The Hottest Day of the Year

Part of the One Page Series

The slide felt like lava on the way down, so there wasn’t much to do at the playground except play stick fighting. Andrew, age 8, could hold his own in a stick duel against the kids his age, but Robert, age 13, used his size to knock Andrew in the dirt. The dueling came to a sudden end when all the kids heard the familiar classical music coming from the ice cream truck’s speakers.

All the kids dropped their sticks and ran down Fuego Avenue to chase the truck down. Andrew had $2.50 in his pocket, just enough for a banana split. He wished he had more money, but his mother wants him to eat ice cream in moderation. The intense heat of today could be countered with a yummy cold treat. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he asked the driver if there were bananas because that was his favorite part of the split. The driver told him he would have to check because he had been making splits all day and might be out.

Andrew waited in suspense for what felt like an eternity as the sweat beaded off his forehead again. The driver reappeared with two vanilla scoops, nuts, hot fudge, and one beautiful banana. Andrew could only speculate as to where that magnificent banana had grown; perhaps in the Garden of Eden. Before Andrew could take a bite, Robert blustered through the crowd of kids and stole the split from Andrew’s hands. “Thanks, Andrew, you can have the peel, haha,” said Robert.

Robert ran off and Andrew gave chase. They reached the dogwood grove and Andrew shouted, “Give it back!” “I’ll fight you for it,” said Robert. Robert picked up a dogwood branch and put the ice cream down. Andrew gulped and picked up a branch as well. Robert charged like he always did, hacking and slashing, pushing Andrew back. Each slash knocked the petals off the branch, which were as white as the vanilla ice cream. Andrew countered each blow but was driven back nonetheless.

There were so many petals in the air that Robert couldn’t see the thick tree branch that Andrew ducked under. Face first Robert blustered into it, dropping his pretend sword and Andrew let him have it. A few good whacks on the hands and butt made Robert scream like a girl and finally he submitted. Andrew picked up his banana split and savored each ice cold bite, especially that delicious banana.