The DAIRY QUEEN

 

Susie, Becky and I looked forward to summer vacations together.

In the heat of July we would rush to the DAIRY QUEEN, cooled only by the taste of a soft-served ice cream, the ice-cold creamy softness oozing down our throats.  The sun lowered itself in the blazing afternoon sky, at the corner of Temple and Grand, and the three of us crossed together, arm in arm, aiming our noses towards the big DQ sign.   Inseparable, people would call us.  

We’d sit side by side, under the threadbare awning, shade giving small respite, having no effect on slowing the melting process of soft served ice cream.

Cone in hands, a race to the finish, never fast enough, as our tongues would

lick

lick

lick, watching cream slide down to our finger tips, and stick.  

Susie got her last bite in before any of us, not sure if it was because she was first to the front of the line, or because she had the biggest mouth, I’m thinking back to the 4th of July, a watermelon eating and seed-spitting contest, Susie won, hands down - mouth size must have something to do with it.

This summer, different from past summers

Becky off to camp, Susie gone to visit her aunt

Leaving me to while away the days, licking my cone in the afternoon haze 

Somehow the flavor was off, the sweetness was lost

The coolness was missing

And the fun was gone

Then a post card came, but it just wasn’t the same 

Not having them here, summer was bland that year

Parched was a summer’s first, I wilted from thirst

I missed my friends, I soon stopped going to the DAIRY QUEEN.

I sat at home, mindlessly dangling my feet in the pond, watching fish nibble at my toes; but paying no attention to the time of day, it didn’t matter one bit, no way. 

If I let my thoughts surface, I’d think about the fun I could be having, if only Becky and Susie were here—

Riding our bikes around town

Off we’d go to the park, what a lark.

Catching a movie during the heat of the day, it seemed like months before they’d return, so we could play

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not begrudging them their fun; I just hoped they weren’t, while I was getting sun burnt!

Wading over to the boat beside the dock, good place to park my sorry butt

Clouds and time passed by, into a dreamy mercurial sky

Soon I was fast asleep, never hearing a peep 

Clouds hung below, and the sun was low

Splash! 

Ripples on the pond, I stirred into wakefulness at the sound

Splash!

I rubbed my eyes, I saw fireflies

Splash!

Dreams, as real as daylight

Splash! 

The boat rocks, I grab hold of the dock

Splash! 

Giggles 

I jump to the ground, I look around

Pounced upon, as if by a stampeding herd of buffalo, and the wind knocked out of me, I thought, whoa!

A bright light shown in my eyes, was it the moon on the rise?

Tumbling, in the dark moldy leaves on the ground, I was soon face down 

I couldn’t speak, giggles I hear, and a whisper in my ear

The voices saying one thing, only one thing......

“Let’s go to the DAIRY QUEEN.”