Considering the past week, Braxton was in an especially peppy mood today. He was back at his old elevator antics and even thought about selling some lemonade today. He had given up on it as a business. But it was strangely nice outside and it would be nicer than watching cartoons.....for the sixth day in a row.

He had been expecting his dad to come home 5 days ago, but still no sign. Braxton tried to tell himself he wasn't bothered by it, but he couldn't fool himself. Nonetheless, not even his unreliable father could keep him out of the sunshine. Although, he decided he still wasn't ready to sell any lemonade. After circling around the neighborhood and trying to socialize with some of the city dwellers (and failing), he decided to go to the library. It was about time to return his business books and check out something else... something worth reading.

Braxton wanted so badly to please people. But no one seemed to appreciate his company. He tried to make conversation with the librarian, Ms. Edith. But she was cold towards him. Apparently the warm weather didn't brighten up everyone's days. So, he finally just asked her about the fiction section. He made his way to the shorter shelves and grabbed what he thought would be a good read... based on the cool cover of the book at least. Despite Braxton's refusal to go to school, he was still a sharp kid. He liked to read and learn. Just not in a classroom setting. He preferred to live his own life instead.

One might ask what about his oh-so-exciting life was that important. But Braxton often thought about that... what's so important about anyone's lives? Some are privileged. Some are not. Everyone dies. Everyone ultimately dies. So is what happens before then really that important?

Before heading home with his new book in hand, Braxton headed into Jorri Rae's. He was hungry and didn't feel like eating another peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That's probably what little Braxton disliked most about having absent parents... the fact that he only ate PB&Js... he didn't know how to make much of anything else.

Times have been hard for those in the lemonade business lately. Braxton tried and tried to sell his lemonade thinking that the carnival would surely increase his sales. But between the shitty weather and the fact that Statone was always on his case, Braxton was getting bored with his Country Time endeavors, not to mention, he felt like he was getting sick. It was probably from running around in nothing but a business suit all winter long. If only the poor little boy had a parent around to reprimand him for such things.

Despite his oncoming cold and the violent lightning storm, Braxton was in a fairly good mood. He had just talked to his dad for the first time in ages. And better yet, his dad promised to come home soon. His dad claimed that he was about to finish up some big business deal and could come spend time with Braxton.

Braxton knew better than to rely on his dad's empty promises of coming home. But a phone call could make his day, just knowing that his dad still thought of him. His dad had always told Braxton how they were going to get out of Wilshire Tower one of these days. He said that's why he was never home, he had to work in order for them to move.

Even though Braxton was just a little boy, who admired his father as many boys do, he was smart enough not to get his hopes up. He somehow knew that he would be stuck in Wilshire Tower until he got himself out. How to go about that however, he wasn't sure.

That's why he was so adamant about his lemonade. He figured if he was a successful business man, maybe he could be successful enough for both him and his dad. He had even checked out books about how to be successful from Ms. Edna, at the library. But based on experience, lemonade stands were apparently not the way to go.

Braxton took the blow of yet another absence at school and decided to curl up and watch cartoons instead. He could hear a faint squabbling noise outside of his window eight levels below and profane shouts coming from the butcher. Braxton's curiosity usually would have gotten the better of him... but right now all he wanted to do was stay inside, by himself.

After the power outage incident, Braxton refused to take the elevator for a while. The other Wilshire Tower residents were perfectly okay with this, as they usually got to their destination sooner... but the power outage was old news now. Now everybody was talking about the carnival setting up in town.

Braxton was especially excited. A carnival meant an opportunity for good money for those in the lemonade business. Braxton walked down the stairs of the Wilshire Tower building, and towards the carnival area to scope out a prime lemonade selling spot. Braxton caught the eye of that Statone officer. What an idiot. He was absolutely certain that Braxton was trying to poison the people of the city. But little Braxton was just trying make a buck.

Statone approached Braxton with an authoritative stance and a menacing glare. Braxton sighed and offered Officer Statone a complimentary cup of lemonade in his most grown up sounding voice. With his shoulders pushed back (but not even close to filling out his father's suit) and chin held high, Braxton did his best to engage in conversation with Statone. But the officer ignored Braxton's efforts and threatened him not to set up any sort of stand near the carnival.

