Adventures in Cottontail Pines - The Lemonade Standoff

ADVENTURES IN COTTONTAIL PINES

  –

  THE LEMONADE STANDOFF

  by

  T.K. Wade

  *****

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Cover Art Illustrated by:

  T.K. Wade and Coy Fields II

  Adventures in Cottontail Pines:

  The Lemonade Standoff

  Copyright © 2014 by T.K. Wade

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  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  *****

  ADVENTURES IN COTTONTAIL PINES

  –

  THE LEMONADE STANDOFF

  *****

  On a bright and warm summer morning in Cottontail Pines, many of the animals were out and about within the local marketplace. Flopsy the lop-eared bunny was among those who were there, and she had a very important mission on such a lovely day. The rabbit held in her hands a leaf with directions on it to where she was to go, but unfortunately, it had not been written very well. Flopsy was worried she would not find the right stand.

  “Flopsy! Is that you over there?!” A sweet female voice came from the bunny’s left. It was Miss Cherry the squirrel and also the exact person whom Flopsy had been looking for.

  The young rabbit beamed with happiness and dashed straight over–nearly tripping over her long ears in the process. “Miss Cherry! I almost got lost. I don’t come to the marketplace very often, but I just had to come this time. I have big plans for the rest of the day.”

  Miss Cherry giggled as her tail twitched about at the little girl’s eagerness. “When your father told me how many lemons you wanted, I was really surprised. But I don’t mind so much really. We had a good harvest this year. I gave him a good deal on them.” The squirrel turned about to pick up a small bucket filled with the sour fruit.

  Flopsy’s eyes sparkled at the sight of them. “This should be plenty! I bet it’s going to be hard to carry, but I’m willing to do it. I plan to sell every last one of them over the next few days!”

  “Going to make a lot of lemonade, Flopsy?”

  “You bet. Goober told me all about how his father started a business all by himself. You remember Goober right? He’s the timid rabbit who is afraid of stepping on bugs.”

  Miss Cherry laughed lightly. “Oh, yes, and I know his father too. Are you planning to make a lot of money?”

  Flopsy struggled to pick up the heavy bucket. She still had a strained smile upon her face. “You bet I am! When all the animals of Cottontail Pines find out how amazing my lemonade is, they’ll tell everyone.”

  “How much will you be selling it for?” asked the squirrel.

  “A quarter for every cup. I bet I can get two cups out of every lemon, but I won’t really know until I try it.” She groaned a bit from holding onto the heavy bucket. “Well, I really need to get going. I got to go pick up the sugar before I get started.”

  Miss Cherry surmised, “From Cinnamon the chipmunk, I take it.”

  Flopsy was already walking off. “Yes! Sorry, but I really need to get going. Come through the cobblestone path later if you want to!”

  Miss Cherry waved goodbye to the bunny as Flopsy struggled to carry the bucket out of the marketplace and towards the house of Cinnamon. Along the way, Wily the fox happened to see the bunny waddling across the town with the bucket of lemons. This fox was often seen as a local trouble maker, but he usually behaved himself. He wondered what she was doing.

  “Hey, Flopsy!” called Wily.

  Flopsy huffed and put down the bucket for the moment. “Wily? What’s the matter? I’m sort of in a hurry.”

  The fox trotted up to her and looked rather perplexed. “What are you doing with all those lemons?”

  “I’m opening a lemonade stand. I’m going to sell it to animals that pass by for a quarter.”

  The fox seemed to contemplate it briefly. Eventually, he rolled his eyes and said, “That’s a stupid idea. Who would ever want to drink something made out of lemons? No one; that’s who!”

  Flopsy scowled at the mean fox and picked up her bucket. “You’re just jealous because you don’t have the same entrepreneur spirit that I do! You should talk to Goober sometime. He knows all about it.”

  Wily scoffed. “I know how to make money just fine! In fact, I am sure I’d make way more quarters than you if I made lemonade.”

