Motherhood Monday Fiction Meme – All You Can Eat Ice-cream
It’s that time of the week again, (we’ll pretend for the moment it’s still Monday). Here’s my contribution to this week’s Motherhood Monday Fiction Meme, the prompt this week being
Describe something your main character won’t ever do again…and why.
Sorry for the Italian link again! I think I think about Italian food too much!
All You Can Eat Ice-cream
Every evening when Molly Jones’ father walked her home from her grandmother’s, they would walk past Gennaro’s Pizzeria. As they approached the restaurant, a bright beacon amongst the grey dim lit terraced streets, Molly’s foot steps would slow and she would lag behind her father, desperate for as much time as she could grasp to peer through the foggy windows and smell the tomato and oregano scented air. Each time she would look hopefully at her father, as he would turn in the street and beckon her to hurry up, but each time she would get the same reply;
“Hurry child, your mother will have tea on the table.”
Whatever it was, waiting for her when she got home, it never tasted as good as Gennaro’s pizza smelt.
Then one particularly wintery night, Molly’s father was a little late picking Molly up from her grandmother’s. He eventually arrived, bustling through the door, brushing snowflakes from his hat, quickly making excuses to his scowling mother.
“Sorry, sorry. Molly, your mother has had to go to Treherbet; your Auntie Morag has slipped and fallen badly on the ice. It’s just you and me tonight kiddo.”
Molly’s father hurried her out of the door, throwing coat, gloves and hat on her as she went.
“Now watch your step!”
The pair gingerly followed their normal route towards home. Molly’s father hugging himself tightly in an effort to provide some warmth. Molly stamping her feet with the same hope. When they could see the light from Gennaro’s windows spilling out onto the street in the distance, Molly looked up at her father in her daily act of hope. Her father smiled
“Come on then”
Suddenly all the ice and snow in the world could not have stopped Molly reaching that restaurant and before they knew it, they were pushing open the jingling door, the warmth and smell hitting them in their faces, warming their chilled fingers. Gennaro himself appeared instantaneously.
“Come in, come in” he greeted them in his thick, authentic accent.
Menus appeared as if by magic in their hands as they were ushered towards a cosy table for two looking out onto the dark snowy street. Molly’s taste buds tingled just reading the menu and she found it hard to make up her mind but she eventually settled for a pizza with ham and peppers and a side plate of garlic bread.
The garlic bread arrived first, thick, oozing, buttery, pungent slices, shortly followed by a pizza so large it swallowed the plate. Molly’s knife bit through the smoke charred crust with a satisfying crisp crunch. Molly and her father ate in companionable silence, appreciating every mouthful. Slowly the plate beneath the pizza appeared, until eventually, there was a slim sliver rattling round the tomato smeared plate. Molly made herself eat it, even though she could feel her stomach groaning, a trip to the pizzeria was not an everyday experience.
When Molly and her father had emptied their plates and washed their pizza down with sodas, the jovial Gennaro appeared by their side again.
“You enjoy? Yes?”
The pair nodded appreciatively.
“And now for dessert yes?”
The first thought in Molly’s head was no, she couldn’t eat another thing, but then her eyes were always bigger than her stomach when her gaze fell upon the corner to which Gennaro was pointing with a dramatic flourish.
“All You Can Eat Ice-cream, yes?”
Molly’s gaze fell upon the little coloured glass dishes of sprinkles and garnishes upon the ice-cream counter, thick curls of chocolate, translucent tinted sugars and chopped up pistachios.
“Follow me young lady”
Molly followed, zombie like to the allure of sweetness. She pressed her nose up to the glass pane of the ice-cream counter, to gaze at the multicoloured assortments of ice-creams below. So many flavours, so many toppings, so many combinations. What should she try first?
Molly opted for a scoop of vanilla, a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of strawberry, crammed upon each other in their bowl. She wasn’t sure which sprinkle to chose, so she chose all of them, merrily piled on top of each other. She arrived back at the table, carefully clutching her precarious treasure.
The first mouth full was ecstasy, chocolate and vanilla mingling and melting together on her spoon, garnished with the finest sugar crystals. The second mouth full was bliss. The third mouth full was ‘this is ok, getting used to it now’. The fourth was ‘there’s still that much more to go?’ The fifth was ‘that pizza I ate was sooooo large’. The sixth was ‘I have to eat this, daddy will be cross’. The seventh was ‘where’s the toilet?’
Sorry for my late reply! I’ve been busy working on other piece and it has taken all my time. I didn’t even have a moment to participate in my own meme! LOL!
You are a foodie like me, huh? I always seem to write about food and it always makes me hungry!