Morrijack - when life gives you lemons

...lemons...

I woke up really early the next morning. I felt like I was drunk with a good mood, so I put on a light blue dress made of fine fabric and walked out of the cabin straight onto the cold sand. I sat on the wooden steps in front of the entrance to the cabin and watched the sun rise from behind the sea.
I looked around at the other cabins, which were set up in a row at the edge of the forest, with windows and doors facing the sea.
Anah was sitting on the steps of the cabin of hers. When she saw that I noticed her, she tapped the spot next to her.
I got up and there. "Thaddea still asleep?"
"No. She said she was going to exercise in the woods."
"I didn't know that he also practices in nature. Don't karate fighters do that?"
"What if she gets lost? Maybe I should have gone with her," Anah worried. I shook my head: "Don't worry, she'll find herself if she gets lost. Listen... Can I ask you something?"
"He didn't tell me anything, but if you ask me, there is something..."
"Uhm... I mean... What?"
Anah grew red: "Weren't you going to ask, what Jack thinks about you?"
I hugged my knees and stared at the ground. "I... uh... Not really."
"Oh, so, um... What did you want to ask?" Anah said tucking her curls behind her ears.
I remembered the note I had set on my phone the day before yesterday. "I wanted to ask... Well... When life gives you lemons, you...?"
Anah nodded and gazed thoughtfully at the waves. "I know I should make lemonade, but... I'd rather eat it like it was. It's good for the immune system. You know, lots of vitamins and stuff. Although... Maybe the acid would burn your tongue a little if you ate it all..."
"Burn?"
"Well, yes. It can happen."
"Hi guys."
We both turned around. Thaddea came out of the forest. The question flew out from me, before I could bite my tongue: "Thaddea, what would you do if life gave you lemons?"
The fighter raised both hands, holding something yellow and the size of three tennis balls. "You hit the nail. I would probably complain, because I don't have much where to put them."
I just stared at the lemons in her hands.
Thaddea looked at the lemons, then me and Anah and back.
"Think fast," she said, throwing one to each. Anah grabbed hers, but I handed mine back to Thaddea: "No thanks, you found them."
"Does that mean you would return them?" Anah asked me.
I spotted Jupiter on the other side of the row of cabins.
"Maybe," I answered and went to my patron.

• • •

Later that day, sometime around lunchtime, we decided to climb up, closer to that volcano - of course Hawthorne came up with the idea and the others approved.
Those who wanted could stay on the beach, but in the end we all went.
Cadence wanted to stay, but Hawthorne talked her out of it.
Anah was afraid that we would get lost, but Jupiter told her that this is not exactly an island to get extra lost on.
I went... I don't even know why I went there, but I've been terribly hyperactive since morning, and besides, it was a good opportunity to ask about lemons.

"What do you mean, of course Saint Nick is better..."
"Don't piss me off, I know all your secrets," Jack threatened with a laugh. He grabbed a banana from under a palm tree by the sidewalk and pointed it at Hawthorne, saying: "Besides, I've got a banana and I'm not afraid to use it!"
The group burst into laughter.
Jack turned, winked at me, and tossed me a banana.
"Whoooo!" pulled Thaddea. I tried to ignore the comment and pressed my finger to my lips.
Jupiter walked in front, deep in the conversation with Lam.
I quietly approached him, and when I wanted to press the banana on his back and shout at him to raise his hands above his head, Lam turned and took the banana from my hand.
I just stared with my mouth open, but then I turned back to Cadence and Thaddea angrily.
"That was supposed to be what?" Hawthorne's eyes widened quizzically. I shrugged: "I think she just saw it, so she did it to provoke me."
Anah turned and said over her shoulder: "I was expecting you to come there and ask about lemons."
I nodded: "Yeah, but I already know what they'd do. Lam would give them back because she'd know Life would give them to her. Jupiter would make lemonade. Hey, and while we're at it... Hawthorne, when Life gives you lemons, you...?
Hawthorne didn't even think twice. "I'd make some ice cream! Lemonade isn't enough, it's too hot around me," he blurted out, obviously satisfied with his answer, that made other laugh.
As soon as he finished that, he was interested in something else.
He glanced over Cadence's shoulder. Then snatched the phone from her hand. "Hey, what do you have here? Are these my pictures? HmmM..."
I looked at Cadence and decided to go back to the lemons to get her out of it. I cleared my throat. "So Cadence, what would you do if Life gave you lemons?"
Cadence scowled and gritted out: "I'd throw them at Hawthorne!"
She tried to reach for her phone, but Hawthorne raised his hand high in the air. He was walking backwards and Cadence was trying as for life to reach her mobile until...
"Whoa, watch where you're going, my old friend!"
Jack emerged from behind Hawthorne and waved his way through the group to me, taking Cadence's phone from him in the process.
"Here."
"Thank you," she muttered, tucking it into her pocket.
Jack and I were walking pretty close now. We touched shoulders here and there. I was suddenly feeling awkward. I only needed to overcome two centimeters to be able to grab his hand, but I was too nervous and he knew it. And also... Too many people.
I turned to Mahir who was walking behind me. "Mahir, if Life gives you lemons. What would you do?"
Mahir shrugged and grinned at me. "I'd return them. I guess it didn't understand English. I don't like lemons very much," he said.
I nodded. "Interesting answer, yeah."
But Mahir wasn't done yet. "What would you do?"
"Good question," I said.
"So?" Hawthorne asked. I shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe I don't know."
Thaddea gave me a calculating look and declared: "Or maybe you don't want to tell us."
I just took a breath to rebuff her with the answer I also gave her in the morning...
"Maybe," Jack said a second before I could. He touched my hand with his fingers, but immediately pulled it away, as if hesitating, or... Or maybe a little afraid. I looked at him. He had a small - shy - smile on his face, but he looked away almost immediately.
I was sure I could see a faint streak of red running horizontally across both of his cheeks.
Mates behind us elbowed each others ribs as if for life.

• • •

"Arch?"
"Huh?"
"I think you know what I want to ask."
Arch nodded, "Ah. Those lemons. I give it back to Life, because I probably just stole them. I'm sorry, but I have no other answer to that. Try asking Francis."
Francis, who was sitting near the top of the volcano raised his head: "Ask me what?"
"The lemon thing," I said, sitting down next to him. I looked at the sea and everything that was below us.
We were sitting on top of Jaida volcano and below us spread the island and the sea around it. The sky was clear and could be seen far into the distance.
Jupiter and Jack went to see Jim, Jupiter's friend, who was living in a tree house about half way up from the beach. They escorted us here and returned.
Francis turned to me. "Are you asking everyone, because of that song I sang?"
I shook my head. "No, I started it at home. But you hit the nail yesterday. So, what would you do?"
The gastronomist thought for a moment. Then he said: "Make a lemon cheesecake. There are just a few more ingredients, but I don't have any of them here on the island. Anyways. Lemon cheesecakes are the newest trend now, especially in the summer."
I smiled. "Great, thanks for the answer."

• • •

We arrived back at the beach in the early evening. When I entered my room, I found a note on the bed.

Jim would give you those lemons. According to him, you know exactly what to do with them.

- J.K.