The Happiest Jail on Earth

Chapter 2

RORIE:

“Where to first?” Lilah asked me knowingly.

“Do you even have to ask?” I responded.

She laughed her cute little giggle. It was a constant sound, Lilah’s laugh. She was just one of those really optimistic people and I loved her for it.

She put her arm through mine and we walked down Main Street together. The smells of my home away from home drifted across my nose.

Usually, I played the bad cop to Lilah’s good cop. She was inherently good, always had a positive outlook. She made me see the world with a softer eye. I wrote a column each week for the school paper where I basically spend three hundred words bashing something and Lilah never ceased to help me see the other side of an issue.

We walked over to our favorite place in the whole park that wasn’t a ride. Lilah opened the door for me, always a perfect gentleman, and we walked right up to the counter as there was no line this early in the day.

“Totally deserted as usual,” I observed.

“Or desserted,” Lilah responed with her usual pun. She giggled and elbowed me playfully. “Get it?” she asked me, raising her eyebrows. “Like ice cream dessert?”

“Ya, I get it,” I answered, unable to contain my laugh at her lame joke.

We surveyed the menu above the counter even though we already knew what we were going to order. Some things were just tradition for us. The smell of waffle cones was drawn in with each breath, making our mouths water despite the delicious breakfast we had consumed a few hours ago. But if you can’t eat like a pig on your birthday, when can you?

“Two chocolate chocolate chip scoops and two Recess scoops and one cookies and cream scoop,” Lilah ordered.

The cashier tried to look unfazed at our gigantic order, but I noticed her glance at our tiny figures and shake her head the slightest bit.

Just watch us finish it, I wanted to say, but held my tongue.

She began to scoop out our order from the giant tubs of homemade ice cream. The morning is the best time to get ice cream at Disneyland because that’s when it’s the most fresh. And the waffle cones are always a little tastier in the morning too, made only moments before our arrival.

The cashier placed the ice cream in a bowl and stuck two waffle cones on top. The order was pricey, as five scoops of incredible ice cream tend to be, but this was one of our major splurges for the day and totally worth it.

We made our purchase and took the bowl to one of the cute vintage-style parlor table and chair sets outside the shoppe. We plopped down and began to devour what we affectionately referred to as “second breakfast.”

We started with the chocolate and moved our way down the line-up of flavors, starting to get full around the third scoop.