Adventures of a popsicle vendor

I was having a pretty marvellous and impressive day---until my popsicles started to melt.  The day was going great, stupendously splendid to say the least, until that very desolate moment when the summer sun decided to melt all the popsicles in my stand. Every single one of them. Oh yes, one day I shall get back at the sun for destroying all my hard work, but right now the matter at hand was...pestiferous.

Those sticky juicy annoying little things wouldn’t stop melting! Don’t get me wrong, I love anything sweet, and popsicles are my favourite. But imagine you have tons of them in the midday sun, dripping all over the place, on your shirt too, while trying to sell them to people who are in the desperate need to cool down. Surprisingly, on top of that, the demand for these was so high. Yeah, trust me. It’s not a pretty picture. Especially when you thought that things were going to go smooth, and never anticipated the arrival of the summer sun today. The weather was perfectly fine yesterday! Damn the unpredictable sun! 

“Ana! I need ice! Lots and lots of freezing ice.” I screamed at the top of my lungs, out from the small colourful wooden stand that I had made for this wondrous occasion. 

It was a broad table made of wood with a bright red checkered table cloth on top of it. All of us also made a huge sign, which was displayed to the right where, in huge block letters, we wrote “POPSICLES”. Under that, was a list of diverse flavours displayed for the customers to read and choose. 

Why am I torturing myself in the heat, with people screaming at me for their half melting popsicles do you ask? Well, being the dutiful friend that I am, I was trying to save up enough money to get some equipment for our band. “Our”, meaning my best friends Ana Smith and Emma Clark. All of us had known each other since we were six-year-olds, obsessed with Hannah Montana. Becoming instant friends, we grew up together listening to music, singing our hearts out, and writing songs. And who’s to say we might not become famous? Putting in lots of hard work and working part-time almost every day, we created our music band, called “Dawn’s rising” about a year ago, in our sophomore year of high school.  

Still not having enough money, we decided to put up a fundraiser. Whoever thought that this would go well, surely needed a slap to their face, or a bucket of this melting popsicle juice because it was going disastrous. Horribly, abominably, hellaciously awful. 

All of us had planned the entire fundraiser on popsicles because of the heat. We also had it outside at noon, which was pretty dumb of us when I look back at it now. 

What were we thinking?

The sun was the hottest it had ever been in days and it felt like we were in hell, literally and metaphorically. The air was as humid as a tropical jungle, sticking to our half tanned skin like tape, and leaving our hair in a frizz so bad that it looked like a bird’s nest. 

Emma and Ana frantically went around seeking for ice to cool down all our drinks and freeze our half melting popsicles, while I took and gave orders to our dear customers. We had made all of it from scratch, preparing it a day before the actual fundraiser, which was located next to the mall, the busiest place in town. 

“Natasha!,” called Ana, her green eyes looking for me through the clutter of customers, her hands caressing a bucket full of ice. 

“Here!” I called, seeing her dark brown hair through the swarm. 

My sweet friend pushed through the small crowd until she reached me, holding the bucket of bone-chilling ice. Her blue shirt was a mess like mine, her glasses askew, and her once light coloured skin stained with juice. 

“Ana...What the hell happened to you?” I asked, looking down at her shrivelled figure.   

“You really don’t want to know Tasha,” she answered. And from the dark look in her eyes, it looked bad. Better not to ask then. 

“Here. Be Careful though. It's really cold.” she advised, as she lifted the bucket.

“Really? I didn’t know.” 

Rolling her eyes, she handed me the heavy tub filled to the brim with ice. It was so cold that there was a cloud of white smoke coming out from it. 

“Here. Give that to me. You can take the orders.” called a voice out from behind me. 

Turning around, I saw my best friend Emma in a huge apron, her hands out, gesturing for the bucket. Her blonde hair was in a high knot on her head, her blue-grey eyes a little tired from standing and making stuff all day. She looked just as messed up like the rest of us were. 

While Emma stood behind me, preparing all the orders, and as Ana put some ice under each container,  I set on yet another mission at being a saleswoman, persuading people to buy our homemade all-natural popsicles. Maybe not completely “natural”, but it was homemade. So, it’s not as if we’re fooling anyone right? And if we keep selling at this rate, we’ll have more than enough money for the equipment. Maybe we could treat ourselves for a trip to the carnival coming up in a few weeks. 

Hours went by selling our products, as the day came to an end, and the sun finally started to set into the starless night sky. I might, just maybe, not get my revenge at the sun, as it gradually started to cool down, bringing some chill into the scorching winds blowing in our direction. 

Emma and Ana had got a ride from their parents, but since my house was only a few blocks away, I decided to walk. Global warming right?

My head in the clouds, I walked home thinking about the day, though there was something still bothering me. Although we had some difficulties, to tell the truth, it was pretty fun spending time with Emma and Ana. 

A few blocks in, something popped into my mind. Where the hell is my phone?

I stopped and stood at the side of the road, searching my pockets frantically. I was going in panic mode, as I desperately tried to remember where I last left it. 

Shit. Shit. Shit. Where did I leave it?

Retreating my steps to get my phone, I finally remembered that I had lodged it on the table for the stall. Breathing a sigh of relief, I walked back to the mall. 

As I turn around, back at the remnants of the stall, a sudden light catches my eye. It wasn’t my phone for sure, but it was something else entirely. Just as I took a few steps closer, to see what it was, an abrupt sound of a stick breaking drew my attention behind me.

This day is getting weirder and weirder.

Once again I turned around, but what I saw made my heart stop. My breath caught in my throat and my stomach dropped as my eyes went as wide as saucers. As wide as a dinner plate would have been more accurate actually. 

In front of me was a tall boy around my age. In the moonlight, his dark black hair looked a little brown, and his grey-sea blue eyes a little green, but that wasn’t why I had been surprised. What astonished me was not the fact that he was beautiful. Oh, no...it was the fact that he had huge white glowing wings, sprouting from his back. They were ginormous. It looked so realistic that one could even mistake it for an angel’s wings. Tearing my eyes from the wings, I looked at the boy. His features looked as sharp as a blade, his high cheekbones regal and prominent. He looked like he came straight out of a novel. Finally, catching his gaze, I looked at him in bewilderment, as he stared back at me. As I took a step towards him, his eyes started to flair up. A sudden brightness emerged from his eyes, looking as if a white fire burned in them. What the hell…!?

But before I could do anything, something hard hit the side of my head. Black spots swirled in my eyes, as my head started to throb fervidly. Feeling faint, I felt my legs give out from under me, my body hitting the smooth pavement. 

Oh well...the popsicle melting isn’t the worst thing that could happen to me I guess.

Feeling too tired, my eyes snapped shut, as darkness engulfed me.