REM

Hot Ice Cream

Running down the sidewalk, I knew I wouldn't have much time to make it home to my pregnant wife. The ice cream cone in my hand was a delicate delivery and every thud of my feet on the ground was a tense moment when I thought the cone would crack and ice cream would spill.

I rounded the corner of a building before quickly looking both ways and darting across the empty street. Around the barber shop, I continued down the sidewalk toward our apartment five minutes away. She always had cravings, but usually it was while we were driving so it was a bit more convenient for me to use a drive-thru to collect food.

As I got closer to home and the park near the apartment, I ran passed a group of young boys. I carried on my way as they turned their heads toward me, watching as I carried the pink ice cream in a cone.

"Gay!"one of them yelled.

"Yeah, you homo!" another blurted.

Usually I would have kept running, but I was becoming short of breath, so a quick pause in my trip home wasn't such a bad idea. I stopped, checking to see the ice cream melting, but not too much.

The group of young boys continued along the sidewalk toward me. I was breathing heavily as one of them came up and knocked the cone from my hands and tried to run away. In a fury I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and tossed him to the ground.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Protested one of the other boys.

"Shut your mouth," I instructed sternly, pointing a finger in the group's direction. "Don't ever mess with a man's ice cream, especially if it is for his pregnant wife."

Turning back to the boy I knocked down, I shoved him back to the ground as he tried to squirm away.

"Maybe this will teach you a lesson to not be such a little shit." My threatening words changed his devious look to one of fear as I lifted my foot and stomped on his face.