Lemon Row

Chapter 7: Strange family reunion

The two boys picked up the filled red plastic cups of the dubious substance that lies before them. Lemuel grimaced at the unsightly beverage then looked up at Rowe who had the face of a regretful fool. "Cheers?" He smiled sheepishly holding it somewhat close to Lemuel. Both boys clunked cups together and began to drink, yet it didn't take long to spout it out. It was rather sour and not really that sweet until it went spilling as the heavy grains of sugar sat on their tongues.

It was unnoticeable at first, yet there was another girl who stood at the lemonade stand. She was a stout child with a somewhat strange sleeveless nightgown that draped down covered most of her body. "Thank you for trying our lemonade." She said with an innocent squeaky voice. Rowe's expression went sour then rushed over to see the short child whose head couldn't make it above the table. "RAINE?!?" He gasped. Rowe seemed more regretful than ever and fell onto his knees covering his face groaning in embarrassment. Lem peeked over the stand and saw the little fairy-sized child standing below.

"Is this your girlfriend?" She asked bluntly. Lemuel gave a puzzled stare to the child. "I'm a guy." He frowned. The child brushed it off and began to flap her arms from underneath the garment. "You must be embarrassed being around my brother." She mumbled as she shuffled the two sheets of green with her small grubby hands. A woman from the house behind walked out and picked up the fairy sized child and praised her for the efforts.

She turned over to the two boys and saw Rowe mumbling in embarrassment to himself. "You are such a good older brother aren't you. Since we are both here, let's go back home together." She smiled. He wasn't surprised she was there because Raine wouldn't be able to do anything without her. Literally. "Mom?!? What are you and Raine doing here?!?" He whispered in embarrassment. Lemuel watched the commotion from a safe distance, yet listened closely. Rowe's mom took both Raine and Rowe's hands and trailed along the sidewalk continuing the conversation as Lemuel followed along from behind. "Your sister was doing a lemonade sale to support her preschool, but it so happens to be a competition all across the city!" She exclaimed. Raine was mumbling to her mom, but she wasn't listening to her at all. Her mother turned over to the three kids and grinned mischievously towards them holding her keys out in front of them. "If it's okay with your little friend here, we all can have a celebration dinner for the number of sales we made. What do you guys say?" Lemuel looked at both of the Rowe and Raine then cleared his throat. "My parents won't be home for a while, so if you don't mind I may come over?"

Rowe turned over to his mom clenching his teeth and throwing his head side to side. She embraced the children into her arms giving them a tight squeeze. "This will be the first time Rowe had a friend at the house!" She squealed. The day couldn't have been any longer, and having dinner together became the last thing Rowe could ever think of.