  Flopsy was thoroughly annoyed and attempted to walk away. “You couldn’t do it even if you wanted to. You don’t have the same paws as the rest of us animals.”

  Wily looked down at himself. It was true that unlike the other animals of Cottontail Pines, he stood on four paws while everyone else walked on two. He wanted to say something mean in return, but nothing came to him. Finally, he trotted off in deep thought of how to make her pay for mocking him. Flopsy proceeded to Cinnamon’s house to get the sugar she needed.

  It just so happened that soon after this encounter, Wily spotted Blacky the grumpy skunk digging a hole near his house. The fox suddenly got an idea and approached the skunk with an equally grumpy façade. “Hey, Blacky,” said Wily. “Why are you digging that hole?”

  Blacky gruffly replied, “Because it’s the most exciting thing I could think of to do today.”

  Wily seemed to empathize with the skunk. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes, this town gets really boring–especially when people are always getting you down by telling you that you’re useless.”

  Blacky agreed without even thinking about it. “Yeah! What good is a skunk anyhow?! Just good for digging holes, I suppose.”

  Wily continued, “I suppose so. I was talking to Flopsy earlier, and she is going to start a lemonade stand, and I was all like, ‘Hey! That sounds great! I would like to start one too!’ But she just laughed and made fun of my four feet.”

  Blacky was surprised. “Flopsy did that to you?”

  “Yeah. And I didn’t do anything to provoke it either, but I suppose she had a good point. That’s when I mentioned I might find someone like you to help me make the lemonade, but then she laughed again and said, ‘Blacky would never make lemonade for you because you are a good-for-nothing fox!’ It sure made me feel bad hearing it.”

  The skunk stood straight up and huffed with annoyance. “She really said that?!”

  Wily drew a cross over his chest with one paw. “Cross my heart; she said it. I guess she must be right. You and me: we’re pretty useless. Well, I better just head on down to my hole and not do anything for the rest of the day since I am so useless.”

  Blacky was silent for a moment as the fox slowly trotted away with a lowered head. The skunk suddenly shouted, “Wait! We can’t let her get away with this! I’ll help you make lemonade, and we’ll show her how it’s really done!”

  Wily looked positively surprised, “You mean it? Really?!”

  The skunk nodded unabashed. “Just let me run and get all the supplies! Don’t worry, Wily! You may sometimes be a little rude, but you deserve to be treated better by Flopsy!” The skunk rushed off, and Wily was left alone snickering deviously.

  *****

  Flopsy had been doing good business at her stand for a long while. The cobblestone path that led through Cottontail
Pines was a very high traffic area where many of the animals would have necessity to pass though all throughout the day. She had already made ten quarters in all of that time, and she still had much more to go.

  The bunny had found the work to be fairly busy too. She had to carefully cut the lemons in half, squeeze them out good and thorough, and then mix it all up with just the right amount of sugar. She had made a few flops to begin with but finally had found the right formula.

  Before long, Blacky was seen pushing a rather poorly constructed wooden stand to the other side of the street. It looked like it had been tossed together in a hurry and was very unsightly. Flopsy called, “Blacky! What are you doing with that thing?”

  Blacky glared at her and shouted, “I’m not talking to you!”

  The bunny was shocked. “Why not? What did I do?”

  A grinning fox trotted up with a bucket full of lemons and sugar. He placed it all down at the stand and replied in Blacky’s stead, “What you always do, Flopsy! You think you are better than everyone else! We’re going to put you out of business!”

  Blacky seconded the taunt with a, “Yeah! You’ll get what’s comin’ to ya!”

  The bunny’s feelings were hurt. She could not believe what was being proclaimed to her. But these feelings soon melted into anger. She shouted back, “Well, you’ll never do it! I’m still a better salesperson than either of you because I am nice about everything! In fact, I bet I am the nicest animal in Cottontail Pines as far as I know!”

