Ice Cream Man!

I was having a crummy day today. I had encountered a person, who chooses to make my life difficult on a regular basis. I was not in the best mood. I called my daughter to check on her cleaning progress at home. Being the first day of summer vacation without a job, I had given her a list of cleaning chores to accomplish before I got home around 5 pm.  While I was chatting with her, I pulled up to a light...right behind the ICE CREAM MAN!  I got so excited that I kinda forgot I was supposed to be driving back to my office. When the light turned green, the Ice Cream Man turned left. Luckily, that was the same way I was going.  At the first right turn, the Ice Cream Man turned right. You guessed it...I did, too! He immediately turned left into a strip mall where I followed him into the parking lot.  The whole time I was 'stalking' the Ice Cream Man, I was talking to my daughter about getting an ice cream cone.  Of course, she was encouraging (read: goading) me to get my ice cream.

What is it about the Ice Cream Truck that makes it so special and magical? Why do we, as adults, get so worked up, excited and childlike in temperment when we hear that all too-familiar music blared from the loudspeakers?  It reminds me of that Eddie Murphy riff in "Raw" where he taunts that other kids with, "Ice cream, I gotta an ice cream and you don't got none!" There is something so elitist about having enough cash on hand to buy a glorious, dripping cold dairy product on a stick.  The store-bought tub just won't do!

So, after the Ice Cream Man stopped his wonderous Ice Cream Truck, I jumped out of my car and waved my wallet at him. He was staring out of his side mirror at me as if he couldn't believe a grown woman was chasing him for an cone.  I said, "Yes, I was following you for an ice cream."  Oddly, as if this were a common, everyday occurence, he just looked at me and said, "Menu's on the other side."  I scurried along to the other side of his magic wagon to find my treat.  Then it occurred to me that I couldn't go back to the office without enough for everyone. I could hear my mama's voice in the back of my head, "It's rude to eat in front of everyone if you don't have enough to share."  And, I could picture my daughter getting out of sorts because I didn't buy her one.  And then, my son would've lost it because his sister got one and he didn't.  In the end, I bought $18 dollars worth of ice cream.  Crazy, I know, but I had to be fair - in my looney mind.

You would think that this crazy tale ends here, but you'd be wrong.  The funniest part of all this is that when I turned around to leave, there were three more adults in line behind me!

ICE CREAM MAN IS HERE!