Karam hailed from tribes north in A. continent. Learning of the climes of the New World, he set out, quite intentionally, with the goal of propagation of the lemon tree. He arrived with his lemon trees and lemon seeds in a southern area. He began the slow process of making varieties that were well-suited for new terrain.
Karam lacked a kind of business sense. He planted his lemon trees on public property. As a geometer, he had a highly developed sense of aesthetics, and his placement of trees in public and along hillsides bothered no one. He set up an experimental area and selected for rate of maturation and size in the New World.
After a few years of living in the New World, he was recognized for his cultivation skills. He was hired on different orchards often to cultivate lemon trees and other plants. The owners often got their start on lemons through Karam’s benevolence: his receptivity to answering questions as he tended to the trees, and then a willingness to take seeds or transplants from the public stock and provide his knowledge and experience in an on-boarding process.
The two children, Reti & Iter, the sons of David, another orchard owner, followed Karam’s step, and overtime these children learned much about lemons. One of Karam’s innovation was netting, used to prevent birds from eating the lemons. The children learned how to construct such enclosures.
Between his part-time jobs working on different orchards, he made enough to rent a house with a backyard in which he planted several lemon trees. However changing economic circumstance meant he had to move out after several years. His position was unenviable. Despite his productivity, and his initial brilliant idea, he did not own any lemon trees.
How was this possible? He failed to buy a farm early on. Perhaps he sunk too much into trees. Lemons also were not popular as people were not used to sour, but they had found a market nonetheless.
As a side hustle, Karam became a lemon seller on weekends at the farmers market. He also started to stockpile oil, for what purpose? Karam was upset. He was reported and charged with misdemeanor reckless endangerment. The oil was confiscated.
Karam felt trapped. The New World was a place of rules that were not familiar to him.
Even if his motivations were bad in hoarding oil, to propagate a fire, he could have changed his mind about it and sold the oil at a later date when the weather turned.
Karam had learned a bit of business with his interaction with orchards. But in retrospect he regretted dealing with any of the owners. Karam liked to be the face of lemons as it was in the early days. Even though he had so intimately helped them and set up their operations, they were no longer Karam’s lemons, but lemons from this or that orchard.
In a vision, he saw the orchards up in flames and a red sunset like in the lands of north A.
He felt nostalgia for his home country. The sights and smells. The sun and dry weather. The people mixed lemons with sugar and water to create the local drink, lemonade. Sugar being so expensive in the New World, he hadn’t the opportunity for lemonade, which beat out the local drink of tea, to which Karam added a wedge of lemon. Wait a minute.
He had figured out monetization.
Using his savings, he bought pounds of sugar. The following weekend, he started to sell lemonade at the market. He had a few customers and was generally hopeful.
Reti & Iter, the lemon aficionados, and now teenagers, took a great interest in his business. They observed how he poured sugar & puzzled the foreign name, lemonade.
A week later on the opposite side of the market, Reti & Iter were selling lemonade, “David’s Lemonade”.
Karam sent a letter to David:
Dear David,
Congratulations on your new venture.
I am the originator of the lemon and creator of lemonade.
I will sell my formula for lemonade & trademark.
I think it will be a huge win for everyone involved in the farming community.
Please let me know your response.
Sincerely,
Karam
Karam got a response immediately:
Hi Karam, this is interesting! Give a me a day to work on this; I will reach back soon!
Time passed and Karam wrote again:
David,
Wanted to reach out again.
Have you considered what an offer might look like? My thoughts are a transfer of IP followed by a two year consulting contract. During this period, I’d be able to consult on any internal projects, provide training, and continue to work on lemons & lemonade.
Sincerely,
Karam
There was no response.
Karam returned to his old experimental plots. They lay withered, untended. Karam went back to his homeland.
The next year he returned with new lemon trees, but this time he did not rid them of the pest, the yellow beetle. He dug up his old plots and replanted. The plants matured and produced fruit. Lo & behold, Reti & Iter took lemons from the tree and along with them, beetles.
Soon there was a beetle outbreak not only on David’s orchard, but many others.
The story was picked up by the press and Karam was roundly blamed.
Karam no longer works as a cultivator. These days he is more interested in seed banking and gardening. He also runs a newsletter where you can read his side of the story.