  Blacky set everything up and went right to work making the lemonade. Wily propped himself on the stand and said with feigned politeness, “My, my. With an outburst like that, it’ll be really hard to make quarters. Allow me to show you how it’s done.”

  Flopsy scowled and slapped her white paws on the stand nearly knocking over a filled cup. She spoke with a strong determination in her young voice, “I guess we’ll just see, won’t we?!”

  It was not long before Miss Peggy, an elderly rabbit, was seen walking down the path with cane in hand. The young rabbit grinned slyly knowing that this woman would definitely have to buy from her because she and Flopsy were neighbors. Flopsy waved her hand as soon as she could and cried out, “Hello, Miss Peggy! It sure is hot today, isn’t it?!”

  The elderly rabbit smiled sweetly at her neighbor and approached a bit swifter with the aid of her cane. “Oh yes. I would say so. How nice to see you out here. Are you selling something, dear?”

  “I sure am, Miss Peggy. Would you like to buy some lemonade for just a quarter?”

  “That sounds reasonable,” Miss Peggy returned.

  However, before she could retrieve the coin, she was spun about to face Wily the fox who immediately said to her, “Oh, is it Miss Peggy?! It sure has been a long time since we have spoken, hasn’t it? You remember me, right?! It’s Wily!” Flopsy just stood there dumbfounded.

  Miss Peggy squinted as if she was trying to remember. “Oh, yes. I remember you. Aren’t you the troublemaker everyone has been talking about?”

  Wily put on his most innocent façade. “Who? Me?! Oh, dear. No. I’m just a harmless fox trying to make a few quarters selling lemonade, but Flopsy’s been taking all my business. It sure is hard to compete against someone like her.”

  “What?!” shouted Flopsy becoming enraged.

  Miss Peggy looked at her neighbor and said, “Oh, dear. Flopsy, I am so very sorry, but if Wily is having so much trouble, I think it would be best to buy one of his this time. I’ll try one of yours another day.”

  Flopsy was right on the edge of telling her all the horrible things he was up to, but she just did not want to bother an old rabbit about it. She crossed her arms and said, “Very well, Miss Peggy.”

  Blacky poured out some lemonade for the elderly bunny and the quarter went right between Wily’s teeth. When she was gone, Flopsy glared at the two traitors. “You totally lied to her. That is a terrible business practice.”

  Blacky quickly returned, “No worse than saying that I’m not capable of doing anything but digging holes!”

  The bunny looked absolutely perplexed by that statement. “Digging holes?”

  Wily jumped in front of the skunk and then spoke, “Face it, Flopsy. You’ll just have to give it up. We’ll outsell you before you know it. You’ll just have to take your lemons home and drink them all by yourself.”

  Flopsy gazed down for a bit as if contemplating it, but soon, a new resolve came upon her. “No! I won’t do it! I’m going to compete with you fair and square! I don’t care how much you cheat!”

  Blacky yelled from behind the fox, “At least, I don’t betray my friends!”

  “What is he talking about?!” inquired the confused rabbit.

  Wily looked down the road and gasped. “Never mind! Here comes another customer!” The fox hopped over to the other side of his stand, and Flopsy quickly moved everything around to look presentable.

  Pancake the raccoon was busily walking by when both Wily and Flopsy suddenly shouted out from either side, “Hello! Would you like some lemonade?! I asked him first! Stop talking when I’m talking!”

  Pancake had covered his ears after being yelled at. Flopsy dashed from behind her stand and took his hand leading him away from the scowling fox and skunk. She said to him, “I’m sorry about that. Would you like some of my freshly made lemonade, Pancake?”

  The raccoon tilted his head. “It’s good and fresh, is it?”

  Wily made a snort which put Pancake on edge. Flopsy tried to keep her cool. “It’s very fresh. I just made it only a little while ago. It’s only a quarter, and I bet you are really hot on such a summery day.”

  Wily made a weird cough which kind of sounded like said, “It’s got dirt in it.” Pancake seemed very put off by the hint and eyed the lemonade cups with suspicion.

