The Pandemic Lemonade Stand
What’s wrong with a little neighborhood fun?
It’s a bright hot summer day. From our living room window, my husband and I watch the neighborhood kids across the street stack red Solo cups on a foldout table weighed down by a 10-gallon cooler.
“Is that a lemonade stand?”
“Yup.”
“What are they selling? COVID-aid?”
It’s day 157 of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US and the kids in my neighborhood have set up a lemonade stand.
The kids range from ages four to seven. They are not wearing masks. Their parents supervise them. They are not wearing masks.
The lemonade stand sits near the edge of the sidewalk. Parents walk by with their kids on scooters, toddlers in Radio Flyer wagons, and babies in strollers. None of them wear masks nor observe the six-foot distance we’re supposed to maintain. Some parents stop to buy a cup. My husband and I watch from the window.
“Aren’t you livid?” I asked my husband. “They’re endangering lives!”
“It’s their choice. Maybe someone will get coronavirus and they’ll learn their lesson,” he shrugged.
“I hope not. That’s a pretty painful lesson.”
