Short story: A llama coincidence
Another short story I wrote based on the prompt: Write a short story that includes the sentence, “The llama couldn’t resist trying the lemonade.” Enjoy :)
Josh, a little boy with blonde hair and rather dirty hands, was sitting at his lemonade stand at the end of his parents driveway. His stand consisted of a small white table with a huge paper sign taped to the front reading, “Josh’s Joyful Lemonade. 1¢ per cup.” He sat on an upturned little wooden bucket behind the table offering a small cup of his lemonade to anyone who happened to pass by.
He’d been happily counting the day’s profits held in a little tin can—all ten pennies—when he knocked it over and accidentally spilled it on the ground.
He scrambled to his knees to pick up the copper-colored coins. Unfortunately, they were rather dirty pennies so they were difficult to find in the tall grass.
Slowly Josh ran his hand across the grass trying to feel for his lost money. He knew he’d been foolish to have the can set so close to the edge of the table. His eyes blurred as he crawled and frantically felt the grass for any coins. It was useless. The grass was too tall and he hadn’t paid attention to where the pennies had scattered.
He sat up, swiping at his eyes. What could he do now?
He suddenly had an idea. He stood up and took a quick look at his stand. His lemonade would be okay for a few moments while he ran into the house. With a burst of speed fueled by the hope in his idea he rushed to his parents house to look for a magnet.
Just as Josh closed the door to the house behind him, a tall shadow cast over the unattended pitcher of lemonade sitting on the table.
The shadow belonged to none other than the neighbor’s escape artist llama. This llama had been eyeing the lemonade for days from the field across the road. Now that he’d finally escaped the fence and Josh was nowhere in sight, the llama could hardly ignore the coincidence. The llama wasn’t much of a thinker but he felt this coincidence was a sign—a provision even. The llama couldn’t resist trying the lemonade. It was too perfect of a situation to pass up. In fact, he reasoned it was his duty to take advantage of the perfect situation.
Quietly, the llama crouched low, slowly trailing his tongue closer to the pitcher on the table. At first it was just a lick, but soon the llama evidently lost all self-control and downed every bit of the lemonade. The only thing that remained inside the pitcher was llama drool.
The llama decided his stomach needed something more so he munched on grass nearby.
With a grin and breath tainted by lemonade, he happily slumped to the ground in front of the table.
About this time Josh burst through the front door with the object of his idea—a large magnet. To his surprise, the tall grass had been trimmed off—how, he had no idea. Nevertheless, now he knew he would have a much easier time finding his pennies. He lost no time dropping to his knees and holding the magnet just above the grass. With a grin he soon had all ten pennies back in his little tin can.
Turning back to the lemonade stand, he nearly dropped the can. There was no lemonade left in the pitcher.
Even more shocking was finding a dazed llama slumped in front of the table.
Josh suddenly let out a giggle as everything fell into place in his mind. The llama had eaten the grass and drank the lemonade.
The llama, however, learned his lesson. Just because something is a coincidence doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.
THE END