The Three Little Lemons

05Aug2021            Word count: 1,343

The Three Little Lemons                        

                                                             by

                                            Knox Whitney

Once upon a time there were three little lemons. 

They were all good friends. But two of them were especially good listeners as well.

They were kind, honest, respectful, and full of will (good will rather than ill will).

One lovely spring day, when their tree was still and not a leaf was stirring, Larry Lemon said to Luzie Lemon:

“Do you mind being sour?”

“Well, actually, I’ve never thought about that,” said Luzie Lemon. 

“It’s just the way I am. ‘First the flower, then the fruit,’ as the saying goes, and my juice (and yours, too), by the way, is sour. 

“It’s not a matter of ‘like’ or ‘dislike,’ or of ‘mind’ or ‘don’t mind.’ I am a lemon. That’s all. My skin is yellow. My flavor is sour. It’s just the way it is.”

“But...” said Larry.

“Not only that,” Luzie continued, “We lemons sport just one of the famous Five Flavors: Salty, sweet, bitter, hot, and sour, the flavors so prized by the human-species.

“I am curious, Larry Lemon. Why do you ask if I mind being sour?”

“It’s hard to explain,” said Larry.

“Except for minor differences,” Luzie continued, “in size, we are all alike – and sour, as all lemons are. And we share the same home, our tree – together and alike. 

“We suffer when the rains don’t come – together and alike.

“We rejoice in the sunlight – together and alike.

“We’re grateful when Brother Breeze comes to cool us off – together and alike.

“And when the time comes to serve and sacrifice ourselves, we do so willingly, together and alike.

“In fact, we lemons were born to nurture and heal others - together and alike.

“We are also employed as a topic in the human realm – in drawings, paintings, and sculptures! 

“And we are imaginearily useful in the graphic arts as well!

"And in the ceramic arts, in the fabric arts, and even in the computer arts!

“Actually, Larry, there is practically no end to the ways in which we lemons are elevated by human-species dwellers!

“Last but not least, almost all in the human-species realm love lemonade, which is made from our juice. 

“Do you know that we are almost always the first candidate that comes to mind in the entrepreneurial efforts of little humans! Did you ever hear of a Lemonade Stand, for instance?

“So, no, My Friend. I do not mind being sour. Not at all!”

“How do you know all this stuff, anyway!” said Larry.

Luzie Lemon smiled triumphantly down on Larry (Three-down-and-two-over). Then, in her sweetest lemonade-voice, she said,

“May I gently suggest you tell me more? Why do you ask if I mind being sour? What’s going on in that juicy little mind of yours?”

Larry Lemon sighed.

“It’s a long story,” Larry said. 

“Maybe you will think it is too long. Maybe you will feel impatient. Maybe you won’t want to hear me out. Maybe you will tell me to just hurry up and get to the end, to just skip all that.

Maybe…”

“Larry,” said Luzie.

 “I am here, My Friend. You needn’t feel so anxious. Please take your lovely-little-lemon-drop-time! I am listening, and will be. So squirt!” 

Thereupon, Luzie smiled her best, loving, most brilliant, most encouraging smile.

“I hope you won’t think I’m bragging,” Larry began uncertainly. He sagged on his branch.

“Bragging is so unattractive, as we all know. So, I’m not bragging, but…You know how my super power is the power of listening and hearing? You know how I can pick up vibrations from miles,

and miles, and miles around? You know how I can hear things?”

“Yes!” said Luzie. “I most certainly do!

“You are lemonastic, Larry! Truly lemonastic! Please! Go on.”

Larry perked up. He turned a brighter yellow.

"Ok. Here goes!

“A few nights ago, I couldn’t sleep. So I was just hanging…hanging and listening, as I’m wont to do, when I picked up some incredibly fun sounds. I mean really, really groovy sounds. The vibrations were delicious, even though there was the associated, faint smell of cat…of tree and cat…but all in all…

“See? There I go! Off on a tangent!”

