the girls wanted ice cream
looking into their
eyes he saw they were adamant
he didntwasnt interested he
began humming Whatever Lola Wants
they dressed him down in
stereo eyes suggested he might wanna cut that out
Wha he
wasnt convincing
he was playing shesh No sense of humour
For that his wife said
you’re having ice cream with us.
Thats fine Im happy to have ice cream with you
No, I mean have, eat, ice cream.
Id prefer not
Com’on, Dad his girls said excitedlypicking up on their mothers derision
have ice cream with us, that’d make it a real treat.
no sooner than they closed theirs mouth they worked him with their eyesthe three of them his wife and eldest had huge
brown eyes touted their hereditary brown eye treatmenthe watched
guys jump hoops for his wife before they dated IDIOTS he told her when they began dating that that wouldnt work on him though
only with extreme effort was he able to resist
not that he told her his youngest braided him with her greenishhazel eyes as huge as her mother and sisters
felt like he had fallen headlong into the
60s film Village of the Damned
he went along with themthe path of least resistance
he couldnt remember yahhe
could Sanibel Island Florida after hours of swimming in saltwater under the sun refreshing
blizzards at the Dairy Queen without
fail their girls were
little
he conceded
it was a bright yellow ice cream parlor
there were booths
the girls had sundaes
how could they eat that
much ice cream
he had a cone
they convinced him to have two
scoops creamy coconut ice cream
as they fell mindlessly into
their feasts spooningingesting his cone unraveled the scoops falling into his hand
Manohman he saidbarely attracting their
attention
I get a discount for eating out of hand
they looked up
he took their barrage of laughter
in good humour
Yes Very funny Someone wanna hand me a napkin please
the dispenser at the table
was empty
his youngest boundup to the counter
she returned with a spoon
They’re out of napkins, something about an
order unfilled, it's late . . I brought you a spoon . figured you could eat your
ice cream cone out of your hand. she laughed that tickled her
Out of my hand
he tried to keep his anger in check anger warms the body
You always say, Dad, waste not,
want not.
Thank you doll for your thoughtfulness
You’re welcome, Daddy. that
wasnt necessary Daddy unnecessary
she fell back to her sundae his problem wasnt hersher ice cream was getting
warm
he ate down to the unfolded cone then
with melted ice cream flowing down his forearmdripping off his elbow he stood
and walked up to the counter he apologised
to the clerk asked
for the manager for the mess on their floor from
their failed producttheir lack of napkins
Originally he said to the manager I was going to ask for a discount
but sticky
as I am I prefer to be reimbursed for my
doublescoop coconut cone Im wearing half
of it Shared a portion of itoff my elbow
with your floor
the manager correctly obliged him
the girls had exitedwaited
outside for him
they knew when he
got something into his skull hed to be sure to get what he believed was
reasonably his
they learned from his exampleparticularly
his daughters
he always made them standup for themselves against adults when they were
children
while they werent keen about it
as girls they thanked him more times than he could say as young women
gratefully they didnt ask him eat
ice cream with them again
0343, Sunday,
3 10. 21
2313,
Day-between-Two-Ts, 6 10. 21
