I love ice cream. It is proof that if there is a God, he loves us.
I was sucking as hard as I could on the straw that plunged into the thick, wonderful-ness of the vanilla milkshake in front of me. With a sudden jerk of ice cream the flow of milkshake shot up the straw and lulled around inside my mouth. I closed my lips and swished my tongue around to catch every bit of vanilla flavor, finally swallowing it.
I leaned forward to grab the straw again but caught myself in the reflection in the mirror. A small kid, his legs dangling from the stool he was sitting on, leaning forward to drink from a vanilla milkshake. I could just catch the outline of a diaper in my pants as I leaned forward. I shot back in my seat like a snake.
“Everything okay Harry?” Tom asked me, I looked up to see that he was looking at me with his warm smile.
“Yeah, thanks a bunch for the milkshake. It tastes wonderful.” I said. Tom nodded his head slowly.
“Thanks. If you need anything else, let me know. Just stay in sight.” He added the last sentence as an afterthought. I nodded in reply and went back to drinking my milkshake. I looked back out of the window, ignoring my reflection and focusing on the families or groups walking around the park. My mind wandered on how to get back to the Haunted house.
Whatever the plan was, it had to involve Danielle, seeing how she had been given the responsibility to be my shadow.
“Is this the boy Danielle?” I heard a voice say behind me.
“Yes sir” I heard a voice reply, it took me a moment to place it as Danielle.
“Hello young man, can I speak to you?” The voice said again. I turned around, still clutching my milkshake in my two hands like a talisman. A tall, middle age man, with a salt and pepper beard was looking down at me through sharp, wire-framed glasses. His face carried a very fake looking smile, fake enough that even a toddler would know that he’s lying through his teeth.
“My name is Richard, what is yours?” He asked me. Danielle stood off to the side and looked down at her feet, looking very uncomfortable.
“Harry, Harry Williams” I replied between sips of my vanilla shake.
“Can you please put the milkshake down while I’m talking to you?” Richard said, automatically grabbing the milkshake and putting in on the counter behind me. I glared at him for a moment, bastard took my milkshake!
“Where are your parents Harry?” Richard asked me again.
“My mom is in Washington.” I answered coldly.
‘What about your father?” He asked.
“He died in car accident when I was…” I began, “A while ago” I hastily added.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Richard lied. “How did you get in the park?” He kept grilling.
“I…umm…won a radio contest” I answered. Which was true, I did win my ticket by being calling number 8 on 101.451. However, in order to win that contest you had to be over 18. This put me in quite a pickle.
“A radio contest, eh? Do you have the ticket?” Richard said, mildly disappointed sounding.
“Umm…no.” I said, putting a cute smile on my face, hoping to lessen the blow of my words. My ticket was in my old pants, which were now in some box in the baby care center.
“I see, Tom, Danielle, can I talk to you….You can go back to your milkshake now Harry.” Richard said. I quickly wheeled myself around and went back to focusing on my milkshake; wanting to taste it again to spite Richard. I saw the three of them move to the other end of the soda bar and beginning talking in a huddle. They cast glances back over at me every once in awhile, which pretty much confirmed the fact they were talking about me. I finished my milkshake and waited for them to finish.
A few moments later the group broke up, Richard heading back out the door, Danielle and Tom heading back over to me.
“Hey Harry, wanna go play around the park with me?” Danielle asked. My mind immediately jumped to getting back to the haunted house. I nodded my head excitedly; Danielle smiled at my excitement and sat down next to me.
“Almost done with that milkshake then?” She asked. I gave the glass one final slurp before pushing it away from me. Tom took the glass and dropped it in the sink, his eyes looking at me with a little less warmth than before.
“Alright then, let me just change out of my work clothes and we’ll go play around in the park. Sound good?” She asked.
“Yep Yep.” I said, hopping off the stool and grabbing Danielle’s hand. We began walking out the door, and just before leaving I shouted in my little kid voice.
“Thanks again Mr. Tom!” I shouted. (Hey, when life shrinks you down to kid size, you make lemonade!)