Short Story

Pink Lemonade

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Sue & Gerry’s Weekly
Prompts Weekend Challenge,
incorporating the word ‘tempting’
This is my story.

Image by Me & ChatGPT

It was hot. Oppressively hot. The temperature today hit 103ºF in NY and we were on a mandatory energy cutback … no AC until further notice. The leaves on the trees were perfectly still and even the birds couldn’t muster the strength to trill a tune. From the upstairs window of my Long Island beach house I could see for a mile in either direction; the beach was deserted as the heat advisory kept everyone away. No beach blankets spread on the sand, no kids frolicking in the water. It was surreal.

I tried taking a nap but it was too hot to sleep. The inside of my house felt like an oven, even with the ceiling fans going; all they did was move the hot air around. I went down to the kitchen for something cold to drink. Opening the fridge, I discovered the pitcher of pink lemonade I made earlier in the morning. It was smiling and winking at me.

“Tempting, isn’t it?” the pitcher seemed to be saying.

I reached for a glass, filled it halfway with ice and poured myself a tall cold one. Ah! Just what I needed!


NAR©2025

This is “Too Hot To Sleep” by Eilen Jewell

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Tempting

All text and graphics are copyright for Nancy’s Notes 🖊️🎶, The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, The Rhythm Section, et al., and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

44 thoughts on “Pink Lemonade”

  1. I’ve been there. Mrs. Mister used to make us neighborhood kids a large pitcher of Grape Kool-Aid that we enjoyed sitting in the shade of her Mimosa Tree. No one in my family had AC, yeah, it existed in the mid-1950s, but it was a swamp cooler at best. Now I have to suffer through Momo’s dead thyroid; she wears a jacket when it’s 95 degrees and keeps the thermostat set on “N” for nursing home.

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    1. LOL! My parents were among the first to get an AC and all the neighbors thought we were millionaires. Far from it! She knew how to budget the money and good thing; my dad was awful at math and we would have ended up in the poor house if he was in charge of the finances. My sister-in-law doesn’t sweat and the heat doesn’t bother her. She hated AC and wouldn’t allow it in the house. My poor BIL; it was hell living with that woman and gave us the perfect excuse not to visit. Tomorrow should be cooler …. fingers crossed 🤞🏼

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      1. My childhood home in Fort Worth, a house built in the 30s, had an attic fan that would suck a tomcat up into the attic. Windows open, fan on a 20 mph breeze flowing though the house helped a bit. We didn’t have AC until 1961 and then it was a swamp cooler that left the entire house damp.

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  2. At least you can make poetry out of it, but still! That is so hot for your neck of the woods. Just caught a snippet of your heat wave on the news. Ugh! Hopefully stores keep the ice flowing when individual freezers reach capacity. 🧊🪭

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  5. Nice and timely story. I also enjoyed “Too Hot To Sleep” by Eilen Jewell. She seems to be good, and I’d like to hear more of her music.

    In my neck of the woods in central New Jersey, we hit 101F during the day, and right now it’s still 89F, feeling like 94F – crazy! As least it looks like we’re getting a break on Thursday with forecast highs of 80F and 69F, respectively- jeez, it’s going to feel like the ice age!😂

    Hope you’re staying reasonably cool. 🙂

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    1. Listen to Sea of Tears and One of Those Days. She’s got a great sound and a good band.

      I didn’t know you were in NJ; we’re neighbors …. lower Westchester County. It’s still very hot but the AC is on and it feels great. This is too much too fast. I hope it’s a fluke and not a taste of what’s to come.

      Take care, Christian. Looking forward to Thursday.

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  7. Great post………………………. couldn’t quite put my finger on what was missing in the picture, then realised, no fridge door! I have some cans and fruit juice in the fridge and ice cubes in the freezer to put in Maya’s water bowl. It’s hot again tonight.

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  10. Aaaah, …thirst quenching, tongue tingling, body cooling, …Pink lemonade,… just what the doctor ordered, … and I hope you’re staying cool, Nancy, … more ice in that lemonade?✨🧊🧊✨

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    1. It is 100 right now, Jim; when it’s this hot, numbers cease to matter. One more day of this, then hopefully a cooldown on Thursday. Thankfully, there’s no humidity …. just blazing dry heat. Even our granddaughter is feeling it; usually the weather never bothers her. Take care, Jim.

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