Stories From Summer; Stranger Tales From The Summer of '85

31. The Ice Cream Truck

31. Why the hell is the ice cream truck so hard to catch?

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Once again, the Party™ were laying on the Wheeler's basement floor.

Once again, baking in the summer heat, and with the summer coming to an end - they officially start high school next week. None of them can believe how quickly the time has flown by.

As always, Dustin was shoving some kind of food into his mouth, and Max could swear that the boy was a black hole for food.

Once again, Karen went downstairs with another load of laundry (with three children and a husband, there was a lot of laundry for her to do).

"What are you guys doing, laying down here when it's such a nice day outside?" Karen said, looking at her son and his friends.

After Karen said this, down the stairs, came little Holly Wheeler, a blonde Cabbage Patch Kid hanging from her hand that took Karen weeks to get for her youngest daughter in 1983 for Christmas.

"Mikey!" Holly smiles happily, seeing her brother in the pile of melting teenagers. The boy in question lifted his head and saw Holly coming towards him, and he allowed her to climb onto him.

El was smiling up at Holly and Mike, as she fiddled with the hanging hand of Holly's Cabbage Patch Kid. Holly looked down at El and smiled at the pretty girl.

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Karen had suggested that her son and his friends go back upstairs. Holly had suggested the idea of a little tea party.

El and Max were the first to move (El standing up first, wanting to spend some time with her boyfriend's little sister, and Max got up because she wanted to spend time with El, and she was about Holly's age when she got her first skateboard).

Mike was next, popping Holly on the floor, and allowed her to lead him up the stairs, and with Will, Lucas and finally Dustin.

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They were happily sipping 'tea' out of the little plastic cups that Holly had set out when Holly's stomach started gurgling.

"What do you want Holly?" Mike asks, standing up from where he was sat between the little girl and his girlfriend.

"Ice cream..." Holly admitted, and when she had said that, it was like she had superpowers similar to El - the familiar bells of the ice cream truck started ringing.

"Ask, and thou shall receive," Dustin said, as the Party hopped up and raced for the door, as Karen held out some dollar bills for her son to get the ice cream.

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They were running down Maple Street as the truck was driving away. El and Max knew they wouldn't be able to make it and stopped running.

"Guys, we won't catch it!" Max voices and watches as Lucas stops first, followed by Mike and Will as Dustin kept running.

A couple of seconds later, Dustin stops running. "Why the hell is the ice cream truck so hard to catch?!" Dustin exclaims, turning around and looking at his friends.