Smitty's Ice Cream

Mills was laying down on a wall at the park, wife beater, shorts, and his old reliable flip flops. He was peering into the Sun, hand on top of his eyes shielding himself enough so he could see up into the sky. “Fuck.. It’s so hot out here!” he said with a groan, clearly frustrated with the heat they have been facing this summer. “Bro, do you ever wonder how girls wear jeans year-round?” he directed his question to Los, who wasn’t too far from where he was. “Yo, where do you become up with this shit? It’s like every day you have something random to say.” Los replied, with amusement. “I’m just saying, man. Have you ever notice during the summer women still wear jeans, I don't get it. It’s like they don’t sweat or something.”

The two of them got up and started to walk down the street towards Mills's house; cold waters in their hand, and Los with his umbrella. Mills always made fun of him for his umbrella, the older they got the more Los found something beneficial to his health. He brought the umbrella around after reading an article online last summer, the article talked about the rains in states in the Pacific Northwest.

The article went on about how the constant rain, sunless sky, factored into people’s clinical depression, being lethargic, mood swings, anxiety, sleep problems, or suicidal thoughts. The most important thing he took out of there was the tiny part of the article that talked not only about the benefits of the umbrella for battling depression during the rainy season, but how it blocked out the Sun. Los pretty much figured the only thing the Sun causes is skin cancer and assholes, so he’s been using his umbrella for some time now.

“Want to go to Roxy’s?” Mills asked. “It's too hot to be walking around, we could die, man,” Los replied, in an exaggerated tone. But he nodded with a sigh and the two went back to Mill's house so he could put on a shirt, and some shoes. They wouldn’t let him in if he wasn’t properly dressed. Mills was a lanky kid, not by height but more so with his limbs, he stood around 5’10’’ but his arms looked like they belonged on someone who was at least 6’2’’ he kept a clean-cut hairstyle, short, even all around; this allowed him whenever he didn’t have money for a haircut to do the maintenance himself, his dad would do his lineup.

Mills and Los were only 16 years old, Roxy’s was a bar, mainly a bar, meaning that most of their sales came from alcohol, but they had a light kitchen.

Roxy’s was on the corner of Ally and Brisk, a couple of blocks away from where the boys lived, a good 20-25 minute walk. “You never answered my question, why do girls wear jeans in the summer?” Mills said throwing on a shirt as they headed out the door and down the street.

“It’s science bro,” Los continued on. “Women genetically have more estrogen, estrogen plays a vital role in allowing for lower body temperatures, also women are smaller, men are naturally bigger, and we just generate more heat, why do you think girls like to cuddle, science,” Los replied, shrugging his shoulders and twirling his umbrella around. “I swear you know the most random shit,” Miles said. “And you don’t know anything.”

The walk wasn’t that bad, the heat was scorching but the two boys paced themselves, and with the umbrella, it alleviated some of the heat. They weren’t too far from Roxy’s, just a block or two away. Strolling down Memphis St. Los paused and tapped Mills on the shoulder, “Yo, let's just go to Smitty’s Ice Cream,” he said enthusiastically, its hot, the ice cream is cold, that’s a no brainer man!”

Smitty’s was a mom and pop shop, it has been in the neighborhood for over 60 years, making ice cream from scratch. They received their milk from Wilks, a local dairy farmer. The Smiths believed in circulating the money within the community, helping each other build and maintain their businesses. “But the fries at Roxy’s are the best! And they’re cheap and affordable!” Mills groaned in his reply.

“They’re cheap for a reason, shit ain’t good for you," Los said. "this heat isn’t good for us, Smitty’s isn’t good for you either, but here we are out in 100-degree weather! Besides I thought you were trying to lose weight?” Miles said. “Come on man, we only have $15 dollars, fries are $5 dollars for a basket, Smitty’s is $6 dollars for a scoop, that’s one scoop for you, another for me, that’s $12 dollars, which leaves us with $3 dollars” Mills paused, looking around the block for other alternatives “we could get a salad.”

Los looked at Mills as if he just lost his mind. Look I’m not trying to lose weight today, I’ve been up early, helping my dad in the yard, washing the cars, and now this walk, I think I deserve some ICE CREAM," Los stated, kicking his feet in frustration “all that work, they gave me $10 dollars, inflation is a killer, $10 dollars won’t get me a damn thing in this economy.