  The bunny implored, “Really, there is nothing wrong with it. It’s nice and fresh!”

  Blacky mumbled under his breath, “If you don’t mind lemons from last year.”

  Pancake winced and then turned about. “Maybe, I’ll just try this stand instead. Nothing personal, Flopsy. It’s just that I am very particular about things.” He then bought a cup from the fox.

  Flopsy laid her head on her stand with her ears spread completely out. It was a depressing sight. When Pancake had left, Wily and Blacky chuckled at her. Flopsy just could not understand why this was happening to her. It made since for Wily to be mean but not Blacky. She tried to remember the last time they had been together. Was there something she said to make him angry at her?

  She looked back up at the chuckling fox and skunk. Another customer came and completely ignored her that time. Was this the end? No! She could not let it end with Wily winning like this! So what if they were going to cheat! She would beat them by playing fair!

  *****

  The next day, Flopsy stumbled all over herself trying to get the stand ready. It had entirely new signage with colorful pictures of various animals drinking lemonade and liking it. She borrowed her mother’s best china pitcher to serve the lemonade in. She had also dressed in the prettiest outfit in order to bedazzle the customers by her cuteness.

  The plan had worked for the first two customers. Everyone was really impressed and wanted to give her their quarters. When Wily and Blacky showed up, they had come prepared for it. Much to Flopsy’s surprise, they had not only constructed a better stand, but they had made a sign for it that read:

  “Imported Lemonade.

  Only a dime!”

  When Mister Rupert the possum showed up, he was stunned by the price. “Where is it imported from?”

  Wily replied, “Sugarcane Crossing. Of course, the sugar comes from there as well.” The possum looked at Flopsy’s horrified face and then at her price before turning back to Wily. “Well, I suppose this is a better deal. I’ll take one now, and maybe I’ll bring my kids back later.”

  “Thank you, sir,” said Blacky before giving a secret grin to Flopsy.

  “There’re both cheatin
g,” said the bunny to herself. “I have to think of something. They only lowered the price to outsell me.” Suddenly, an idea popped into her head, and she ran over to Mister Rupert to give him a quick message.

  *****

  Gumdrop was a tiny mouse who was the very best friend of Flopsy. She had been told by Mister Rupert that Flopsy wanted to meet her, so she wasted no time in coming; however, what she found was a little bizarre.

  Flopsy was sitting behind her stand with a very intense stare as she cut weird little holes into a lemon rind. The mouse hopped up on top of the lemon pile and then to the stand. She asked her friend, “Mister Rupert said you needed me. What are you doing with that lemon peel?”

  Flopsy spoke flatly with unsettling determination, “I’m making a lemon suit out of this lemon peel. You are gonna wear it and become Lemon Mouse! And when you dance around on my stand, people will see Lemon Mouse and think you’re cute. And then they’ll buy lemonade from me rather than from those two horrible cheaters across the path.”

  Gumdrop was absolutely shocked by her best friend’s behavior. “Why are you acting like this?! I can’t wear that thing? It’s all wet… and lemony.”

  Once more, Flopsy spoke weirdly, “Don’t worry, Gumdrop. When all the animals see Lemon Mouse, we’ll get so many quarters that we can pay to have your fur all done up afterwards.”

  Gumdrop shook her head. “Come on, Flopsy. Maybe you just need to go on home. I’m sure Wily and Blacky are just playing around.”

  Wily suddenly shouted across the path, “Oh, what’s this?! Are you going to get your stupid mouse to help you?! Well, she can’t! I’ll outsell you no matter what you try! You might as well just face it, Flopsy; you’re just a looser!”

  Blacky said nothing as he was actually fairly shocked that Wily had said that; however, Gumdrop was suddenly boiling with rage. She glared at Wily so intensely that the fox actually backed up a bit. The mouse then snatched the lemon rind and shouted, “Gimme that lemon suit! We’ll show those rascals how Lemon Mouse operates a lemonade stand!”