mint chocolate chip
the two girls sitting near me
have a loud one-act going on
about how much they love ice cream
ooooooooh, vanilla one of them shouts
oooooooooh, chocolate, the other counters piercingly
before this they’d spent fifteen minutes
shouting back and forth about the apps on their phones
and how much they love doritos
but hate the bright orange powder that gets stuck on their
fingers
this is sadly an improvement
i loooovvvveee, strawberry, one of them says
ewwwwwwwwwwwww, the other responds
strawberry is soooooooo gross.
they are giving credence to the old adage
that children should be seen and not heard
they make year-round school seem like the right choice
i stop reading my book and look around
but there is nowhere for me to go
i’m stuck and they are stuck and we are stuck
talking about ice cream in the middle of the afternoon
butter pecan, my mother loves butter pecan
yeah, well, my sister loves cookie dough and coffee flavored
she says it like a challenge
mint chocolate chip! the one girl shouts
they both squeal
we’ve hit the motherload in this conversation
the apex, the big payoff in centuries of verbal
communication
mint chocolate chip!
they both scream this time
it’s like a revelation
like being in a room with copernicus
when he figured out that everything
revolved around the sun
i can’t help but laugh
i look over at the two girls and they are beaming
they look as happy as children with tons of hours to kill
and not an ounce of responsibility in this world
kicking legs too small to reach the concrete
their lives full of ice cream dreams and soda pop ambition
christ, may the world
never force them to change, i think
then i go back to my book
and turn another page.
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