Episode 1 – Emily’s Lemonade Stand

Emily had counted her money three times.

She even counted it backwards once, just in case a few extra coins decided to appear.

They didn’t.

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The Art Set

Emily had been thinking about the art set for three whole days.

It sat on the shelf at the store in a purple box with a clear plastic top. Inside were paints, markers, crayons, colored pencils, and two tiny paintbrushes with shiny gold handles.

Emily had looked at it for so long that Mom finally said, “Are you trying to move it with your eyes?”

Emily had smiled, but she still wanted it.

Now she sat at the kitchen table with her piggy bank in front of her.

She shook it.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

That was not a very big sound.

Dad helped her count the money.

“Seven dollars and thirty-two cents,” he said.

Emily leaned her head on the table. “That’s not enough.”

“Not yet,” Mom said.

Emily lifted one eye. “Not yet?”

Mom smiled. “You could earn the rest.”

Emily sat up. “How?”

Dad opened the fridge and took out a lemon. “Well, it is a sunny Saturday.”

Emily looked at the lemon.

Then she looked out the window.

The sidewalk was bright. Mrs. Parker was watering flowers next door. A boy was riding his scooter past their house.

Emily’s eyes got wide.

“A lemonade stand?” she asked.

Dad held up the lemon like it was a prize. “That was my idea.”

Emily jumped out of her chair. “I need a sign!”

Her little brother Daniel looked up from his cereal. “I need lemonade.”

“You can help,” Emily said.

Daniel frowned. “Is helping like drinking?”

“Not really.”

“Then I need to think about it.”

Emily’s Stand

Dad found a folding table in the garage. Mom helped Emily squeeze lemons into a big glass pitcher.

Emily made the sign herself.

She wrote:

EMILY’S LEMONADE STAND

Then she wrote:

50 CENTS

Under the words, she drew three lemons.

The first lemon looked happy.

The second lemon looked sleepy.

The third lemon looked a little worried.

Daniel pointed to it. “That one is me when I hear the vacuum.”

Emily laughed. “Lemons are not scared of vacuums.”

“You don’t know that,” Daniel said.

They carried everything outside.

Emily put the table near the sidewalk. She spread a blue towel over it and lined up paper cups in a row. Dad set the pitcher in the middle.

Mom gave Emily a small jar for coins.

“You ready?” Mom asked.

Emily stood behind the table and nodded.

For a minute, nothing happened.

A car drove by.

A bird hopped in the grass.

Daniel whispered, “Maybe people don’t know what lemonade is.”

Emily looked at him. “Everyone knows what lemonade is.”

Then Mrs. Parker came down the sidewalk with her little brown dog, Peanut.

“Well, this looks nice,” Mrs. Parker said.

Emily stood very straight. “Would you like some lemonade?”

“I would love some.”

Mrs. Parker gave Emily two quarters.

Emily poured carefully. A little lemonade splashed onto the table, but not much.

Mrs. Parker took a sip.

“Mmm. Perfect for a hot day.”

Emily dropped the quarters into the jar.

Clink. Clink.

It was a small sound, but it made her smile.

A Hot Day

After Mrs. Parker, more people came.

The boy on the scooter bought a cup.

The mail carrier bought a cup.

Mr. Lee bought two cups because he said pulling weeds was “harder than it looked.”

Emily said thank you every time.

Daniel sat on the grass beside the stand and called, “Cold lemonade! It is wet and yellow!”

“Daniel,” Emily whispered, “don’t say it like that.”

“But it is,” Daniel said.

Emily tried not to giggle while she poured another cup.

By lunchtime, the jar had a little pile of coins in it.

Emily picked it up and shook it gently.

Clink, clink, clinkity-clink.

The art set felt closer.

Then a girl Emily had never seen before stopped at the table.

She had curly hair, pink shoes, and a backpack with stars on it.

“Hi,” Emily said.

“Hi,” the girl said. “Can I have one cup?”

Emily poured the lemonade and handed it to her.

The girl reached into her backpack.

She checked one pocket.

Then another.

Then she checked her shorts pockets.

Her face got red.

“Oh no,” she said. “I forgot my money.”

Emily looked at the cup.

Then she looked at the coin jar.

She really wanted the art set.

But the girl looked hot and embarrassed, and the lemonade was already in her hand.

Emily took a small breath.

“It’s okay,” she said. “You can have it.”

The girl blinked. “Really?”

“Really.”

The girl smiled. “Thank you. I’m Mia.”

“I’m Emily.”

Mia took a drink. “This is really good.”

Emily smiled back. “Thanks.”

When Mia walked away, Daniel leaned over.

“You forgot the money part.”

“I didn’t forget,” Emily said.

“Oh,” Daniel said. “So you did that on purpose?”

Emily nodded.

Daniel thought about this. “That was nice. Bad for the jar, but nice.”

Emily laughed.

The Last Cup

Soon the pitcher was almost empty. Emily’s feet were tired. Her hands were sticky. One paper cup had blown into the bushes, and Daniel had decided the coin jar made a good drum.

Mom came outside. “How is the business going?”

“Good,” Emily said. “But hard.”

Dad grinned. “That’s most businesses.”

Just then, Mia came back down the sidewalk. This time, she was holding an older woman’s hand.

“That’s her,” Mia said.

The woman smiled at Emily. “Mia told me you gave her lemonade when she forgot her money.”

Emily looked down. “It was just one cup.”

“One cup can still be kind,” the woman said. “May we buy the rest? Her cousins are visiting, and everyone is thirsty.”

Emily looked at the pitcher. There was just enough for five small cups.

“Sure,” she said.

She poured slowly so each cup had the same amount.

Mia helped carry two of them.

The woman gave Emily a few dollars.

Emily stared at the money. “This is too much.”

“Then keep the extra for being thoughtful,” the woman said.

Emily looked at Mom.

Mom nodded once.

“Thank you,” Emily said.

When they were gone, Emily looked inside the jar.

There were coins at the bottom and folded bills tucked against the side.

Daniel peeked in too.

“That jar got better,” he said.

Emily smiled. “Yeah. It did.”

Later, Dad helped her count everything at the kitchen table.

Emily still did not have quite enough for the art set.

But she was much closer.

“You did a lot today,” Dad said.

Emily nodded. She felt tired, but in a good way.

Mom put the empty pitcher in the sink. “What was your favorite part?”

Emily thought it would be the money.

But it wasn’t.

“When Mia came back,” she said.

Mom smiled. “That was a pretty good part.”

Under the Oak Tree

After dinner, Emily went outside to bring in her sign.

The wind had knocked it over near the old oak tree in the backyard.

The grass was cool now. The sky was turning pink.

Emily picked up the sign and brushed dirt off the corner.

Then she noticed something under one thick tree root.

It was small.

Just a tiny corner of yellow paper sticking out of the dirt.

Emily crouched down and touched it with one finger.

The paper looked old.

Very old.

She brushed away a little dirt.

There was a faded line on it.

Maybe two.

“Emily!” Dad called from the porch. “Time to come in!”

Emily looked at the paper for one more second.

Then she stood up, holding her lemonade sign against her chest.

“Coming!” she called.

But as she walked back to the house, she kept thinking about the tiny yellow corner under the tree.

Tomorrow, she decided, she would take a closer look.