Los wasn’t the fittest kid in the neighborhood, nor was he the most out of shape, growing up his family usually just called him husky. Los was only 5’7”, stocky, not overweight, but he had a dream of seeing abs for the first time in his life, so he stayed dedicated all summer to a workout regimen and diet

The boys sat down on a bench at the park across the street, trying to figure out what to do with their $15 dollars. Mills had a leftover $5 bill from his weekly allowance, which was only $10 dollars, Mills Dad always told him if he wants to make more, he needed to work for it: yard work, tutoring at the church, cutting grass, walking the dog, anything his dad would give him more money as long as he earned it. It didn’t even have to be chores for their house, his Dad would tell him.

In the park, they saw Mrs. Fields with her three kids, two girls and one boy. The girls were playing on the playground, up and down the slide they went, while Mrs. Fields threw the baseball with her eldest son. Mrs. Fields' husband left her two years ago, no letter, no explanation; the worse thing of all it was during the holiday season, just up and went, no trace, one bag, and disappeared.

At least that’s what circulated through the town, no one really knows what happened for sure. “Maybe she killed him?” Mills thought to himself out loud. “Jesus,” Los replied, “why would you even say that. “look," Mills pointing with both hands “she’s wearing jeans, can’t trust women who wear jeans in 100-degree weather, and 60% humidity, just can’t” Mills replied, folding his arms across his chest leaning back.

Mrs. Fields struggled, it was no secret. Single Mother, School teacher, no one really thought she killed her husband; Mac, her ex-husband was a local year-round summer asshole, never really appreciated anyone. He wasn’t abusive or even aggressive, he just didn’t care and he let everyone know it. “it’s scorching out here, do you think they should be out here?” Los asked, looking at Mills “it is summertime, she’s single mom, and a school teacher, this is the only quality time she probably has with them.”

“Ice cream?” Mills asked, “Ice cream,” Los replied, jumping up from the bench.

“Bye Ms. Hayes!” Los yelled, exiting her local corner store, “I’m going to marry that woman one day.” He said, looking at Mills. “get in line every bachelor is trying to do the same, the difference between you and them, they’re her age. The boys left Ms. Hayes shop with three bottles of water, the next stop was Smitty’s.

“Come on Smitty! Give us the extra three scoops, we’ll pay you back!” the boys were both talking at once, Smitty’s frustration was written all over his face. “last time I gave you boys a scoop you couldn’t pay for, I didn’t get paid for two weeks!” Smitty said, angrily walking behind the counter cleaning up. “But you got paid, didn’t you?” the boys replied simultaneously. Smitty turned around with a death stare.

“look, if you give us the extra three scoops now, we will pay you back two extra scoops next time… that's five scoops in total, view it as an investment!” Los said. Smitty looked at both the boys, they always paid him back when he gave them extra scoops they couldn’t afford, they were good kids in Smitty’s eyes, but irritating nonetheless. “Fine,” Smitty’s replied, “two extra scoops next time!”

The boys crossed back over to the park and headed towards Mrs. Fields and her three kids. They stopped and said hello to the children, and then greeted Mrs. Fields. She looked exhausted, not a physical drain, but a mental one. Mrs. Fields has been doing this so long on her own, she was wondering how long she could keep it up.

“We brought you some ice cream and water for the kids and of course yourself,” Mills said, “It's hot out here and we figured the kids could use some refreshments and a nice treat.” Mrs. Field smiled a smile she hadn’t in a long time, not many people in her family helped her out or looked out for her as much as she would have liked.

“Thank you, boys! You didn’t have to do this, we were just getting ready to head home, it’s hot as all hell today.” She replied, with one hand on her hip and the other fanning her face. “No worries, we were on our way home and we saw you and the kids and we thought everyone could use some ice cream,” Los responded.

Mrs. Fields knew both of their mothers, before her split with her husband, they were very active in the school’s PTA meetings, and events. “well, thank you. I promise I’ll return the favor next time around!” Los and Mills started their walk home, umbrella in Los’s hand, nothing in Mills’s hand. The day was still young, and the weather did not want to change in their favor.

    “feel good about your good deed?” Los questioned Mills. “I actually do, doesn’t it feel good to give to someone else,” “Depends, Los said, “if I'm giving them advice, yes it feels great, but on a day like this, come on man! I’m dying!”

“Well if you would lose some weight you wouldn’t be generating that much heat and you wouldn’t be so hot,” Mills said, laughing at his well-timed rebuttal. ”I hate you,” Los said, with sadness in his voice. Mills simply replied, “I know.”

"Hey, when do you think we should pay back Smitty?" Mills asked Los.

"The last time it took us two weeks to pay him back, giving that we are going to pay back with interest this time, a solid three weeks should work," Los said,

"Three it is, he's going to kill us."