Black Vanilla - A Short Story

Good day, folks. I return with another short story. This one was inspired by an event during a regular lunch hour a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!

Black Vanilla

“Ewww! Are you really sure about this?” Joanne asked.

“I…” Frank hesitated. He was so sure a moment ago.

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Paula tried to convince Frank from taking the plunge. It was after all, not something conventional, not something that a typical person would attempt.

I shouldn’t let others dictate or influence me! Frank thought and went ahead anyway. It is not every day such a unique opportunity presents itself. On top of that, it is cheap! I’ve got nothing to lose. Frank handed over the $1 bill to the cashier and stepped aside for his two colleagues to make their own purchases. Thereafter, they all stood patiently and waited along with other customers for their sundae cones. You see, the convenience store was having an opening week sales promotion. The cheapest items were the sundaes. Unfortunately, based on last three days’ sales ledger the sundaes were the only products that the people were attracted to.

Three flavours were offered — mango, charcoal and a mix of the both. Naturally, Joanne, Paula and most people opted for mango. The more adventurous chose the mix because a swirl of yellow and black was quite hypnotic. Only a special few courageous ones had the guts strong enough to try the pure charcoal sundae cone. A truly light absorbing, dark sundae that topped the brown cone.

Joanne, Paula and a few others could not help but stare as the crew passed the black mass to Frank. Everyone started to reach for their phones. It was pure coincidence that one of the customers was carrying a huge Hasselblad with a 100mm lens. Frank and his sundae cone became the centre of the universe at that point in time. Although it hardly qualified as a significant ripple to the space-time continuum, thousands would spend the next few days discussing about the man and his charcoal sundae.

Frank was not used to being the spotlight so his hand that held the cone trembled a bit. He thought he would feel a sense of accomplishment for taking such a bold move but instead he felt like he needed to stick his head into the ground. A bead of cold sweat rolled down his temple. It was an eternity that he could not bear so he turned and left the convenience store without waiting for his companions.

Frank stumbled out on to the sidewalk. Even though it was high noon, the humidity was welcoming. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. He hardly noticed it — maybe it was the darkness of the cone that absorbed heat at a tremendous rate or maybe it was the hot weather or maybe it was just the machine not able to cope with the demanding load — but the sundae had begun to melt. Dark streaks flowed down onto the cone and onto Frank’s hand.

“Ewww...” Joanne grimaced again as she suddenly appeared by Frank’s side.

Frank ignored her and brought the sundae to his mouth. By now both hand and cone were covered in a web of melted black sundae. Drips of darkness stained the pavement as if to mark its territory. Frank had intended to slowly enjoy his dessert but its current melting state called for more drastic measures. He managed to gulp down the sundae in record time. There was nothing he could do with the stickiness until he reached his office a block away.

Frank’s only experience with charcoal was when doctors prescribed the black tablets to relieve his diarrhoea so he expected the sundae to taste like the pills — dry, powdery and tasteless. He was pleasantly surprised to find that shrouded within all that blackness was the essence of vanilla. He was quite satisfied with his bold choice and the lingering aftertaste.

He turned to Joanne and Paula to see how they were doing — both of them were in a similar predicament in struggling to eat their sundaes before they melted — and grinned, revealing dark, charcoal-stained teeth.