The Lemonade War

To Jessie’s dismay, Evan is angry with her again. She doesn’t understand it. The other thing bothering Jessie is that she really has only earned $104, as Megan’s additional money is supposed to be a donation. Jessie goes back and forth in her mind about whether or not she should be honest about Megan’s money and risk losing the war.

Jessie decides to find out how much money Evan has earned, tiptoeing to Evan’s room. She knows that it’s a rule that no one can go into another person’s room without an invitation, but she feels that the violation is the least of her concerns. Jessie opens Evan’s special wooden box and is shocked to find Evan’s $103.11. Determined not to let Evan win, Jessie spends all night thinking of a plan to keep Evan from beating her.

Jessie wakes up at eight in the morning, and Evan has already left to get lemonade. She knows she only has until nine, when Megan’s family will pick her up. Jessie’s mom asks why she and Evan are fighting, and Jessie divulges Evan’s anger: “Evan’s mad at me […] He said he hates me!” (134-35). She begins sobbing. Mrs. Treski gives her a long hug and then directs Jessie to work on her empathy: “You’re never going to stop being mad at each other until you both understand what the other person is feeling” (135). Mrs. Treski asks Jessie how she feels about Evan, and Jessie says she hates him too.

Jessie has almost decided not to engage in her “malicious mischief” when Evan comes home, dumping out his backpack of 32 cans of lemonade, and Jessie feels just as upset as before. After Evan mixes his large vat of lemonade in the garage, he goes to make a sign. Jessie gets Ziplock bags and collects fruit flies from the bowl in the kitchen. She packs three bags of fruit flies, a few inchworms, a caterpillar, and a fistful of dirt into the vat of lemonade. As she’s finishing, Evan almost comes back in, so Jessie tells him that their mother wants to speak with him. Almost regretful about her actions, Jessie changes and goes to the beach.

It takes a little while for Evan to figure out that his lemonade is a loss. His third customer, a small girl, finds a bug in her drink. Soon, the other children find bugs in their drinks and ask for their money back. Their mother asks Evan to check the whole vat of lemonade. When he does, he sees Jessie’s work: “The surface was swimming with dead bugs: fruit flies, worms, and a soggy brown caterpillar” (144). The mother insists, despite Evan’s protest, that he dump the whole thing out. As they pour, Evan feels defeated.

Evan wheels the cart home, thinking the whole time about Jessie’s strange behavior that morning. When he arrives at the house, he immediately goes to the trash, where he finds the three Ziplock bags. He is angry with Jessie and stomps upstairs to his room, where he slams the door. He stares across the hallway at Jessie’s room and makes the decision to cross over the threshold, since she had already broken the rules.

In Jessie’s room, Evan searches until he finds her little lock box and key, opens the box, and finds Jessie’s $208 neatly arranged in an envelope. He thinks of his hard work and worries what Megan will think of him after his defeat. He takes Jessie’s money and goes to play basketball with his friends.