Faith and Lemonade

d Lemonade

  Timothy Paterson

  Copyright 2012 Timothy Paterson

 

  LeAnne stood silently between her parents in the silent cemetery. The sky was overcast and there was a chill in the air. LeAnne had not said much to anyone in the few days leading up to the funeral. However, what really worried LeAnne’s parents; was that their daughter had not shed any tears. It was as if she were in a trance.

  As the casket was being lowered into the freshly dug grave, LeAnne broke her silence. She became hysterical; “No! No!” she yelled. “Don‘t put Grandpa Leon into the cold ground.” Jack and Maggie Parker had to hold their daughter back, so that she would not fall into the open grave.

  All of the tears that Leanne had been holding back came forth like a waterfall. “Why did he have to die?” she asked. LeAnne’s parents felt helpless. Their hearts ached for their daughter. They realized how hard it must be for a seven-year-old child to understand death.

  LeAnne’s grandmother walked over to the girl and held her tightly. Ann Stevens was crying, not so much for the loss of her father, but for the sadness that filled her granddaughter’s heart. LeAnne had been very close to her great-grandfather. She was born on his eightieth birthday, and was even named after him. LeAnne’s parents had taken the first two letters from each of Leon Andrew Nevins’s names and created the name LeAnne.

  Leon was a retired minister. His wife had died a year before LeAnne was born. Afterwards, his daughter Ann and his son-in-law, Joe convinced him to move in with them.

  Ann Stevens was an elementary school teacher and Joe was a mechanic who owned his own garage. Their daughter had married her high school sweetheart, soon after graduation. Two months later, Maggie discovered that she was pregnant. She and her husband Jack were determined to go to college. They made it through the first semester of college, but that was far as they got.

  Maggie began having complications in her pregnancy. Her doctor told her that the stress of her college classes was too much and put her on strict bed rest for the last four months of her pregnancy. Jack dropped out of college, to take care of Maggie. He got a job as a maintenance man in an office building.

  By the time LeAnne was born, the medical bills had piled up. Maggie realized that she would have to find a job as well. She had to give up on her dream of going to college. Maggie’s parents offered to take care of LeAnne during the day, while her parents were working. Since Joe’s garage was doing so well, Ann took an early retirement from the school, to stay home and take care of her granddaughter. Though Jack and Maggie offered to pay them, Joe and Ann would not take one penny from them.

  Since Joe and Ann lived only a few blocks away from their daughter, the childcare arrangement worked out great. Maggie worked the 7-3 shift at a diner in downtown Los Angeles. Jack’s shift as a maintenance man was eight to five. Jack dropped LeAnne off at his in-law’s house before going to work, and Maggie picked her up after getting off work.

  As LeAnne grew up, she was extremely close to her grandparents, but she was even closer to her great-grandfather Leon. LeAnne was an extremely bright child, and Ann began teaching her at an early age. While Ann taught the girl reading, writing, mathematics and history, Leon taught LeAnne about God and the bible, as well as practical lessons about life in general.

  When LeAnne turned five years old, her parents agreed to allow Ann to continue home schooling her. Ann and Joe were like a second set of parents to LeAnne, but Leon was LeAnn’s best friend. The bond between them was uncanny. No matter how upset or sad LeAnne might become, Leon could always make her smile and laugh.

  After Leon had retired from the ministry, he continued doing volunteer work at a mission that provided food and shelter for the homeless, along with providing for their spiritual needs. Leon also donated a portion of his pension to the mission each month.

  For two days after Leon’s funeral, LeAnne remained inconsolable. Her parents and grandparents were very worried about her. On the third day, Ann sat down with LeAnne and had a heart to heart talk with her. She explained to her granddaughter that Grandpa Leon was happy, because he was with his wife, and with God. As Ann was talking to LeAnne, she suddenly got an inspiration. “LeAnne” said Ann, “remember what Grandpa Leon always said; ‘faith and lemonade. Have faith in God and in people, and when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’”

  LeAnne smiled and then she began to laugh. “You’re right Grandma” she said, “and, Grandpa Leon wouldn’t want me to be sad. He told me that when I am sad, then he is sad too. I don’t want him to be sad.” By that evening, LeAnne was back to her cheerful bubbly self.

