Monday, April 24, 2006

Eye scream

I went to see a movie today (The Sentinel, not bad, though Eva Longoria as a Secret Service agent is pretty redonkulous) and walking back, taking my usual short cut down a residential street, I began to hear faint, toy-like music drifting towards me. Like chimes, almost, or a music box. I looked over my shoulder just as a yellow van pulled alongside me.

A Good Humor ice cream truck. Van, I mean.

The driver nodded to me. And I nodded to him.

The tune tinkling out of its speakers was "Do Your Ears Hang Low," a song I remember learning very early on in elementary school, complete with a whole set of pantomimes.

Keep in mind my chair's top speed is maybe ten miles per hour, tops. Which is, apparently, about the same speed Good Humor ice cream must be transported at.

So we continued down the street, his song spilling out into the afternoon, in hopes of luring children out for a popsicle or ice cream sandwich. But no one came out.

This continued for several blocks, our speeds perfectly matched, both of us finally pretending the other one was not there, our allotment of nods and waves used up, engaged in the worst race ever.

8 comments:

Mr Angry said...

I love this visual... you and the ice cream van. Both getting to the point where it's uncomfortable to keep acknowledging each other. And it keeps going! It could only be better if he was you neighbour and you kept pace all the way home.

Paul said...

Yes, that would have reached a surreal kind of perfection.

Good to meet you, Mr. Angry.

Paul said...

Mmm, chocolate taco.

Unknown said...

I've never lived in a community where the ice cream truck circles. I can't say I've necessarily longed for the sound of those bells, but when visiting my sister in Tulsa, the truck came through and I felt joyous, giddy at the jingling. :)

But ambling along with one right beside me for a lengthy period of time might be a bit uncomfortable. My, how the circus music could turn provoking. ha

Alison Stine said...

That, my darling, would make a poem.

I was lately informed my cell phone ring sounds like the ice cream truck.

steve mueske said...

I drove an ice cream truck for a day once -- one of the more humiliating experiences of my life. I was required to play this canned tinker box music and kids kept coming with rock cassettes (okay, I'm aging myself here) and teasing "my" music selection. Now I love kids, but it got old after the tenth or eleventh time.

cornshake said...

"the worst race ever"-- love that--

A. D. said...

cornshake, you took the words right out of my mouth.