The Ice-Scream Parlor

 

Pick your scream....

"That was a really tough fight you put up, teddy bear.", Rob said, a grin on his face. 

"Nobody can beat me though....you did try your best."

Rob, Mark and Benjamin were cousins, staying over at Rob's place for a night out. All three of them loved to play carrom, the custom game-mode "Money" specifically.

Rob and his dad practiced carrom almost every weekend, so he was quite good at the game. Mark and Benjamin on the other hand, were struggling to get each shot in. Hence, Rob didn't have to sweat to get them out.

"Mark, don't feel bad...this guy plays everyday...we still got far..." Benjamin said consolingly. Mark acknowledged this, and cheered up a bit.

"Rob, now that we're done with a game of your choice and dinner of Benjamin's choice, can we at least have dessert of my choice?"

Rob and Benjamin said together, "Sure, but it has to be ice-cream."                                             

Mark grinned, and said, "Okay, lets try out the new Spooky themed one across the street."

The three cousins walked with their hoods on, on the chilly November night. The Halloween decorations were still kept up, and the pumpkins still stared at them through their carved sinister faces. The street was dimly lit, and the street lights were flickering. The whole scenario creeped them out, but they also admired the effort put into making the street creepy.

Soon, they reached the little ice-cream parlor, called "Chilly-Cream". The flavor names were also changed because of Halloween, but the kids knew what they wanted.

Mark loved chocolate more than any other sweet, Benjamin loved vanilla and Rob had a craving for any fruit flavor, especially blueberry. They kept their preferences in mind and pushed open the spider webbed door of the parlor.

There was a new waiter behind the shelves; tall, dark and muscular. His hair reached down to his shoulders, and he wore a torn shirt with ripped jeans.

He looked like he would lift a car if he had too, and the kids really liked his make-up.

"And what do you kids want" the man asked.

The chocolate flavor was changed to "Death by Chocolate", the vanilla flavor was changed to "As white as Ghosts" and the fruit'rs had adjectives added.

"Uh...one "Death by chocolate", one "White as a Ghost" and an "Eerie-Blueberry" please.

The man groaned and took out his shovel shaped spoon. He scooped up the flavors and gave the kids their cones.

"Thanks", the kids said nervously, wondering whether the guy was actually angry or was a really good actor.

They headed over to a table and started slurping their ice-creams. Mark's cone had numerous chocolate crumbs on chocolate ice-cream, with extra chocolate syrup. He took one huge bite, smiled, but that's when things went haywire.

"You know why teddy bear said no to more ice cream?" asked Rob.

"Because he was stuffed."

Both Rob and Benjamin burst out laughing, and Mark's eyes opened wide and he coughed out a laugh.

The fun was short-lived, though.

As soon as Mark breathed, the chocolate from his mega-bite got lodged in his throat and he started coughing, almost choking.

Both Benjamin and Rob thought he was joking at first, but when his eyes went considerably wide, they helped him get the piece out. It took a while, and Rob actually thought Mark was going to faint, or something worse.

After the situation settled, and the ice-creams were over, Rob felt a little too cold, and Benjamin's face was too white.

When Mark came to, he heard the waiter snicker and say, 

"Death by chocolate....haha...it always gets them..."