One day as I was walking Winslow, I heard a little girl call out "Mevrouw, mevrouw" (the equivalent of Mrs.).
I stopped and turned to see two pretty little girls about 7 years old standing behind an iron gate.
Thinking they probably wanted to pet the dog, I walked over.
One of them held up this little bottle and best I could tell, they wanted to know if I'd like to buy it. Of course, I said yes. I gave them the 3 euros I had in my pocket.
About that time their grandmother came around (and of course spoke English!). She told me the little girls were her granddaughters visiting from Switzerland and that they'd tried to get the attention of everyone who walked by, but I was the only one who had stopped.
She explained that their great grandfather was a pharmacist and this was one of his old medicine bottles. The girls had made a perfume from lavender in the garden and were trying to sell it.
The girls ran off to play while I continued to visit with their grandmother. Suddenly they ran up and said something to her. They told her they wish the money I'd given them had been American!
When I got home I realized the bottle had clearly been marked 5 euros (even homemade perfume is expensive here!). Ha. Realizing I'd only given them 3 euros, I decided to go back with another 2 euros.
But instead, I dug through our basket of coins and gathered all the U.S. coins I had. It wasn't much, but at least one or two of each denomination.
I walked back to the gate, but they were no longer outside. I dropped the coins on the ground inside the gate.
I walked back by a few hours later and the coins were gone so I guess they found them. Souvenirs of a visit to Grandma's house in Belgium and a chance meeting with an American.
It's not lemonade, but it actually smells really good and it sits on my counter as a reminder to always buy lemonade . . . or perfume.
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