had. Instead, he just seemed mildly amused by this whole exchange.
âIs this cut?â I asked them. âWith water or something? You canât charge a premium price for a product thatâs been cut with water. This tastes like lemon carpet cleaner!â
âWe can do whatever we want!â one of the little brats said back.
âBut why would you do this?â Vince asked, trying a different approach. âDonât you want people to come back?â
âTheyâll come back because every other stand around here serves the same stuff,â the little boy said. âTheyâre all owned by the same guy, so people got no other choice.â
âAnd what about how warm it is? If you advertise ice-cold drinks, then they need to be at least kind of cold,â I said.
âHey, bossâs orders,â one of the girls said. âBoss says ice is too expensive.â
âWho owns these stands?â Vince asked. âWho is your boss?â
âJimmy Two-Tone, duh,â she said while rolling her eyes at our apparent stupidity.
Vince and I looked at each other. Why would Jimmy Two-Tone cut corners on something as simple as a lemonade stand? Especially when, up to this point, he seemed to be proving himself as a more than capable businessman. He was doing just fine without opening up a reputation-tarnishing lemonade scam.
Staples smirked at us. âStill so sure that your deal with him was a good idea?â
Instead of answering, I threw the Dixie cup at the little trash can next to the table. It bounced off the rim and landed in the yard behind the kids. Staples laughed while I stomped around and picked it up and then placed it into the garbage can.
I wasnât sure exactly what all this meant, but I intended to find out.
Â
The next morning at school I tried to track down Jimmy to ask him what was going on. But he was nowhere to be found. I checked the East Wing hallway, but the closed-for-repairs sign was up.
So at lunch Vince and I went to find Ears. Ears was my main source of information. He was the biggest gossip in the school and heard everything. If you wanted to know what kind of cereal the kid that sat next to you in science class puked into a cute girlâs lap last year during homeroom one day, Ears could tell you that he had definitely heard that it was Corn Bran with sugar on it.
So Vince and I found Ears behind the old metal slide on the playground to ask him what heâd been hearing about Jimmy. Ears always hung out by the old metal slide, and he was always there with three or four of the more popular girls at school. I had no idea what they talked about all the time, but something told me I didnât even want to know.
I tapped him on the shoulder right as he was laughing and making fun of how âthat girl over there looks like a linebacker in that sweater.â
Ears turned around. Then his eyes widened and he grinned.
âHey, Mac, Vince. I thought you guys were retired?â
I shrugged, made a face, and then noticeably looked at the pack of girls he had been talking to.
âOh, right,â he said. âOne second.â
He turned back and said something mostly inaudible to the girls, and they all started giggling before wandering over to the monkey bars.
âBetter?â Ears asked me.
âSorry, Ears, itâs hard to kick old habits,â I said. âAnyways, we are retired. I just wanted to ask you a few questions . . . for, ah, mostly personal reasons.â
His smile grew, making his already giant ears stick out even more. He kind of looked like a coffee mug with a handle on each side. Then he held out his hand, palm up. I looked at it, then back at his face.
âPay the man,â I said to Vince.
Vince sighed and took out a five from his wallet and gave it to Ears.
âSorry,â Ears said, âbut, you know, itâs hard to kick old habits.â
âYeah, yeah,â I said.
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