  The next morning, when her parents and grandparents were all sitting around the kitchen table drinking coffee, LeAnn told them that she had an idea to keep Grandpa Leon’s memory alive forever. “Grandpa Leon always said that when life gives us lemon s, make lemonade. I can set up a lemonade stand and give all of the money to the mission where worked.”

  “That’s an excellent idea,” said her mother. “When do you want to do it?” “On Friday afternoon” said LeAnne, “from four to six p.m.” “Why Friday?” asked her grandmother. “Because that’s the day that Grandpa Leon went to Heaven,” said LeAnne. “Where do you want to set up the stand?” Jack asked his daughter. “How about ion front of the diner where Mommy works?” said LeAnne. It’s close to an entrance to the subway and a lot of people pass by there every day.”

  “Do you want to do it this Friday?” asked LeAnne’s grandfather. “Grandpa” said LeAnne with a very serious face. “I want to do it every Friday. Homeless people need food and shelter every week.” LeAnne’s parents and grandparents looked at LeAnne and at each other, and none of them could say no to her beautiful smile and pleading eyes.

  Maggie received permission from the owner of the diner, to set up the lemonade stand, in front of the diner, every Friday afternoon. LeAnne and her grandmother began experimenting with different recipes to find the best tasting lemonade. Grandpa Joe agreed to be the taster. After three hours, they came up with perfect mixture of lemonade, which was not too sweet, and not too tart.

  LeAnne’s father and grandfather built the lemonade stand out of old lumber that had been stored in the garage for a number of years. They made a sign to hang above the stand. LeAnne insisted that the name of the lemonade stand should be “Leon’s Lemonade”

  On the first Friday after Grandpa Leon had died, Leon’s Lemonade Stand opened for business. LeAnne helped her grandparents, load cups, a cooler full of ice, and ten one-gallon plastic jugs filled with ice-cold lemonade into a truck and drove the supplies and the stand itself to the diner. At four o’clock that afternoon, Leon’s Lemonade Stand opened for business.

  “I just thought of something,” said Ann to her granddaughter, “how much should we charge for the lemonade?” LeAnne thought for a moment, and then replied; “The customers can pay whatever they think the lemonade is worth to them. Grandpa Leon believed that most people had a good heart and would do the right thing.”

  It was a very warm day in May, and as the first people exited the subway stairs onto the sidewalk, they saw the lemonade stand. Five or six people walked over to the stand. The first man in line, asked; “How much is your lemonade?” “Whatever you think it is worth,” said LeAnne. LeAnne and her mother and grandmother began pouring the lemonade into cups and handed the cups to the thirsty customers. As each person took their lemonade, they dropped money into a gallon jar. Some people dropped coins, others dropped dollar bills.

  As more people came out of the subway, the line got longer. One woman asked; “What are you going to do with the mone
y? Buy a new bike? Some candy, perhaps?”

  “All of the money is going to help the homeless people at the Helping Hands Mission,” said LeAnne. “My great-grandpa Leon gave a portion of his pension every month, but he died last week. Now, I am helping the homeless people, like he did.”

  Everybody standing in line was surprised by the little girl’s response. They fell in love with LeAnne, who stood there smiling a big grin with two missing teeth. One woman had pulled a dollar out of her purse to pay for the lemonade, but after hearing what LeAnne said, she took out a five-dollar bill and put in the jar. One by one, the other customers paid for their lemonade with five of ten-dollar bills. As the customers walked away with their lemonade, they had big smiles on their face as well.

  There was a steady stream of customers for two hours, and by six o’clock, they had sold all of the lemonade. LeAnne, her mother and her grandparents loaded the stand, and the empty plastic jugs and the cooler onto the truck and headed for home. That evening, LeAnne counted out the money. After selling over one hundred cups of lemonade, they had raised four hundred thirty dollars.

  The next morning, LeAnne’s parents drove LeAnne to the Helping Hands Mission,