Dad And The Icecream Cones

It was a hot summer day and we ran to get an ice lolly for a buck each. We knew you would be mad if we weren't there when you came to pick us up, so we made up our mind to go anyway, but also to be back soon. But Dad, you know how we both are when it is just me and her, she had just joined this school from kindergarten and I was showing off my territory.

We were laughing till we walked past the turn by the basketball court and saw you standing at the gate instead of sitting in the car.

We froze for a second in unison and then ran like the wind to pick up our bags from the waiting shed. Gripping the heavy bags over our shoulders we walked very slowly to the car while praying foolishly that your anger would have evaporated in the heat. You gave us a piece of your mind. The afternoon sun was not a fun place to wait under, you let us know. In our childhood innocence, we had nothing to say and we hadn't yet learned to say sorry, just to avoid a lecture, so we listened in silence. We only replied "ice cream" when you demanded to know why we weren't by the gate. We were a little glad that the canteen was out of the cheaper ice lollies and that we didn't have enough for the cones. It would have been difficult to lick them while pretending to be sorry.

 

After a while, you were silent too, and although we were scared to make our usual car ruckus we giggled silently and continued our conversation with hand gestures. 

We were oblivious to the fact that scolding your girls hurt you more than it hurt us. We didn't dare ask where you were going when you stopped and walked out from the car, a few blocks away from home. You came back with a blue plastic bag, the kind that is banned now and passed it behind to us in the car. We opened it up to see two double chocolate ice cream cones, Cornettos no less. 

Dad, to date nothing cools my mind more than the memory of those ice cream cones wrapped in glossy brown and silver paper, perspiring in that plastic bag.

When we got home, mom gave you a piece of her mind for spoiling our appetite of course.