The Secrets of Ice Cream Success (22 page)

‘
Stretching
targets. There you go Norton, you need to be able to touch your
toes by the time we go back to school.’ Ben laughed.

‘
Not that kind
of stretching!’ Carlo said!

‘
So can I or
can’t I crush Herbert?’ Abi insisted.

‘
Yes.’

‘
And do I have
to touch my toes?’ Norton asked looking thoroughly aghast at the
thought.

‘
Fat chance!’
Ben said.

‘
No.’ Carlo
sighed. ‘You don’t.’

Norton smiled until Newton
spoke up, casually wiping his spectacles on his t-shirt.

‘
It would,
however, be prudent if we were all as healthy as possible for the
town fair.’

Norton’s smile vanished.

‘
Prudent?’ Ben
asked.

‘
I think they
make fruit juice.’ Abi supplied.

‘
Oh,
right.’

‘
Well,
actually…’ Newton started…

‘
Enough
!’ Luigi shouted, looking at
the group in astonishment, entirely unused to the meandering babble
that the group accepted as meaningful conversation. ‘How do you get
anything done?’

‘
We’re
fourteen. We don’t.’ Ben answered looking apprehensive at the
notion that something should be accomplished.

Luigi shook his head and
floated into the centre of the room. ‘I think the point is this.
Whilst it’s true there is a personal objective behind winning this
bet...’

‘
Yes, crushing
Herbert!’ Abi muttered. Luigi glared at her interruption, before
smiling and nodding in agreement.

‘
There is a
secondary and in many ways more pressing element in that winning
could set up the company for a huge marketing boost as we
re-launch.’ The group burst into applause and cheered at this.
‘…and would most likely finish off any hope of us ever selling ice
cream again if we lose.’ Luigi finished. The group’s cheers died on
their lips as they sank into a gloomy silence. ‘Carlo. Over to
you.’ Luigi said, floating back to the side of the room.

‘
What? Oh,
yeah.’ Carlo said, standing up. ‘OK, plan of action. Newton, you,
me and Dad are going to work on the details of the bet as this will
guide what we need to manufacture for the day. I suggest we contact
Hills and say it’s a one on one challenge. One van each parked in
the same location. Any ice cream sold from other vans doesn’t
count. This way Randy and Lucy know exactly our manufacturing needs
for the bet.’

Newton and Luigi nodded at each
other whilst Ben and Norton looked entirely lost.

‘
What about
us?’ Abi asked.

‘
You three are
driving the Marketing and Public relations. We want people not just
to know we’re re-launching, but all about the bet too.’

‘
The Ice
Cream-Off!’ Norton shouted, excitedly.

‘
If you must.’
Carlo allowed.

Two days later, with production
at peak volume as batches were due to hit the stores the day after
the town fair, Randy put down the phone after talking with one of
the Hill’s management team.

‘
They aren’t
happy at all, you know. Herbert has been threatened with the sack
for getting them into this fix, but they’re even more furious at us
because they can’t back out now due to that stunt you guys pulled
on the radio yesterday!’

Carlo looked over and beamed at
Abi who had made a call to a drive-time phone- in radio show the
previous evening and announced the competition live on air.

‘
Err, guys.’
Ben said, walking into the office holding that day’s paper. ‘We
have a problem.’

‘
What?’ Carlo
asked still smiling.

‘
Is it the
story?’ Abi asked reaching for the paper. Ben handed it
over.

‘
Yeah, read
here.’ he said pointing out a section of the story in the local
paper that Abi had discussed with a reporter the day before. She
was silent as she read through and then stopped.

‘
Ah…’ she
said, putting down the paper. ‘I see what you mean.’

‘
What?’ Carlo
repeated. ‘Did they get something wrong?’

‘
Well, yes,
but then possibly not. Perhaps we didn’t make ourselves clear.’ he
said, suddenly looking guilty. ‘I told them the bet was whoever
sold the least ice cream was going to be dunked and I mentioned
that you, as the owner, were more than willing to put your dignity
on the line in defence of this fun, but meaningful re-introduction
of a famous local rivalry.’

