in her mother’s backyard garden smelt nice
and refreshing. She walked over to the
mint plant. It was huge! Her mother had
planted the mint a couple of years ago, and almost never used any. The smell gave Annie an idea. Instead of selling lemonade, she could sell mint lemonade. It would be different and more delicious than
the plain lemonade that Milton was selling.
Instead of cutting her price to keep customers, she could sell something
different and better. What if Milton
tried to sell mint lemonade also? Annie
thought for a moment. Milton’s Dad had
lots of tomatoes and zucchini growing in his backyard, but no mint. It was a good plan!
Annie remembered she had to ask permission before just taking
the mint. Last year, Annie had taken some
peonies from the garden to decorate the table at a tea party, and her Mom had
been really mad at her. Annie had to take out the garbage for a whole
month. When her Mom came home, Annie
asked permission and her Mom agreed to let Annie use the mint. “It grows like weeds, even if I don’t water
it. Just make sure not to step on my
roses!” said Mom.
Annie set up the lemonade stand
in the same spot the next day, and just before opening for business, gave Milton
a mischievous smile. She then unveiled
her new sign:
FRESH MINT LEMONADE – SPECIAL AND
REFRESHING. 25 CENTS!
She saw Milton look at the new
sign and shrug. The first customer of
the day came by. She was a very elegant
looking woman. The woman, looked at
Annie’s sign, glanced at Milton’s stand, and then took several steps towards
Annie.
“I’ll sell you lemonade for
twenty cents!” said Milton. The lady
kept walking towards Annie. Annie
smiled. “OK ten cents!” Milton cried out. The lady kept coming towards Annie. “Five cents?” offered Milton. The lady looked at Milton, and said, “But I
don’t want plain lemonade. I like the
fresh taste of mint along with the sour taste of lemons.” Milton looked down at the ground and didn’t
say anything.
The rest of the day was the
same. Most people looked at the two
stands, and then chose Annie’s. Only a
pair of twins chose Milt’s stand, saying that mint gave them hiccups. Annie was really happy. She was right on track to buy her Shaggy
Kitten’s tickets.
The next day, Milton didn’t even
open his stand. He wound up starting an
ice cream sundae business for birthday parties instead, and was able to go to
his Naughty Bulldogs concert. After a
week, she and Milton had forgotten about the horrible day when they were
competing for customers, and played at the neighborhood pool happily.
At the end of the summer, Annie
had sold enough special and refreshing mint lemonade that she got a front row
seat to the Shaggy Kittens, along with a special VIP pass that let her pose for
pictures with the band after the concert.
Annie treasured that picture, and kept it along with some pressed mint
from the backyard on her dresser all of the next year to remind her of the
wonderful evening at the concert, and the idea that helped her get there.
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