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“I’d like two lemonades please, and one cotton candy.” The man wordlessly poured two glasses of lemonade and inserted two curly straws. He crossed to the machine where the cotton candy was whirling around in a pink cloud-like circle. Jack stared at the tip jar stuffed with dollar bills. “That will be four-fifty,” said the man in the suit. He looked at him with his shriveled green eyes and Jack put the five dollar bill on the counter. The man glanced at the bill in disgust. “Oh, sir, I can’t accept this bill. Sorry.” He pushed it away. Jack’s cheeks turned red. “You’re going to have to take your business elsewhere,” the man said. “Give me my lemonade,” Jack demanded. “You’re setting up in front of my house and you put me out of business. I’m a damn eleven-year-old, okay? I’m sorry I couldn’t break your hundred dollar bill. I don’t know what you want.” The man stared down at him. Jack grabbed the lemonades and the cotton candy and told the man to keep the change. The lemonade was good. Not better than his mother’s, but good. Mrs. Cash let Jack spend his first day of retirement in front of the television. She let him fall asleep there and covered him in a knitted blanket. It was nice to see Jack out of his room for once. The next morning, Jack woke up early and his mother made him pancakes. She said she had phoned the Wopners and he was welcome to play in their sprinklers. “Those girls are very nice, Valerie and Hilary. Nice girls,” she commented. “You’ll have fun.” Jack changed into his swim trunks and headed across the street around noon. The LEMONADE stand was nowhere to be seen. There were people unfamiliar to the neighborhood lingering around their cars, waiting for it - but the fancy carnival tent and the businessmen never arrived. “Hi!” Valerie screamed from her lawn as Jack headed over. “Run through the water, it’s really fun!” Valerie was wearing a Minnie Mouse bathing suit and her dirty blond hair was stringy and wet. She had pretty little lips that reminded Jack of a flower. “Aaaaah! Feels funny!” said Valerie’s little sister Hilary. She was sitting on the sprinkler and it was spraying on her butt. She fell on the ground and squealed.
Jack ran through the sprinkler and decided that money didn’t
matter anymore. He was glad to be retired from the rough financial
world. Now he could focus on a more important enterprise: women. ***END***
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