“I like it, Larry!” said a voice two-up-and-one-over.

“Cat and wood? Sounds like a guitar to me, or maybe…” Laurence momentarily drifted off.

“So, it’s interesting,” Laurence said, when he snapped to.

“I hope you don’t mind the intrusion, but I couldn’t help hearing what you and Luzie were talking about, and I’m in! If you don’t mind, that is.”

“No, no. Of course not,” said Larry, suddenly feeling bolstered.

“Three minds are better than two! Besides, Laurence, you know how I - how all of us - value your most esteemed opinion…”

Then Larry cleared his throat and began again.

“So it was late. The night was clear, and I could hear these glorious vibes from who knows where! Then, I realized that it was what humans call music, and that there were human-language words happening…"

“Lyrics, they’re called,” said Laurence-on-High, breaking Luzie’s No interrupting! rule again.

“They’re called lyrics!”

Larry stopped cold.

Luzie shot lemoncello looks at Laurence, slightly shriveling one of his leaves.

Laurence liked to show off his knowledge.

He was the kind of lemon who liked to use big words in lemon-language, or in any language, for that matter. Laurence was multilingual, cross-species, and didn’t care who knew it.

“So, Larry! You heard music, with lyrics,” Luzie said encouragingly.

“Yes! I did! And I realized that they were about us! Lemons, I mean…in the lyrics… We lemons were mentioned in the music!”

“Astonishing! Absolutely astonishing,” said Laurence, bursting at the stem.

Laurence couldn’t help it, really. He was a born teacher, with nobody to teach.

Larry got quiet and paled a little.

Luzie felt what was happening.

“Larry?” she said softly.

“But how? How were we in the music? Can you be more specific?”

“Yes, I can,” said Larry.

“We were in the refrain, like this!” 

(Subterraneously, Larry hoped that Laurence had heard the use of the refrain word).

Then Larry sang in his best, tartiest voice:

“Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet

But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat

Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet

But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.”*

“Bee-you-tah-full!” said Luzie. 

“Yes! I thought so too, at first,” said Larry.

“I loved the melody. I loved the beat. And I loved the fact that we were in it! But, don’t you see? Soon enough, I noticed that we were referred to as ‘poor’ and ‘impossible!’”

“Hmmm. So you feel really disappointed?” said Luzie.

“I’m guessing you feel extra-sour, being associated with human-language words like ‘poor’ and ‘impossible…’”

 “But ‘pretty’ and ‘sweet’ are in there too!” Laurence burst in analytically.

He wanted to participate, but Laurence hadn’t yet learned that when you’ve got the feelsies, brainsies aren’t what you need!

For a split second, Luzie felt like hacking off Laurence’s branch.

“So, Larry,” she began again.

“You must feel like ‘One minute you’re up, the next minute you’re down,’ with that song, emotionally speaking, of course.”

 “Right!” said Larry.

“It’s a regular whipsaw! One minute, you’re grooving along to a snappy little tune – the next, you’re in the lemon-pits of linguistics! And all within seconds!”

“So you feel a bit squeezed?” said Luzie.

 “Not exactly,” said Larry.

 Luzie waited.

The silence was deafening. Even one-up-and-two-over, Laurence-On-High was quiet.

Finally, Larry said, “I don’t feel poor, Luzie! I don’t!

“And I don’t feel impossible, either! Anything, but!

Luzie waited. She smiled inside. She beamed sun-and-lemon-blossom-beams toward Larry.

Laurence joined in.

Brother Breeze showed up. The lemon branches swayed gently, together and alike.

“I don’t mind being sour anymore,” said Larry.

The End

___ 

Notes:

Luzie; pronounced Loot-see; meaning: light (German)

*Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Will Holt

Lemon Tree lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

**Luzie’s skill-set demo: Based on the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) work of Marshall Rosenberg.

The Three Little Lemons © Pamela W. Haines, August 5, 2021