Lemonade Stand

The Lemonade Stand is a creepy story about two young boys who sell lemonade by the side of the road when they encounter a strange couple in a rusty old car.

I grew up in a very small town in Montana and, during the Summer, my brother and I would sometimes sell lemonade by the side of the road. We didn’t make a lot of money, but we did have fun selling the lemonade to people who were passing by.

One hot afternoon, my brother and I were standing at our lemonade stand, when we noticed an old, rusty car pass by us two or three times. At the time, it struck me as a little creepy. Eventually, the car slowed down and stopped right in front of the stand.

There was a woman in the passenger seat and, as she rolled her window down, I saw she was really skinny with gray hair that was stained a sickly yellow hue from too much smoking. I couldn’t see the man who was driving very well because he never looked at me and just stared straight ahead. Both of them seemed very odd and their clothes were old and dirty.

“You boys out here selling lemonade all by yourselves?” croaked the woman.

“Yeah, my mom lets us,” I replied.

“Is your mom home?” she asked.

“Yeah, she’s in the house,” I said.

The woman turned and looked at the man who was driving. He nodded, still staring straight ahead.

The woman turned back to me and said, “OK, I’ll have a lemonade.”

“That’ll be 25 cents,” I said as I poured her a glass.

She rummaged around in her purse and I could hear coins clinking. Then, she pulled out a five dollar bill and held it out to me. A chill went down my spine.

Why was she handing me a five dollar bill if she had coins in her purse?

Something just didn’t feel right.

“I don’t have any change,” I lied.

“You can keep the change,” she croaked. “Just come and take it.”

Something felt very wrong, but five dollars is a lot of money to a kid.

I walked up to the car and reached out to take the five dollars from her hand.

As soon as my fingers touched it, the woman suddenly grabbed me by the wrist and began pulling me into the car.

I screamed my lungs out and my brother ran to the house, yelling for help. The man floored the accelerator and the car lurched forward. I fought with all my might and managed to wrench myself free from her grasp. The car stopped and the man got out, but I was already running for my life.

My brother was pounding on the door and screaming. My mother rushed out and I turned just in time to see the rusty, old car speeding away. We told my mom what had happened and she called the police.

When my brother and I calmed down and went back to the lemonade stand, there was a five dollar bill lying on the ground. We packed up the lemonade stand and put it away for good.