The reason why we couldn’t have a lemonade stand wasn’t because we didn’t have any lemons. We actually have a lemonade tree in our backyard for that, since mom claims that the ones they sell in Walmart are “sour to the point of no return.” 

No idea what that means, but I think someone should tell her that lemons are supposed to be sour. 

Anyways, the lemons that grew on the tree were quite…well, deadly. I call them the “lemons of truth.” 

Let me explain. My mom loves tending to her lemon tree. She waters it and feeds it monthly, and every year, it’ll grow big, juicy, sour lemons. They were always bright yellow, and I always thought they were very pretty. The whole family will pick all the lemons. But we don’t really have any need for lemons, so we’d keep a few for ourselves, and we’d sell the rest at the market. It kinda just became tradition since then. 

But just a year ago, my brother decided to dare me to eat a lemon. I had never eaten a whole lemon before and wasn’t a big fan of sour stuff, but I didn’t want to be chicken, so I ate it. And let me tell you, it was sooooo sour! My taste buds screamed in pain as my eyes started to water. 

But I had come this far. So I stared my brother in the eyes as I chewed and swallowed. 

“Your turn,” I declared. 

So my brother ate one too. 

For the rest of the day, everything was fine. Then, the chaos started. As usual, I went to my friend’s house to pick her up for school. She came out the door, wearing that dress. 

Now, not trying to be mean or anything, but I just can’t with that dress. It was gray, it was ugly, and frankly, it reminded me of a sea elephant. But I couldn’t say that, could I?

So I smiled a sweet smile at her. You look pretty today, I meant to say. But what came out of my mouth was “Why are you wearing that ugly dress?” She blinked. “What?” 

No, wait! I didn’t mean it! “I don’t even think that can be defined as a dress.” 

I almost gasped in despair. 

Uh-oh. “You look like a sea elephant in that thing. It’s an insult to fashion.” 

I saw tears in her eyes. She huffed and stomped away. 

I watched her go, wanting to say something but not cause more damage. 

What was up with me today? 

When I came home that day, I found my brother crying loudly on his pillow. 

“What’s up?” I asked, gloomy from my own day. 

He looked up. “I said to my teacher, ’”He buried his head back and kept crying. 

Hmm. “Did you mean it?” 

“No…I mean sorta…” 

“Did it just come out of your mouth?” 

“Yes.” 

“The lemons!” 

“What?” 

I nodded my head. “Remember the lemons we ate yesterday? They must be why we keep telling the truth!” 

And that’s why we called these lemons the “lemons of truth.” The effect only lasted a day, though. I apologized, my brother apologized, and everything was fine…until the lemons grew stripes. 

It was late September when the lemon tree grew fruit. I went to check on them…and found out they had mint-green stripes. They were faint and easy to miss, but I saw.

So naturally, I dared my whole family to eat one. Mom was afraid it was poisonous, but after being reminded that the tree was under her care, took a bite. 

“It’s very sweet this time,” I said, surprised. But I needed to test my theory on the truth lemons. “Dad, your breath smells good.” Oh, I can lie. Dad looked surprised, but pleased. “Thank you, hon.” 

Hmm. So these lemons were sweet and gave me freedom of speech. Wonderful. 

The next day, we were playing two truths and a lie in my class. I went first. 

“So, I have two siblings.” My lie. 

“I have a cat.” Wait…another lie? 

But I couldn’t control my voice. I kept lying, though my mind screamed at it to stop. 

“And I have a pool in my backyard.” That’s my third lie! 

By the end of the day, I was frowning. I kept lying about things that I could tell the truth about. But I couldn’t control my voice! 

When I got home, Dad was home. 

“Dad, what are you doing home so early?” I asked. 

He sighed. “Well, I got fired.” 

A moment. “WHAT?” 

“Yep. I kept telling lies even though I tried not to, so my boss told me I could just go home and not come back.” 

Oops…that might be my fault. 

“But it should be easy to get a new job, especially with my experience in software engineering and…” 

He droned on, but I was deciding on a new name for the lemons. The two-faced lemons. 

~ 

I woke up, feeling very drowsy. But I snapped to a sitting position. Was yesterday just a dream?

I pulled a jacket over my PJs before hurrying outside into the yard to the lemon tree, and… 

Yes! They were completely yellow. No stripes at all. Just a normal, sour, lemon. 

Contended that yesterday was just a dream, I walked back inside. But in the very back corner of the tree, untouched and unnoticed, there was a lemon with mint-green stripes.