Nintyeight miles from our final destination (and temperatures in the mid 90’s) we stopped at a Love’s Truck Stop for a quick snack. Because of the 90+ degree heat, ice cream was the favored choice of most every one in our family. We gingerly chose our mouthwatering flavors-ready for those first bites of creamy, frozen bits of heaven! We instructed the children to stand quietly in the long line. What seemed like an eternity later, I placed my stack of semi-frozen ice cream treats on the counter, and I quickly paid the cashier. We scurried out to the hot parking lot and into our even hotter cars.
Getting into the car was no easy feat. We loaded Lucy into the back seat and gave her some water. I helped our six year old grandson into his backseat -along with his very limp, half wrapped, puddling ice cream sandwich. I grabbed the sandwich in an unsuccessful attempt to help him unwrap it. As I did so, the puddling ice cream ran all over my hands. I quickly handed the sandwich back to it’s rightful owner, after which came the obvious reply, “It’s melting.” Before I could utter the words, “Eat it anyway,” Lucy (who was waiting by his side) decided it was the perfect opportunity for her first lick of vanilla ice cream. Then, as the ice cream sandwich suspiciously “fell onto the car seat,” I heard the words, “Lucy bit my ice cream.” With the upmost speed,I retrieved the ice cream before Lucy could bite the chocolate cookie part. While I was grasping at the ice cream sandwich, it continued to puddle around my fingers. I repeatedly switched hands, begging Lucy to help clean the vanilla puddles off of the hand not holding the ice cream. Lucy was very happy to lend a licking tongue! Finally (after all of that fuss!), the six year old declared that he would not be eating the soggy chocolate cookie! So, in ultimate defeat, I tossed the remains of the “once an ice cream sandwich” into a plastic bag, and attempted to eat my own puddling mess. Two bites later (with a new mess dripping onto my dog-slobbered, vanilla flavored fingers) I decided it just wasn’t worth it.
Three minutes later, I heard our grandson say, “Memaw, can you please get me another one?” and Lucy said that she wanted another ice cream too!
330 SQFT 