All the neighbor kids go into recon-mode when they HEAR the truck entering our subdivision a mile away. It plays the insane, repetitive music of "Popeye the Sailor Man" (and as the song plays over and over and over and over... it hypes them up for their sugar buzz. Like Pavlov's little dogs.) They don't always know which direction the truck is going to come from, so they send out the older kids on their bikes, as scouts. Somehow gaining an organizational force of a small infantry unit, they comb the surrounding streets, hunting down their source of sugar.
When the truck's position is located, they report back and wait.
As it turns the corner (approaching at a glacial pace), they descend upon it like locusts, shrieking and wielding their dollars, knowing that in moments their planning and waiting and excitement will have paid off.... for a frozen, sugary treat.
The Truck still delivers the tried and true: push-ups, bomb-pops, Mickey-mouse ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, snow-cones and sundae cups with the wooden-spoon-thingy. Nothing too fancy or special. Just fabulous in itself, because you tracked it down and bought it with the money you earned, or begged Mom for... (not that Mom doesn't have a whole box of ice cream bars in the freezer. Maybe I should just hand them out through the window of my mini-van for dramatic effect...)
And for about 10 minutes, my kids get along, and eat in jubilant-peace. Probably plotting what kind of treat they're going to choose the next time the Truck comes 'round.
4 comments:
I absolutely LOVED that truck when I was little! So cute. And, I love the pic from inside the house looking out onto front porch. Precious.
I loved the ice cream truck too, but ours didn't come around too often, so I had to make my secret missions to the Superamerica back in the day. Ah, memories!kjl
Yeah, it does come down our street about 3x a week. And with gas prices going up, you'd think that driving a truck aimlessly around looking for kids wouldn't be the most economical career choice. But that's what makes it even more cool, I guess.
I remember our ice cream truck was quite small, more like a cart...it also came several times a week...my siblings and i would sit on our front steps after dinner and wait...and wait...and for thirty-five cents we would get seven, yes seven fudge bars...one for each of us and one for mom...
those were the days...g
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