‘
You said
that?’ Carlo asked, impressed.

‘
Well I drew a
little inspiration from your father.’ she replied and Carlo
immediately understood that translated to “Luigi told me what to
say”.

‘
Nice that you
are reading up on the history of the company.’ Randy said, missing
Carlo’s knowing wink to Abi. ‘But I still don’t see what the
problem is.’

‘
The problem,’
Ben continued, ‘is that the paper has assumed that as the owner of
Leodoni’s is taking part in the bet, the other person who will be
at risk of a good old dunking is…’

‘
Oh dear, I
see where this is going.’ Randy said grabbing the paper.

‘
No? You’re
kidding?’ Carlo asked, jumping up to read the paper over Randy’s
shoulder.

‘
Nup.’ Abi
replied.

‘
It is
otherwise a wonderful piece.’ Ben said, stifling a
laugh.

‘
He’s going to
kill us!’ Randy said, appalled. ‘Carlo, we’ll have to call it
off.’

But as everyone looked at
Carlo, he leaned back against the wall and they could see him
slowly start to shake as he bent over, his hands on his waist.

‘
Carlo?’ Randy
said. ‘Did you hear me?’

But Carlo was unable to answer
as he couldn’t hold back any longer and finally let out a roaring
laugh that shook his entire body.

‘
This is going
to be great!’ he laughed racing out the door to tell his father the
good news.

The day of the fair arrived
bathing the town’s central park in sun as workers bustled around in
the early morning light setting up stages, stalls, rides and
canopies.

Unable to get out of the
competition in any honourable manner, Mr Hill had been pressured to
go ahead agreeing with the rules as set by Randy, but had put
Herbert in charge, leaving him in no doubt that Hill’s would be
expected to win.

By eight o’clock that morning
both companies had parked their vans to the right of the main stage
area, the agreed upon “Battle ground” where the two “teams” were
busily setting up. Mr Lumsden was going to run the Leodoni’s van
with help from Carlo, whilst the rest of the gang were to drum up
customers across the fair with free samples.

Less than thirty meters away
Carlo could see Herbert bellowing at Jones, Hill’s most experienced
ice cream van man, who looked less than pleased at having such an
inexperienced member of staff shouting and screaming orders at him
as if he was entering battle and not merely about to sell ice
cream. Carlo could tell that the arrangement was unlikely to last
till lunchtime if Herbert continued shouting, given the irritated
looks the older man was throwing his way.

Carlo looked over to where Abi
was decorating the chalkboard with unnecessarily ornate patterns
when all it really needed to say was “Leodoni’s Vanilla Ice Cream -
£1 per cone” but noticing the expensively printed “Hill’s Vanilla
Ice Cream - £1 per cone” signs being placed around the van
opposite, he decided to let her get on with it.

After agreeing to the price,
the management at both companies had compromised on an easy to
judge competition based around the number of their basic “classic”
ice cream cones sold between 9am and 3pm on the day of the fair.
The Mayor of the town had agreed to be the independent adjudicator
at the end of the day when either Carlo or Mr Hill, who they had
been assured would be in attendance later that day, would be
dunked.

Abi and Newton were given
sample trays to carry around the fair offering the public a taste
and pointing them in the right direction. Norton had sulked a
little that he wasn’t offered the sample tray too. “There would be
nothing left to sample” Carlo had stated, but Norton cheered up a
little when he and Ben were given security detail along with the
mission to keep an eye on the Hill’s van opposite, the other vans
around the fair and, most importantly, Herbert Fitzherbert, whom
Carlo was now certain was the cockroach saboteur following the
revelations of the faked evidence against Leodoni’s. Whilst he
thought it unlikely Hill’s would try anything in full public view,
Carlo wasn’t willing to risk losing the bet to underhand tactics,
although he had firmly warned Ben and Norton against trying any
pranks of their own.

