"Wait. K'ndar, wait," Glyena pulled on K'ndar's arm.
Irritated, K'ndar stopped. "What?" He wanted to get to the racetrack.
"Look. There, over there, see where the food tent is? There's a sign, see that woman? She just put up a sign that says "Good Humor Ice Cream". See it?" Glyena said.
Come to think of it, he thought, he was hungry, and it was noon.
"I see it, but…"
"What is ice cream?"
"I..I don't know," he said, perplexed.
"I'm hungry, let's go in and get something to eat and maybe find out what ice cream is," she said.
His stomach agreed.
____________________________________________________________________
Just outside the entrance to the tent, a large array of solar panels was absorbing the strong sunlight. Inside, large metal box hummed alongside a small cylindrical machine that looked like a butter churn, but was industriously chugging with a noise akin to rocks in a barrel. Obviously the solar panel was running it and the box, as well.
"Come on, folks, we've got a batch of ice cream all ready for you! Who'd like to try some?" said the man in the booth. Some of the people filing into the tent stopped to look.
"Good Humor? What does that mean?" one of the crowd asked.
"It's a Terran name, for ice cream. At least, that's what the recipe named it," he said, "and as it's an ancient recipe, why not keep the ancient name?"
He smiled. "Come, take a sample?"
No one seemed interested in taking a chance.
"Not me, mate, I've no idee what ice cream is and don't want to find out," a man said. He waved his hand at the people in the booth and walked off. They looked crestfallen.
Glyena stopped to look at the box and the churn.
"Hello, there, lassie," said the man, "would you like some ice cream?"
Glyena shrunk a little.
"I don't know. What is it?"
A woman joined the man. K'ndar noted that they were wearing badges bearing Keroon Hold's colors.
"Ice cream is,well, frozen cream, from cows. You know cows, of course?"
Glyena harrumphed. "Of COURSE I know cows, we have lots, but we have beef cattle, not milk cows, but we did have a milk cow and Mum made butter from their milk," she said, insulted.
"Well, my lassie, we take the milk from the cow, and put it into this churn, it's called an ice cream maker. Then we add flavors, like fruit, if we like, and freeze it, and when it's frozen, it's ice cream. Would you like to try some?"
She liked milk, what could it hurt? But with fruit? and ice?
"It's got ice?"
"Well, no, it's frozen, but it's called ice cream. I think you'll like it, please, give it a try. Won't you?"
"I think so, yes," she said, after a few moments of reflection.
The man looked at K'ndar.
"And you, sir?"
"Yes," K'ndar said, solely because he couldn't let his sister look braver then him, "I would." The woman turned and opened the metal box. A cloud of frost spilled out of it. He'd not seen something like since his time at Tillek Sea Hold, where he got a very good taste of cold and knew he disliked it.
"We've got a lot already made up. You'll need cones," she said, happy to finally have some customers.
"What is that box?" K'ndar asked, intrigued.
"This part is the 'freezer', sir, and it keeps things frozen," the man said.
"I've heard about them, but I've never seen one," K'ndar said, wondering what the woman meant by a cone.
"It's technology from Aivas. It's a wonderful thing, especially on a hot day like this," he said. "We got the recipe and the plans from Landing."
"A recipe?"
"Aye, for the ice cream and the cones. The plans for the freezer and the ice cream maker, well, the smart boys at Landing built both of these prototypes, they call 'em, and we've been using them for a few weeks now. It's taken us a while to collect enough milk for the Gather," he said.
"You mean, milk, like milk? As if you just got it from the cow? It didn't go bad?" K'ndar asked, amazed.
The man laughed, happy to extoll the virtues of refrigeration.
"Nay, lad, that's the beauty of a refrigerator. See, this box is two separate compartments. This part, here, is the freezer. It freezes things and keeps them frozen. This part, down here, is the refrigerator. It keeps things cold so they don't go bad so fast. Oh, food will, eventually, go bad, it's not perfect, but this thing keeps things fresh for longer than usual."
"Is that churn the "ice cream maker"?"
"It is. It turns milk into cream. When it's done, we put the cream in the 'freezer' where it solidifies. You have to keep it frozen or it will melt," the man said.
The woman had packed two small cones with ice cream, and handed one to K'ndar and Glyena. Unbeknownst to them, a crowd had formed behind, just as perplexed as they were, and more than willing to let someone else be the test case.
"How..how do I eat it?" Glyena asked, feeling the cold seeping into her hand.
The woman laughed. "Lick it!"
Glyena tentatively licked the ice cream.
Her eyes widened.
She licked it again, and again……and cried, "OH! It made my head hurt!"
A woman with a child behind her said, "I thought it looked dangerous," and walked away.
"It's not dangerous, ma'am, it's just the cold reacting with the warmth in her mouth!" the woman called after her, but it was too late. The rest of the crowd began to murmur in doubting tones.
"Here, lassie, take smaller licks and let your tongue warm it up a little bit. It hit the roof of your mouth, didn't it?"
"Uh huh," Glyena said, "but it went away just like that. It didn't hurt, it just, um, surprised me. It tastes…it tastes really nice," she said.
K'ndar watched, and took a lick of his cone.
The flavor was incredible, as was the cold.
Glyena began to lick the ice cream faster.
"This is SOOOOOOOOO good!" she cried.
"Oh, my goodness, it IS," K'ndar said.
The two ice cream vendors smiled.
Glyena said, "What is this cone?"
"It's just sweetener and a little flour mixed together and baked. You can eat it. Take a bite out of it, from the top edge," the woman advised.
Glyena nibbled at the edge. "Oh, it's good! It..it's crunchy!"
The ice had been broken. The crowd behind them began to clamor for a sample.
His cone had amazingly, vanished. Into his belly…
How much do I owe you?" K'ndar said, reaching for his pouch.
The man held up his hand.
"Nothing. This is Lord Jaxom's idea, he wants people to learn about refrigeration and freezers, so the ice cream is on him," he said.
"Well, you've made a convert out of me," K'ndar said.
"And me!" Glyena added.
1 comment:
Very "cool"!
Post a Comment