"Hey, Henry! Come out here!"
Henry looked out the window and saw his cousin waving at him from the sidewalk in front of his house.
Maggie was nine years old and lived next door.
Her mom and Henry's mom were sisters.
"What do you want?" Henry called down to Maggie. "I'm busy."
He glanced at his computer.
He'd just finished lunch, and now he was playing his favorite game, Puzzle Pirates.
All he had to do was solve one more puzzle, and he would reach Level Ten.
"Just come down here!" Maggie yelled again.
Henry sighed. He was two years older than Maggie, but that didn't stop her from bossing him around.
His best friend, Cole, always told him that he should just ignore her.
But Maggie was usually so loud and dramatic, she was hard to ignore!
Henry turned off his computer and headed outside.
Maggie was waiting for him and holding a handmade cardboard sign.
"Look at this," she said. "Isn't it awesome?"
The sign read:
MAGGIE'S LEMONADE STAND
ONE CUP:
25 cents
TWO CUPS:
45 cents
BELLTOWN'S BEST BEVERAGE!
Maggie was very artistic. She'd drawn a glass of lemonade below the words.
It looked so realistic that it made Henry thirsty.
"Great sign," Henry said. "Maybe I'll buy a cup."
"You won't have to," Maggie said. "You'll get your lemonade for free."
Henry was instantly suspicious.
If Maggie was running a lemonade stand to make money, why would she give away the lemonade for free?
"What do you mean?" he asked.
She grinned. "You'll get it for free because you're an employee," she said.
"I hereby hire you to help me with my lemonade stand."
Henry rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding me?" he said.
"Lemonade stands are for babies."
Maggie scowled. "No, they're not!"
"Yes, they are," Henry said.
"Why do you want to do something like that anyway?"
"Mom and Dad said I can take horseback-riding lessons if I pay half of the cost myself," Maggie explained.
"I figured I could make lots of money selling lemonade while it's hot out.
I'll switch to hot chocolate when the weather turns cold."
"Sounds like a good plan," Henry said.
"So you'll help?" Maggie looked excited.
"Nope," Henry said.
Maggie tried to change his mind.
She promised him all the free lemonade he could drink.
Then she told him he could have 10 percent of the profits.
Henry just shook his head. "No, thanks," he said.
"Good luck with your new business. I'm going to Cole's."
He walked over to Cole's house on the next block.
The two of them played soccer for a while in Cole's yard.
Then they headed back to Henry's house to play Puzzle Pirates.
On the way they passed Maggie's lemonade stand.
The stand was a table set up on the sidewalk in front of Maggie's house.
Two teenage girls were standing nearby sipping lemonade from paper cups.
A boy with a skateboard was chugging his lemonade.
A little boy clung to his mother's hand while she leaned against the table and talked on her cell phone.
Maggie was nearby chatting with a kid named Nathan and his little sister, Nora.
It looked as if Nathan and Nora had just returned from the local swimming pool.
Their bathing suits were still wet.
When Maggie spotted Henry and Cole coming, she hurried to meet them.
"Want some lemonade?" she asked. "It's a dollar per cup."
"A dollar?" Henry said. "I thought you were charging 25 cents."
"Yeah!" Cole pointed to the sign. "It's written right there. See?"
Maggie tossed her head. "That's the price for normal people.
Rotten cousins and their friends get charged extra."
"Fine. I wasn't thirsty anyway," Henry said, rolling his eyes.
"Come on, Cole. We have plenty of soda at my house."
They started to walk away. But Maggie ran after them.
"Stop. I was just kidding," she said.
"I'll sell you lemonade for fifty cents per cup."
When the boys kept walking, she tried again. "Okay, okay! Twenty cents.
That's my special price for cousins and friends of cousins."
"You have a deal," Cole said, turning around.
Henry and Cole headed back to the lemonade stand.
Maggie poured them each a cup of lemonade.
Henry fished some change out of his pocket to pay for it.
Cole took a sip. "Hey, this lemonade is really good!"
Maggie smiled. "It's the best in town," she bragged.
"Everyone says so. I've made a ton of money already!"
She opened the cashbox on her table to put the boys' money away.
When she looked inside the box, she gasped.
"Oh no!" she cried. "My money is gone!"