Frustrated, Braxton headed back to the Tower to devise a plan. There was no way he was going to pass up the chance to sell lemonade to the carnies!

It was a school day. Braxton, like most normal eleven-year-olds, was supposed to go to school. Though, he didn't like it there very much. The other children avoided him and called him names...they didn't seem to appreciate his lemonade like the Wilshire Tower dwellers. They simply didn't get him.

So, Braxton decided not to go. School is unimportant, anyways. Besides, it wasn't like his father wasn't around to tell him otherwise.

Instead, he decided to people watch. Usually, he did this from his lemonade stand. He knew most of the people around the neighborhood, or at least knew of them. He wasn't scared of anyone...except for Aberdeen. She made Braxton feel extremely uncomfortable...with her "bulbous jubilies". Although, when his father was in town, he seemed to love that creepy antique store.

Anyhow, he didn't last long at his lemonade stand. Far too cold and rainy. Braxton hated the cold. Not nearly as many lemonade customers.

Instead, he packed up stole the Front Desk Man's chair. Front Desk Man must have been out to lunch, as the chair was hardly ever empty. Braxton spent the better part of his day in that chair. The Front Desk Man returned to the building, but didn't know where his chair was, as Braxton was busy rolling around the entire building in it. Braxton was having far too much fun spinning wildly on the spinny chair in the elevator when the new guy, Mr. Alwyn walked in. His pinched face didn't seem friendly, but nonetheless, Braxton insisted on pushing the buttons. Gosh how he hated it when the other people pushed the buttons.

Hmm. Mr. Alwyn was in an apartment on the 11th floor. Braxton didn't like the 11th floor. It smelled like old people. But he smiled up at Mr. Alwyn with his toothy grin and held his breath for as long as he could until the elevator doors once again closed and Braxton could breath in "fresh" air again.

As the elevator started to go move downwards towards the eighth floor, towards home, it suddenly went dark and stopped. Scared, Braxton looked at his glow in the dark Mickey Mouse watch, his only source of light. It was about 8 pm.

Braxton sat alone on the kitchen floor. The sleeves of the oversized suit he wore engulfed his thin arms and the once crisp creases of the pants slowly unfolded. Sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce, Braxton contemplated his day to come over a styrofoam cup of hot chocolate. (He prefers hot chocolate to coffee.) He had very important matters to attend to this particular Saturday.

His to-do list was quite daunting, but with his excellent time management skills, Braxton was confident that he could handle his full day that lay ahead.

He first had to catch up on his morning cartoons. He had missed the previous two weeks due to the time he spent building and working his lemonade stand - which was his favorite way to spend time.

After hours on end of cartoon-watching, Braxton assumed his self proclaimed position as the Elevator Man for the apartment building. Occasionally, depending on which neighbor was riding the elevator, Braxton would continuously press the buttons to the wrong floor. Or better yet, he would sometimes run his hands over the buttons for all thirteen floors, which obviously irritated the other apartment dwellers.

But they always put up with Braxton's shenanigans as they felt sorry for the poor little fellow. You see, this is Braxton Jr. we're talking about. Braxton Sr., a widowed father, rarely spent anytime in the Wilshire building, as he was always away on "business".

Eleven-year-old Braxton Jr. was left free to roam the building and streets of the deceptively harsh surrounding neighborhood. But Braxton had street smarts. He knew that the folks at Jorri Rae's would take care of him and that there was something odd about the antique store across the street.

Anyhow, after Braxton's elevator adventures, he had pencilled in time to set up his lemonade stand for a while. Despite the either overly watery or overly lemony concoctions of "lemonade" Braxton created, the neighborhood's residents still loved Braxton's lemonade stand. There was just something so lovable about Braxton's quirky demeanor as he enthusiastically marketed his lemonade in his father's business suits that swallowed his skinny little body. 

Braxton took to wearing his dad's suits as he aspires to be a business man one day, too. He hopes to work for Country Time lemonade.