Blaine Anderson carefully walked down the carpeted stairs. He hurried down the hall as fast as his little legs would allow, and he stopped when he reached the living room. "Cooper?" The four-year-old asked. His voice was teaming with excitement.
Cooper Anderson was sitting on the couch, eyes glued to the T.V. He was watching a re-run of 'The Price is Right'. "Yeah, buddy?"
"Can we make a lemonade stand?"
"Why?"
"'Cause! I wanna make lemonade and sell it!"
"Did Mom say it was OK?"
"Yes! She told me to get you to help meee."
"OK. Come on, kiddo." Cooper stood up and walked over to his little brother. Blaine was squealing with joy and bouncing around. Cooper took Blaine's hand and led him into the kitchen. He pulled out a chair from the table and lifted Blaine onto it. Pushing in the chair, he said, "We have to make a sign first, so people know that we're selling lemonade." Cooper grabbed a big piece of paper and some colored pencils from the desk in the living room. He set them down on the table and wrote 'LEMONADE - 50¢' in big, bold, open letters. "Color that sign, OK?"
"OK, Cooper!" Blaine was almost vibrating with excitement. Cooper smiled to himself and walked over to the cupboards. He opened them up and searched. He pulled out a big pitcher and set it on the counter. He found a bag of plastic cups and set them down. Then he grabbed a lemonade packet out of a different cupboard. Taking the pitcher, Cooper set it under the sink faucet and let it fill up. When it was near the top, he stopped the water and took the pitcher. He tore the lemonade packet open carefully and poured it in.
"Can I stir?" Blaine asked.
"Sure. Grab your stool." Cooper replied as he grabbed a wooden spoon from the utensil drawer.
Blaine went into the pantry and grabbed a wood step stool. He placed it by Cooper and climbed up. Cooper handed his little brother the spoon and let him stir the lemonade. There were still big chunks of powder, so Cooper told Blaine "Good job" and took over the stirring. Blaine was practically glowing with pride; he liked when Cooper told him "Good job". He went back to color the sign while Cooper rinsed off the spoon and set it in the sink.
"How is that?" Blaine held up the sign so Cooper could see. He colored in the letters with red and blue, and drew little pictures around them.
"Awesome. Good job, Blainers." Cooper patted Blaine on the back. "We need to get the table and chairs now." Cooper went into the garage, Blaine right on his heels. He opened the garage door and grabbed the white folding table. "Grab that chair." He said, pointing to a little white chair.
"OK!" Blaine took hold of the chair and dragged it behind him; he was too little to actually pick it up. He put the chair behind the table as Cooper unfolded it. Cooper grabbed a bigger chair for himself and put it by Blaine's.
"Let's go back inside and get the sign and lemonade." Cooper said.
Blaine raced ahead of his big brother. He was giggling loudly. He got to the kitchen and reached up to the pitcher of lemonade. He couldn't quite see or grab it, since the counter was so much taller than him. Cooper laughed when he entered the room. "How about I take that, and you grab the sign and cups?"
"Aww, OK…" Blaine took the bag of cups from Cooper and grabbed his colorful sign. He led the way back out to their table. Cooper had grabbed a roll of tape when they had gone out. Blaine was lining up cups while Cooper hung the sign on the front of the table.
"Now we just wait." Cooper sat in his chair. Blaine sat next to him and could hardly sit still. They waited for about five minutes before a car drove by. It pulled to a stop and the person driving approached them.
"Hello, Cooper. And hello there, little Blaine."
"Hello, Mrs. Jones." Cooper said.
"Hi! Do you want lemonade?" Blaine squeaked.
"Why of course, Blaine! I would love a cup." Mrs. Jones dug out two quarters from her pocket and handed them to Blaine. Cooper poured some lemonade in a cup and let Blaine hand it to her. "Thank you, boys."
"You're welcome." They said simultaneously. As Mrs. Jones drove away, Cooper turned to Blaine. "Can you go inside and grab that empty jelly jar that is on the counter?"
"Sure!" Blaine ran off into the house again. Three minutes later, he reappeared with the jar and his big red radio. "I wanna listen to music."
"Good idea." Cooper dropped the quarters in the jar while Blaine pressed the power button on the radio. The four-year-old rejoined his brother, and they again began to wait for another costumer.
After about twenty minutes, the two of them had sold a good number of cups to people passing by. Their neighbors had come over to help them earn some money; plus, it was a hot day and lemonade sounded delicious. Cooper was pouring another cup when 'Rio' by Duran Duran started on the radio.
'Moving on the floor now babe you're a bird of paradise.'
"I love this song!" Blaine yelled. He started dancing along with the music. Cooper smiled and joined his little brother. They danced around and began to sing along. When it reached the chorus, both belted out the words.
'Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand,
Just like that river twisting through a dusty land.
And when she shines she really shows you all she can.
Oh Rio, Rio dance across the Rio Grande.'
The Anderson brothers continued to sing along as the song went on. The crowd around them grew bigger as people heard and saw their performance. They couldn't help but smile and tap their feet.
'Her name is Rio, she don't need to understand.
I might find her if I'm looking like I can.
Oh Rio, Rio hear them shout across the land,
From mountains in the north down to the Rio Grande.'
The two finished the song and looked around at the people around them. They were all clapping for them.
"That was cool." One man said.
"They were so adorable." A woman commented.
Blaine had his big ol' goofy grin again. Cooper knelt down beside his baby brother and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "They like us, Blaine. You know why?" Blaine shook his head. "Because we're good. Really good. I think…I think this might be what we will do for the rest of our lives, Blainers. You and me. The Anderson brothers."