The Ice Cream Man Cometh....

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So there I was, making some red psychedelic beads, and I heard distant thunder---which was odd, since it had just been sunny and hotter than hell just a few moments ago.

But anybody who knows me will tell you that I love storms. So, knowing the thunder was announcing the imminent arrival of a storm, I ran downstairs, grabbed my camera, and went out on the back deck to watch the storm come in and, hopefully, get some good pictures of it.

All of a sudden I heard Blaine yelling: "Hey Dumb Dora! It says on the TV that there's a bad storm coming in from the west and that lightning could even be miles up front of it----and so you had better come inside."

I replied: "You don't have to tell me where the storm is---that damn new TV is so big that I can see the weather lady from here!"

And then...amazingly.....I heard another sound.....a sound which has eluded me for 18 years.

I heard the lovely jingle of the bells on a Good Humor Ice Cream Truck....

But.... no matter which state I've ever lived in, I have always tried to catch the ice cream man without success. I have been thwarted in my efforts to catch one time after time again, year after year, as for some reason the damn ice cream men I've encountered all think they're Dale Earnhardt in the Indy 500, speeding through the neighborhood at jet engine speed.

But I'm stubborn..... and so I rushed into the house, grabbed some of Blaine's quarters on the dining room table, and flew out the front door towards that wondrous jingling sound which announces that the ice cream man cometh.....

Sprinting like I was in the 100-yard dash, quarters clutched in my left fist, I ran like hell towards the ice cream man. I saw that he was still on the cul-de-sac----which meant that he'd HAVE to pass where I was in order to leave the street. And I was taking no chances....

And then the storm arrived in earnest. Large sheets of rain began pelting the neighborhood and thunder and lightning were all around.

But I wasn't going to let this ice cream man go. I wanted a damn Good Humor "Sundae Cone". And I knew that the ice cream man was going to try and speed away, since he knew nobody would come out to buy an ice cream in hurricane-force winds.

But I was way ahead of him!

I ran out into the middle of the street, waving my arms like a madwoman, signaling the ice cream man to stop. And he had to stop in order to avoid running me over.

"I want a Good Humor Sundae Cone!" I yelled at him, my voice practically drowned out by the thunder and winds.

Aghast, and giving me a look which I know meant he was questioning my sanity, he quickly grabbed one of the precious cones out of the freezer box and said: "That's two bucks."

I counted the change in my hand, and announced: "Oh DAMN! I'm short---let me go inside and get some more money....."

But he yelled back: "Are you nuts? We are in a major storm here! Just give me what you've got!"

So I forked over the money and took possession of my Good Humor Sundae Cone---and hurried back into the house, my entire body soaking wet.

See? I did it! Hee hee!! I overcame an 18-year curse and finally caught the damn ice cream man! HEH!

I started cavorting around the living room, waving my Good Humor Sundae Cone under everybody's noses, bragging to Blaine, Leonard, and Little Baby about my success in getting something I'd wanted for 18 years--- but nobody was interested. Blaine just sighed and rolled his eyes at my stupidity in going out into an electrical storm, and the cats weren't even listening.

I noticed Little Baby sleeping on the sack into which Blaine had put some dried herbs he'd picked off the deck garden. Obviously, Blaine hadn't noticed it yet. I chuckled to myself to think how he'd blow his stack when he saw that.

And so, still chuckling to myself, I ate my hard won Good Humor "Sundae Cone".

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