Written by Jean-Luc Ottey

    Ah... A beautiful day in the town of Orujinshinaka. It is the middle of May and summer is just around the corner. We visit the home of Mellisa and her Grandma Josephine as they spend their time in the kitchen baking sweets.

"Hee hee hee. This'll be fun, Granny Josephine," spoke Mellisa, holding a bag of flour, "Your fabulous Summer Sweets are always something that the town fair always forward to." Granny Josephine, a woman who may look very old, is actually very active and healthy. She looks at her granddaughter with a kick in her step and replies, "Child, there's nothing better in town than my famous sweets and your fabulous optimism, and this year, my Summer Sweets are going to win the greatest prize of the century." Mellisa gasps, "BRAND NEW BRAN MUFFIN MAKERS?" Granny Josephine chuckles and disagrees, "No silly child. It's the brand new moped. Speaking of Fabulous Optimism, how's your little gothic friend."

"Gothic Friend? Gothic frieeen-Ooohhhhh, you mean Bestie!" Mellisa giggles, "She's been doing well. Well for the past few days she's been having these odd encounters with our friends."

"Odd encounters?" Josephine asked as she dabs a few drops of hot sauce into her mixing bowl, making a mini eruption of smoke puff up then disappear, "Like what, girly?"

"Weelllll... First, we had a day at this park, and a classmate of mine with a little twitch in his eye wanted to give us these scratched lottery tickets and stuff, but then two policemen suddenly stopped him and took him away. The next day, we found my friend Maxine at the beach. She was being treated like a queen to a lot of guys, and all she had to do was dance. Maxine tried urging me and bestie to dance too to make her show more attracting, but bestie's face got red like a tomato, so I took her to get fruit pops so she could cool down." Mellisa explained.

"Sounds like Julie-belle was either embarrassed or enjoying the show," Granny Josephine joked as she continued to craft her summer treats.

"I really thought she was," laughed Mellisa as she helped her granny, "It took her an hour for her face to not feel so hot because that's all that played into her mind. It was adorable. There was even another time where she and our friends Al, Gold, and Star were doing karate, and accidentally kicked a can onto a tree which dropped blueberries all over us."

"Star? Isn't that the girl with the heart-shaped pendant with the odd sister who dresses like a cat?" Josephine asked in a puzzled manner. Mellisa nods happily as she begins to stir the mixed batter of treats. Granny Josephine then asks Mellisa to toss up a few bars of chocolate in the air. Mellisa grabs about twenty bars and tosses them in the air, and Josephine pulls out a katana, jumps into the air and slices them all in pieces as they fall perfectly into the mix. The elder woman then makes a perfect landing, puts her katana away, and bows, making Mellisa clap in amazement.

"I believe we have finished all of the mixing, and now it's time to put them in the oven. Mellisa, honey. Could you open the oven if you don't mind?"

"Yes, Granny Jojo," Mellisa complied with a smile. However, as she opened the oven and turns it on, the oven began to shake. Mellisa and Granny Josephine carefully backed away as the oven shook and sparked and swirled all about, even to the point of bouncing up and down a little violently. The stove's lights flickered on and off, and then it suddenly stopped and the inside burst into flames. Mellisa and her grandmother yelled, "FIRE!" as they jumped in a panic. Mellisa's granny quickly grabbed a household fire hydrant and washed the flames away. They look as the smoke turned on the fire alarm and set the sprinklers off, wetting the ground and sagging the baking ingredients in the process. Mellisa and Granny Josephine grabbed whatever they could to cover the batter and the other ingredients to keep them from getting soaked any further while the sprinklers slowly stopped working. Mellisa looked around as she tries to walk to her grandmother, but she began to slip and lose her balance in the process.

"Oh, this is horrible... The town fair is in two weeks, and our baking ingredients are soaked and ruined," Josephine speaks disappointedly as she slowly kicks away a can of yams. Mellisa hugs her grandmother with an optimistic aura and says, "Don't worry Granny Jojo. I'm sure we have enough money to start over before the following Saturday."

"That may be so, but where are we going to get the money to buy a new oven?" Josephine asked. There is then a knock on the door over in the living room. Mellisa walks over and answers the door to see that it's her friend and cheerleader co-captain, Cathy, dressed as a mailman while holding a bag of mail.

"Cathy!" Mellisa says happily, "What are you doing in that mailman suit?"

"Well," Cathy speaks casually, "my dad didn't want me to spend much of my summers alone reading fantasy comics and watching tv, so he asked one of his friends who works at the post office if I could volunteer as an assistant mailman for a while."

"Hehe, oh what fun." Mellisa giggles.

"I wish," Cathy rebuttals as the mailbag weighs her down, "This bag is heavier than a sh-I mean than lifting a cow."

"Mooooo~" Mellisa playfully teases as she helps Cathy, so she doesn't fall. Cathy gets her balance back as she thanks the girl. The mail truck driver honks his horn, making Cathy call out, "I'm coming!" She then hands Mellisa her mail, waves to the happy girl and then walks to the truck as they ride to the next street on the neighborhood block. Mellisa closes the door as she walks back to the kitchen scanning her mail. Mellisa read, "Hmm... Bill, bill, oooh. My subscription to Magic Monthly has arrived." As she read through her magazine, a yellow sheet of paper slowly fell against Mellisa's leg. Mellisa picks it up slowly and reads it.

"Citizens of the Harvest Moon county, we are glad to announce our 23rd annual Lemonade contest. From June 4th to June 5th, our judges will drive around neighborhood blocks, searching for the best lemonade stands selling the freshest, most creative types of lemonade out there. Lemonade's all the rage this month as the winner gets a brand new oven and a six-hundred-thousand dollar cash prize. Runner-ups will gain either a one-hundred-dollar cash prize or a gift card to stores of your choosing as well a ribbon of excellence. Hurry! This contest doesn't last." Mellisa read. Her eyes widen as a light bulb flashed on in her head, signaling an idea. She ran to her grandmother and showed the elder the yellow flyer and proposed, "I could build a lemonade stand and enter in that contest so we would have a chance to win that oven for our Summer Sweets!" Granny Josephine smiled brightly at the idea, placed her hand on Mellisa's shoulder and said, "Mellisa. Back in my youth, I was the greatest lemonade seller on my block. People far and wide would come almost every summer just to taste it, and every time, I had my secret ingredient to help me. But there's always this one rival who's always trying to one-up my business in EEEEVVVVEEERRY WAY possible. She's vowed that ONE day she'll defeat me...." Granny Josephine looks up at the ceiling and shakes her fist in the air while saying, "You'll never beat me Sarah-Belle! Neveeeerrrr!!!" Mellisa looks at her grandmother with a confused face all the way until her grandmother regains her composure and begins to smile. The grandmother then softly replies, "But the most important thing is to have fun." Saying that made Mellisa smile happier than a sunflower as she was ready to begin tomorrow's challenge.