Stories From Summer; Stranger Tales From The Summer of '85

24. Lemonade Stand

24. Lemonade Stand

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While the Party™ was playing in the blanket fort they had made in the Wheeler's backyard, Karen had called out to Holly - telling her that her friend Tiffany had arrived for a play date, causing Holly to squeal with happiness and ditch her brother and his friends for her own friend that had come round.

El watched Holly go with a smile on her face, happy that Holly has some friends of her own to hang out with.

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Holly and Tiffany were playing with the My Little Pony toys that Holly had been playing with El not too long ago when Holly noticed something around her wrist.

"What's that?" Holly grabs the girl's wrist and brings it closer to her face.

"Snap bracelet," Tiffany said, prying Holly's fingers away from her wrist and then showing the youngest Wheeler how the snap bracelets work.

Holly gasped and looked at the bracelet in awe as it snapped around Tiffany's wrist and bent perfectly to her wrist.

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"Mommy! Mommy! Can I get a snap bracelet like Tiffany's?" She asks, showing Karen the bracelet that was around Tiffany's wrist.

Karen could see how this was going to end, Karen would go out and buy Holly a 'snap bracelet', she'd use it for a short amount of time and then find something else that will entertain her.

"How about you make a lemonade stand, and use the money to buy a snap bracelet?" Karen offers, as Mike walks into the kitchen to get some snacks for the Party™. "Mike can help you," Karen said, and Mike looked up from where he was looking in the fridge.

"What? I can help with what?" Mike asks, grabbing a couple of cold cans of pop from the fridge and held them in his arms.

Karen looked at Mike as El walked into the kitchen as well, grabbing the cans from Mike's arms and looking between Karen, Holly, Holly's friend and Holly's friend's mother.

"You can help Holly with her lemonade stand," Karen said, taking another sip of her drink, and looking at her son as if to say 'you're doing this and you aren't getting out of it'.

"Can Ellie do it as well?" Holly asked, reaching over for the hem of El's top, Karen only knew her as Jane, and was confused as to why Holly was calling her 'Ellie'.

On the inside of her head, Karen shook away the thought and nodded at her daughter. "If it's ok with her and her dad, it's ok with me," Karen said, watching as Holly looked up at El with her big eyes.

"Please, Ellie, please, please, please!" Holly begged, jumping up and down, hoping that El would say yes.

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- 2 days later -

Mike was finishing help Holly set up her little lemonade stand, and smiled when El turned up at the Wheeler house on the new bike that Hopper had bought her for her legitimate birthday in February.

"Ellie!" Holly smiled, as El put the bike behind the little stand and jumping up into El's arms and hugging her tightly, happy to see her again within the same week.

"Hello, you, what a surprise seeing you again this week," El commented, putting Holly back on the ground and looked at the jug sat on the stand and then the two sat underneath to keep them cool.

She smiled at Holly, as the smaller girl sat in her little chair and was prepared for her first customer.

"Is that jug going to get really warm?" El asked pointing to the one sat on the stand.

"That's a good point, El," Mike said, reaching under the table, and pulling out a massive umbrella and set it just right so that the jug was protected from the sun.