While driving through a residential area on my way to work yesterday I passed a lemonade stand some kid had set up in his driveway. A block later I passed a second one. I was at least two miles away before my conscience caught up to me. I'd had enough entrepreneurial ideas that either never got off the ground or never turned a profit (see the million dollar ideas and nastytie.com, and the most recent one www.nightshiftsteven.com ) and here I was passively watching other dreams die. I turned around and drove back to pick up some lemonade.

The sign in front of the first kid's stand advertised a glass of lemonade for a quarter. I wasn't especially thirsty, but thought the little tike could use the business so I bought two. That kid knew how to make a potent mix of crystal light. I'm not sure what the correct ratio of water to powder is, but the adage of "less is more" would not have been wasted on that particular afternoon. I felt like Socrates looking down at my second cup, but didn't want to hurt the kid's feelings and downed it anyway.

Having already decided to be charitable no matter what the bodily danger may be, I drove to the second lemonade stand. I was grateful to see the second microbusiness had decided to diversify their product lineup and along with what looked like Kool-aid there were also rocks for sale for ten cents apiece. I sure as heck didn't want anymore mismixed liquids, but didn't really want a handful of rocks ( all of which looking suspiciously similar to the ones alongside the driveway) so I told him I'd give him fifty cents for the very best one. I'm not sure what criteria was meet or what separated the rock he gave me from all the others, but I still have it in my car so I'll be able to try and determine exactly what it is later on.