Gary and Morris VS the Lemonade Stand

It was a hot summer day at The Hervey Foundation for Cats. Gary and Morris had been soaking in some of the rays on the back porch and loving every minute of it.

“My goodness it’s hot,” said Marjorie, the shelter's founder. “Did you see the temperature?”

“Oh wow! That is hot,” said one of her volunteers. “34 degrees! And the humidity! Wow!”

Marjorie and her helper were watering some of the flowers on the deck, stepping gently around Gary and Morris.

“Hello boys,” said Marjorie. “What a lovely summer day! Don’t get too hot!”

Gary and Morris gently glanced at each other, barely awake, and then put their heads back down.

On she went with her watering can, giving each flower just the right amount to drink.

Without noticing, a few drops from said watering can dripped off and fell onto Gary’s back as she passed by him again.

He leapt to his feet instantly and let out a loud screeching meow.  

“What on Earth?!” he exclaimed. “What a way to wake up…”

Morris looked over at him and said, “You weren’t totally asleep, I saw you.”

“I was barely awake there, thank you very much. Would you like to be woken up by water?” Gary replied.

Morris just laughed and stretched out nice and long.

“Sorry fella,” said Marjorie.

Gary shook his fur off and then started to lick the remaining water off. As he did, he noticed a group of young children just a bit further down the road setting up a table and chair.

Morris noticed Gary had begun to stare at something and tried to see what it was.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Looks like the neighbour's kids are setting something up,” Gary answered.

“What are they doing?”

“I don’t know. Looks like they have a big glass container full of something yellow.”

Morris giggled.

“Get your head out of the gutter,” Gary said.

The children had set up a folding table with some help from their parents and were sitting in folding chairs. A big sign had been taped to the front of the table and it read, “Lemonade, $1 per cup”

“Looks like they are selling lemonade,” said Morris. “You ever have lemonade?”

“No, can’t say I have,” said Gary.

“You ever think about what it might taste like?” Morris asked.

“I don’t even really know what it is,” said Gary. “But I am game for anything!”

“Want to go try some?” said Morris.

“Sure!” said Gary. “Let’s go see if we can get some!”

The cats hopped up from their position on the porch and wandered slowly toward the neighbours' house.

“Hello, Gary! Hello, Morris!” said one of the kids.

Both cats walked over to the kid who said hello and rubbed up against his legs.

“See? They’re my friends!” he said.

One of the children’s parents was out there with them.

“Kids, put your hand out and let them smell it first!” they said, helping the cats interact with the children.

Gary and Morris went up to each kid and rubbed up against their legs, smelled their hands, and even jumped into their laps. The kids loved it, giving them lots of pets and even some hugs!

“Okay, we’ve lulled them into a sense of confidence,” said Morris. “Humans love to share when they are happy.”

“Let’s give them a minute or two and I bet they’ll offer us some lemonade,” said Gary.

The cats waited. The kids kept trying to call them over, and they’d go up and see, but each time there was never any lemonade.

“I’m starting to think they might not give us any of their yellow drink, Morris,” Gary said.

“It’s looking that way, isn’t it?” Morris replied.

A man parked his work van and wandered over to the table.

“Five lemonades, please!” he said. “Got a thirsty crew who’ve been working hard in the sun today.”

The kids and their parents got to work pouring five lemonades, then passing them to the man.

“Thank you very much!” he said. “Have a great day!”

“Thank you, mister!” said the kids.

Gary and Morris watched the transaction take place and realized what they needed to try next. They needed to get Marjorie to come and buy lemonade, and surely she would let them have a sniff or a sip.

The cats darted back to the shelter property, where Marjorie was standing on the deck, and started rubbing up against her legs and meowing loudly.

“What is going on, boys?” she asked.

The cats meowed and meowed and then started to lead her towards the neighbours' house.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

They kept meowing and slowly moving further and further until they reached the lemonade stand.

“Hey kiddos,” said Marjorie. “What a wonderful day for a lemonade stand.”

“Hi Marjorie!” the kids said. “How are your cats?”

“They are wonderful,” she replied. “They’re enjoying the warm weather, just like all of you!”

“Gary and Morris were here,” said the parent.

“I figured they were up to something,” said Marjorie. “They came over and brought me here!”

