The Very Serious Lemonade Stand
8UNITED STATESSHORT STORY
Marcus
6/2/20261 min read
Marcus opened a lemonade stand to earn enough money for a remote-controlled boat.
He calculated that he needed sixty dollars.
His first sign read:
LEMONADE — $5
His neighbour stared at it.
“Five dollars?”
“It is premium.”
“What makes it premium?”
Marcus had no answer.
He lowered the price to one dollar.
On the first day, he sold seven cups. He spent five dollars on lemons and sugar, which meant his profit was only two dollars.
At that rate, the boat would take a month.
Marcus decided to improve the business.
He offered regular lemonade, strawberry lemonade, and “mystery flavour,” which was regular lemonade with a different name.
His younger sister joined as an employee. She demanded half the profits.
Marcus offered ten percent.
She quit and opened a water stand beside him.
Her water was free.
Customers thanked her and ignored Marcus.
Marcus accused her of unfair competition.
She accused him of charging people for drinks when they were thirsty.
Their father suggested combining the stands.
They created a sign:
FREE WATER. LEMONADE $1. DONATIONS SUPPORT THE ANIMAL SHELTER.
Marcus had not agreed to the shelter part.
His sister had already written it in permanent marker.
That afternoon, people donated more than the lemonade cost. A jogger gave five dollars for water. A neighbour brought extra cups. Someone posted a photograph online.
By sunset, they had collected eighty-three dollars.
Marcus could buy the boat.
But most customers believed the money was for the animal shelter.
His sister looked at him.
“You can’t buy the boat now.”
“I did all the calculations.”
“You calculated wrong.”
The next morning, they delivered seventy-five dollars to the shelter and kept eight dollars to cover supplies.
A volunteer showed them dogs waiting for adoption and thanked them.
Marcus still wanted the boat.
He reopened the stand the following weekend with a new sign:
LEMONADE FUND: HALF FOR SHELTER, HALF FOR BOAT.
It took six weeks, but he eventually bought it.
On its first trip, the boat became stuck near the middle of a pond.
A shelter volunteer’s dog swam out and pushed it back.
Marcus decided this proved the business arrangement had been excellent.