Lemonade
There were few spots on earth as deserted as Cindy and Michele's homemade lemonade stand that Saturday afternoon.
There was Antarctica, Death Valley, and the Outback of Australia...
But these remote places were in unpopulated areas.
The lemonade stand was right there.
On the corner of Richmond and 6th.
In one of the leafiest parts of town.
It was five blocks from the military base, and nine blocks from the Megachurch where Cindy's father, Pastor Gregory, led standing room-only sermons four days a week.
Plenty of traffic blew past, often halting at the stop sign; and many drivers even called out
hi
to the girls.
But nobody wanted to buy lemonade.
"I don't get it," said Cindy. "When did everyone stop wanting our lemonade?"
"I'm not sure they ever did," said Michele, shooing a bug away from the pitcher.
"Nonsense! For years people would stop and buy a cup," said Cindy. "Recruits from the naval base, Daddy's parishioners, even some of our teachers..."
"Yeah, but we were kids then," said Michele. "I'm 19 now. You will be too in a few weeks. Nobody sees us as charity anymore."
"All I know is summer's gonna be a disaster if we can't find a way to make some cash," said Cindy. "I have two goals by the fall, and I'm damned if anything is going to get in their way... I'm gonna buy a car - so that I can get the fuck out of this God forsaken town. And I'm going to get a proper cock inside me. Not one of those half-limp, don't-know-what-to-do with-them, college boy wieners. But a glorious, hung specimen of a real man's cock."
"Well, good luck finding a cock like that in Fullerton," said her friend. "I feel like we'd have heard about it."
"Then I'll start with the car," said Cindy, "and drive elsewhere to find the cock. But either, way we need cash fast!"
"We need to figure out what there's a demand for here in Fullerton, but in short supply, and then sell that thing," said Michele.
"OK, Tony Robbins," said her friend. "But what does anybody want around here? Apart from new lawnmowers and dishwashers?"
"I have no idea,"
said Michele.
"How's the lemonade trade?" came a voice from a nearby yard.
It was old Mrs Prentice out watering her hyacinths.
"Non-existent!" replied Michele.
Cindy used a sweeping arm gesture to indicate the absence of customers on the block.
The only thing missing was a tumbleweed blowing past.
"You need to get your father to put in a good word for you with his congregation," Mrs Prentice said. "The people of this town listen to Pastor Gregory. And everybody loves lemonade.
I sure do!"
"Would you like to buy a cup?" Cindy asked.
"Oh no! I have two types of diabetes," said Mrs Prentice, "it'll put me in the red.'
"Mrs Prentice...' said Michele, "what is something that people who live here in Fullerton
want
but they can't get?"
"A good night's sleep!" the older woman said confidently. "Especially the men! They're wound up like a coil!"
And with that she disappeared behind a moving cloud of sprinkler water.
"Ugh,"
said Michele in defeat. "We're never going to get out of this town. We may as well start tending flowers like Mrs Prentice, because that's our only fate."
They counted the lemonade takings and discovered they'd made four dollars in three hours.
"Actually it's
3,"
said Michele, realizing one of the bills was Canadian.
At that moment, Michele's brother, Tom, pulled up in his pick-up truck.
He had dropped the girls off earlier that day and was returning to collect them.
"How did it go?" he asked, smiling as he stepped out the truck.
"After expenses, overheads, and factoring in inflation?" said his sister, pretending to calculate a complex sum,"... we almost covered the lemons."
"That sucks!" said Tom.
He was 24 years old and a former recruit at the Fullerton military base.
He'd been kicked out of service after being found in a compromising position with his female drill sergeant.
"You know this sleepy town as well as anyone, Tom," said Cindy, "what do you think residents need that the two of us could sell?"
"I'm going to be honest," Tom said, pouring himself a cup of lemonade and sitting on a wall nearby.
The liquid looked like piss as he held it up to the light.
"Lemonade is a young person's game. People don't pull over for a cup of it; they pull over to help cute kids make pocket money. Then they tip the lemonade out on somebody's lawn. You need to think bigger than lemonade if you want to make real dough."
"How do we do that?" asked his sister.
"I'll tell you straight," he said, pausing to swallow a mouthful of the tepid juice. "Your lemonade is not gonna bring the boys to the yard, but your milkshakes just might... You're a couple of hotties - forgive me, Meesh, for talking this way about my own sister..."
"No offense," she said. For it was true.
"And sex sells..." Tom went on, "so how about we set up a bikini car wash?"
"Are you kidding?" said Cindy. "My Daddy won't let me wear a bikini on the beach. I can't sell sex in this town. I'd be grounded for life."
"Aren't you 19?" Tom asked.
"Nearly. But trust me, Daddy has me on a leash until I'm 21, and even then he'll find a reason to limit my freedom. I'm not a prude... I'd love to sell my body if there was a way to do it anonymously."
"Well, if you're serious, there might be," said Tom, adopting a shadier tone, "have either of you heard of a
glory hole?"
"Is it something to do with religion?" Cindy asked.
"It can provide a religious experience," he said.
"It's giving head through a hole in the wall," Michele explained. She had little time for her friend's endless naΓ―vety.
"You put your head through a hole and suck someone's dick?" asked Cindy.
"No. The dick comes through the hole and you suck it in the room where you are."
"Then what's the point of the wall?"
Michele rolled her eyes; as if the answer was too obvious to waste her breath.
But then on reflection, she paused and turned to her brother: "What
is
the point of the wall?"
"Don't know," he said, shrugging. "Fantasy for the dudes? Who cares? For you two it's the ticket to remaining anonymous."