Marjorie and the kids laughed, then she ordered some lemonade.

“Thanks, kids! Have a great day!” she said. Then she glanced over at Gary and Morris. “Let’s go home, boys!”

The cats walked with Marjorie back to the house, then she sat back down on the porch and took a sip of her drink.

Gary and Morris rubbed up against her legs then jumped up on her chair. They pretended to be interested in what she was doing… but not too interested. They didn’t want her to realize that Gary was slowly moving closer and closer to her cup of lemonade.

Gary had got within four inches of the lemonade when Marjorie picked up the cup, finished off its contents, then stood up and turned back to the cats.

“It looked like you were going to drink my lemonade, buddy!” Marjorie said with a laugh, then headed inside.

Gary and Morris looked at each other.

“We were so close!” said Gary.

“You were so close,” said Morris. “I was distracting her the whole time.”

“I have one last idea we can try to get some of that lemonade,” said Gary. “Now it’s just a matter of principle, I don’t even care how it tastes, I just need to taste it.”

“I’m listening…” said Morris.

Gary explained his plan to Morris as they walked towards the lemonade stand one last time.

Once they got to the ditch on the side of the road, opposite the stand, Morris climbed partially into the drainage culvert, and Gary dropped a tree branch on him.

Gary then ran across the road and over to the kids. He then began meowing as loudly as possible while trying to get the kids to follow him. One of the kids got curious enough to get up and walked over to Gary, who was moving towards the culvert.

After getting closer, the kid from the lemonade stand could hear another cat meowing. It was Morris! He was pretending to be stuck to create a distraction.

“Kitty!” said the child. “Mom! Mom! Help him!”

With those words, the rest of the kids and their parent instantly jumped up from their chairs and ran across the street to “help” Morris.

With everyone away from the stand, Gary homed in like a missile on the lemonade. He bolted back across the street, then flew through the air and onto the table.

There it was! This whole time, they had worked so hard and it was finally happening! He could see the drink right in front of him, like pastel-coloured water, ice cubes gleaming in the sun, cool and refreshing. It looked incredible.

Gary walked up to the big jug on the table, filled with excitement, ready to satisfy his thirst and curiosity, all at once.

He stuck his head into the jug and immediately lapped some lemonade up with his tongue.

The second it touched his tastebuds he knew he had made a mistake. The lemonade had been made with real lemons and perhaps not enough sugar. It was SOUR.

To say Gary’s reaction was a violent one is to put it lightly. The unexpected sour flavour hit his tongue like a bunch of needles. All he could do was spit it back out with a big cough. After expelling the sour drink back into the jug, he took a deep breath of air, but since his head was inside a jug filled with sour lemonade, the air was sour and lemony, resulting in him sneezing right into the jug, causing the lemonade to splash back onto his face.

Gary jumped backwards almost six feet into the air, knocking the jug, cashbox and all the cups off the table. When he landed, he tried to run so hard that the tablecloth just kept bunching up under his feet.

Eventually, the tablecloth slid off the table and he found his footing. Gary was in full fight or flight mode, and he chose flight. His fur puffed up, Gary darted across the street, then jumped onto the shoulders of one of the kids, then the shoulders of their parent, then onto the Hervey Cats lawn.

Morris, noticing that Gary had just flown over him and the neighbours, jumped up from his spot on the culvert and took off after Gary. The kids, thinking they’d saved Morris, let out a cheer.

The cats were now back at The Foundation and Gary was drinking water like his mouth was on fire.

“What’s the verdict?” asked Morris, who was laughing.

“Very funny,” Gary replied with a numb tongue. “Very sour.”

Back across the street, the neighbours had returned to their lemonade stand only to find their cashbox and tablecloth on the ground, and the table featured an overturned jug with lemonade everywhere.

They counted the money in the cashbox to make sure nothing was missing then tidied up the table again.

“I’ll be back with some fresh lemonade, kids!”

The children let out another cheer.

Later that afternoon, Marjorie went and got some lemonade for the volunteers and brought it back. They all stood on the porch, chatting and enjoying their drinks.

“Gary! Morris! Want a sniff of my lemonade?” Marjorie asked.

Gary actually gagged, and it looked like he might throw up.

Morris chuckled.

“What a day,” he said to himself.