@@DESCRIPT="Your Ice Cream Man by TS"
                        

                        Your Ice Cream Man
                                By
                          The Stranger


 (Editors note: This is one of the first short stories I wrote 5 years ago
 when I was 18.  Not bad for a beginner.)


I'm your ice cream man
stop me when I'm passing by
I'm your ice cream man
stop me when I'm passing by
they say all my flavors
are guaranteed to satisfy.

     Van Halen



     The soft summer heat was floating in the air.  Air
conditioners roared into use.  The streets curved and moved by the
images of the heat coming off them.  Children played baseball and
jumped rope in their yards.  The silent hush of summer sounded out
the screams of children.  The sun stayed out long, shining its
spotlight upon the world. 
     It was any day of the week and it was two blocks from your
house.  You sit alone reading, sitting in a chair or bed that you
call yours.  Every word I write you think of and your thoughts,
hopefully, never leave the page.  No matter the season you know
now, it is summer.  Look outside you, the sun in shining and you
can hear the children playing.  Listen again, music, can you hear
music?  Upbeat music of a carnival.  You recognize it, maybe even
hum along.  It's the sound of the ice cream man.  He's still a way
off but you know he's coming your way.  Before you get your money
out, lets look across the streets, through the houses and see whats
going on.  
     The air if filled with music.  The empty streets are no longer
empty.  Coming from the top of the street is a van, an old
van, white, with pictures painted on the side.  The pictures are of
ice cream and colored ice on a stick.  The music is soothing and
loud as the van comes rolling very slowly down the streets. 
Somewhere in a backyard a dog barks at the music which leads more
dogs to bark along.  The driver can be seen but he's not familiar
looking.  Maybe you've seen him selling ice cream before but they
seem to change faces every week.  Maybe you've seen him on tv, but
why?
     Children's hearts race as they believe he will pass them by. 
They hurry their mothers for change or maybe a dollar bill.  
Parents tell the children its almost dinner but still the dollar 
is found.  The baseball bats and jump ropes are put down for a 
time as the children race to the van that's entered their street. 
     The van comes to a stop and the driver turns off the music. 
The children hustle to make a line to wait to make their purchases. 
Their fingers point and their mouths drool at the pictures on the
van.  Their tongues already feel the chill as the thought of the
cold ice touching then captures their minds.  
     Inside the stranger races from the side of the van to the back
where the freezers are.  He never likes to stay too long after the
sale.  Small money is exchanged which in the end adds up to big
money for the strange driver.  Bomb pops, dixie cups, and ice cream
sandwiches fly from the stranger to the children who wait, drooling
on the street below.  The man in the van looks 
larger than life standing above them, almost hovering around 
candy and ice cream.  The children take their ice pops and head 
off to their usual eating place, a big rock across the street. 
     The ice cream man sets his truck back up to go and then drives
forward just enough so the kids can't see him but he can see them. 
He loves to watch the children eating.  The way they looked when
the first tainted bite licks their lips and the LSD 
would burn through them and shift their minds to a world five 
year olds had never seen.  He puts the van in park and watched 
their reactions from the rear view mirror.  Times like these made 
him think of how easy it was to buy the van and start selling ice 
cream to kids.  Other jobs refused him when they saw his criminal 
record of sexually abuse on those two boys.  With this job he was 
the boss and the rush it gave him was unreal. 
     The children started by talking about school and the baseball
game but soon the LSD was inside and their thoughts were changed. 
Some started hissing or whining as fire ran through them.  Others
watched the houses stand up and move around and even talk to them,
telling them to hurt themselves.  The dogs who still barked became
a symphony in their ears that played music they had never heard
before.  It was light and calming but in the 
background was a ringing that pierced.  It held on to their ears 
and kept ringing until their heads felt explosion coming on. 
     Elsewhere children lied down and rolled in the grass with
jerking motions trying to fight off the crows that were unseen but
yet pecking at them to the point where blood was drawn.  They
kicked at the birds and even clawed at the birds that were on their
faces and everytime blood of the birds would rip through 
their nails and yet the stinging sensations came from their skin.
     A child ran from mountain lions with three eyes that were
yelling to him to stop so they could eat him.  He ran into the
street and saw a large bull coming from a different way and it hit
him and he flew forty feet to his death.  The cars brakes screeched
but it was too late. 
     The children's minds were flashing, pictures of incredible 
colors but without images ran quickly through their minds.  As 
they lied on the grass they tried to run, trying to escape the 
colors and come back to reality.  All the children fell asleep 
and few ever woke up. 
     The ice cream man drove off not wanting to wait to see the
crying mothers with accusations in their eyes.  He drove off
laughing and picturing the kids screaming in the grass and
remembering the look of the drivers face when the five year old ran
in front of her and she couldn't find the brakes.  He hated kids,
ever since he was young and the children at school teased him and
beat him up until blood covered his new clothes.
     Reader, have you found some change or maybe a dollar?  Your
stomachs growling a little.  I think I know what you need.  Ice
cream.  Listen, can you hear it?  Listen closely.  It's him.  I 
can tell by the music.  How you loved that sound when you were 
younger.  Yep, he's coming this way, get your money out.  I hear 
the music.  Listen. 