Whilst his friends were
understandably excited about the competition, in the back of his
mind Carlo knew this was merely the public face of a much more
profound fact. Today marked the return of Leodoni’s Ice Cream.
Batches of all the most popular flavours had been produced during a
punishing manufacturing schedule in the days leading up to the town
fair and would be available to buy at shops and supermarkets across
the region that very day. All seemed to be in order and Carlo
afforded himself a quiet smile as he looked at his busy team
readying themselves for what he planned as a celebratory day no
matter what the outcome.

The only slightly concerning
aspect of the day floated past Carlo’s face causing his smile to
disappear as he watched a box of ice cream cones glide towards the
other side of the van.

‘
Dad! Give
that here before Lumsden sees you!’ Carlo whispered, looking behind
him to see Lumsden outside collecting more boxes from the company
truck. Mr Leodoni had insisted on coming along rather than staying
with the diary back in Carlo’s bedroom, but Carlo was apprehensive
that he would somehow give himself away as he often forgot himself
in the excitement of the moment, either visibly appearing or else
moving something when invisible. If seen, Carlo was sure that would
be even more damning to their reputation than a cockroach in the
produce.

‘
I’m only
trying to help!’ Luigi moaned as Carlo snatched the box before it
landed on the counter and put it down himself with a
slam.

‘
Careful,
you’ll break the cones! They’re only wafer!’ Luigi said,
alarmed.

‘
Dad, please
just try and keep out of the way.’ Carlo said, looking around the
van, unsure where his father was.

‘
How can I be
in the way?’ Luigi asked from somewhere near the serving hatch.
‘You can just walk through me!’

‘
Yes, but you
keep picking things up or accidentally popping your arm through the
counter. If someone sees you they’ll have a heart attack!
OK?’

‘
OK.’ Luigi
answered as Lumsden re-entered the van carrying 6 boxes and noticed
Carlo standing still, unsure if Lumsden had noticed him holding a
conversation with an empty van.

‘
What?’
Lumsden asked? ‘Have I got ssssomething on my face?’

‘
No, no… carry
on.’ Carlo said
spotting a cloth behind
the now puzzled Lumsden, which had started to wipe down the counter
apparently of its own accord. Carlo hurried out of the van, walked
around to the side and thrust his hand through the serving hatch,
grabbing the cloth off his Dad.

‘
Stop it!’ he
growled, walking away as Luigi grumbled quietly to himself causing
Lumsden to inspect the ice cream maker, anxious that it was making
odd noises.

At nine o’clock the fair
officially opened and a large crowd slowly filled the park visiting
the food stalls filled with local produce and pre-requisite “funny
shaped veg” competitions. The carousel and big wheel were extremely
popular, as were the dodgems, which Ben was told by the operator he
was not allowed to use under any circumstances having tried to take
one for a joy ride the previous summer during a trip to the
seaside.

Around the edges of the fair
there were donkey rides, a car boot sale, bouncy castles, and
various stages with local musicians competing to be heard over one
another. As the morning wore on, the heat rose and the hotdog,
burger and other food stalls did a roaring trade as the visitors
increased. And through the mass darted Abi and Newton offering
samples of Leodoni’s best ice cream, pointing the van out to those
who enjoyed it and returning to base every now and then for fresh
samples, happily drinking any remaining samples of ice cream that
had melted too much to be handed out.

Norton and Ben
had procured a parasol and two deck chairs from somewhere and had
stationed themselves to the right of the van directly opposite the
Hill’s team with a sign hanging off the umbrella with the
word “SeCUriTY” scrawled across it. As Carlo took
a quick break mid-morning he hopped out of the van to see both his
friends lounging on the chairs with their sunglasses on staring at
the van opposite. Norton seemed to have a never-ending supply of
food next to him and was biting into a burger, dripping tomato
sauce down his t-shirt as Ben politely told a lady pulling a
wailing child behind her that no, they weren’t the official park
security, but if she followed the path round to the right and then
took the first left she would find the First Aid tent. The woman
walked away as Ben settled back down in the chair pulling his
sunglasses in place.