(This is a story Katie wrote for a class that is based on actual events. Please note that they were not under my supervision when this happened. The picture below was taken when there were around 4-5 years old. l to r: Jessica, Stephanie,and Katie)

License and Registration, Please


Gathered in a vibrant white kitchen, as the brutal sun seeps through the cracks in the windows, three girls, all around the age of eight, finally made the ambitious decision to spend this particular afternoon working a lemonade stand. Katie, the eldest and tallest of the three, stretched her pale, bony arms towards the top cabinet in search of some lemonade mix, while Jess looked on, nibbling on her chipped polished nails. Stephanie, the youngest, sat with her plump tanned body slumped in a white whicker chair, apparently quite perturbed that her idea to play hide-n-go seek was overruled by a pair of big meanies. When Katie announced that there is no lemonade mix in sight, Stephanie rockets out of her chair, making a snide remark about Jess and Katie’s ideas never working.
But, alas, there was some Arizona iced tea juice boxes in the fridge, so they squeezed each box, until it started to foam, into a clear pitcher. The pitcher wasn’t quite full, but with a little added tap water, it sure looked like they had enough iced tea to sell. Jess rummaged through the kitchen cabinets, flinging the crinkly bags of cool ranch Doritos, Fritos, and Vienna Fingers to Stephanie, who stumbles trying to carry everything.
All three sat outside, with the food and beverages on a plastic blue Playskool table, waiting for somebody to drive by. Their business started off with a bang; a tall blonde woman, dressed in jogging clothes, went by their lemonade stand while walking her dog, and it seemed as though the girls’ brilliant display of food and beverages helped the woman realize how parched she was. She bought two cups of iced tea for herself, giving the girls one whole dollar. The girls started getting excited with this whole concept of making money by selling food to strangers, and they have only been outside and have made some serious dough, that would have normally cost them two loose teeth. Perhaps strangers were a lot more generous than the tooth fairy.
It must have been lemonade season, because people were stopping left and right to buy some of the girl’s iced tea, but with success came an empty pitcher. By this time Katie and Jess, with George Washington on the mind, went inside, determined to find some more beverages to sell. Since there was no lemonade, and no more iced tea, the only thing they had to sell was their dad’s supply of Coca Cola that he keeps in the fridge in the garage. Katie took out all of the silver cans from the fridge, and passed them to Jess to put out on the table. Then she realized something: the cans didn’t say Coca Cola, they all said Coors light.
“Isn’t this beer?” Katie asked.
Jess replied, “Yeah, so we just can’t sell it to kids.”
Stephanie interjected, “Guys, I don’t think we should sell those. Can’t we get in trouble?”
Jess, looking really perturbed, gave Stephanie the evil eye, “Steph, you don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Whatever. All we have to do is ask for their license and registration.” Katie said, trying to get the show on the road.
So the three girls haul two six-packs of Coors light to the table, right next to the Vienna Fingers, hoping that this new beverage will bring even more customers. But, whole minutes went by, and not even a single car drove down the street. Jess, Katie, and Stephanie started to lose hope, until they saw a sharp red convertible pull up towards them.
The driver, a buff but pimply-faced guy, asks, “What is that you’re selling?”
Jess said very professionally, “Umm, we have Doritos, Fritos, Vienna Fingers, and Coors light. Food costs fifty cents, and the beer costs one dollar each.”
The driver turned to his buddies in the car, and after a few unspeakable words were murmured, he said with a wide grin, “Can I have the rest of that beer?”
Katie put out her hand, “License and registration, please.”
The driver gave Katie a little floppy piece of plastic. She glanced at it for a millisecond, and then gave it back to him. The driver and his friends were obviously old, maybe even seniors in high school, so there was no point to really examine their license. One of the friends got out of the car and took the two six-packs and put them in the trunk of the car, and the driver gave Jess twelve bucks. The boys immediately drive away, yelling profanities for some apparent reason, but that didn’t matter one bit. All that mattered was the green paper in Jess’s hand. Twelve whole dollars! People that like beer that much really put the tooth fairy to shame.