Written By Shaun Blankenship

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Arnold waved bye to Gerald as they parted ways walking off of the bus. He hadn't seen Lila since last school year, which seemed like an eternity.

His mind didn't know how to answer that. During fifth grade, he had acted as if all romantic feelings toward her had been lost forever, but he still had a few at the bottom of his closet for a rainy day. That was almost seven years ago. Since then, he wasn't sure how he felt about Lila. Around sophomore year, they stopped talking like they used to. I guess I still do like her slightly, but not like before. I don't think I'll ever like her as much as before.

He walked down to Lila's house and knocked on the door. Lila's father answered in a pair of gray sweatpants and a stained red shirt that says, "I'D RATHER BE DRINKING". He wiped the grogginess out of his eyes. "Hey. I suppose you want to talk to Lila."

Arnold looked at the man's tired face. "Uh, yeah."

Lila's dad rubbed his hair around into even more of a mess. "Alright, what's your name?"

"Arnold."

"Okay." He turned his head inside the house. "Lila! Arnold's here to talk to you!" A mumble came from inside the house that was hardly audible. Lila's dad looked back at Arnold. "She'll be down in a minute."

"Thanks." Arnold and Lila's dad stood awkwardly at the doorway in front of each other waiting for the freckled girl with pigtails of Arnold's childhood to grace them with her presence. Arnold tried to start a conversation. "So… how's life been treating you?"

"Oh, I've been okay."

They still waited for Lila to appear. He was about to give up until he heard her footsteps slowly approaching toward the door. Lila's dad left without saying anything when his daughter approached the doorway. Arnold's jaw dropped as soon as she saw her.

Her stomach had stuck out amazingly from her waist due to her pregnancy. She was bloated, plain and simple. Other than that, she looked the same as she ever did. As if someone had taken a balloon image of Lila and just inflated it a little more.

"Hi, Arnold… Oh, wow, look at the clouds. The just ever so fluffy and white. They're like pillows or something…"

Arnold raised his hand nervously to wave hello. "Lila, how-how have you been?"

She out her finger to her chin and thought. "Hmm… I've been… turquoise lately. That's it, turquoise."

"Turquoise, interesting. Well… I see you're pregnant… How's that working for you?"

"I don't know, it's doesn't really work or do anything. It really should, 'cause then I'd be able to buy a time machine and meet Abraham Washington."

Arnold looked at his feet. What now? How am I supposed to get out of this? Think of something, Arnold!

Lila then started bending her knees back and forth since she couldn't really jump. "Ooh! Ooh! Ice cream man! Ice cream man!"

Arnold turned around and saw that the Jollie Ollie Man was coming down the street. His entrance was quiet since two years ago he had a breakdown and tore out the loudspeaker on the front of the truck. Since then, no repair effort had been put in at all. The only positive thing that came out of the Jollie Ollie Man's breakdown was that now he was heavily medicated.

Arnold looked back at Lila as she clasped her hands together in pleading; "Please, Arnold! I don't have any money, could you please buy me something?"

Arnold searched his pockets. Any money he really needed to save always stayed in his wallet or at the boarding house, all of his spending funds stayed in his left pocket. It was easier that way. On pulling his hands out, he found he only had three dollars. "Sure, Lila. What do you want?"

She crossed her legs (As well as she could). "Ooh, ooh! I want a Cocoa Burrito!"

Arnold took one of the dollars and placed it back in his pocket. Cocoa Burritos were about a buck seventy-five. Out of all the ice cream that guy stocks, she wants one of the most expensive things on the truck. Aren't I just lucky?

He went over to the truck just in time to catch the Jollie Ollie Man before he drove away. "Hey! Mister!" Immediately, the ice cream man went back to the back of his truck to greet Arnold when he made it over there.

There was something eerie about the now medicated Jollie Ollie Man, something odd and misplaced. When Arnold made it to the truck, he had a smile that could've stretched all the way to India if his face had been wide enough, but his smile looked forced and surreal. The Jollie Ollie Man spoke in a happy, upbeat tone, "Well, hello, young man! What can I get you today?"

Arnold stepped back a foot as if being threatened. "Uh… I need a Cocoa Burrito."

"Splendid choice, if I do say!" It was just creepy. It was like if you were to meet Frankenstein's monster and just have small talk with him about the weather. It just seemed like this shouldn't be happening. The Jollie Ollie Man went into the freezer behind him and lifted a small, shiny pouch of ice cream and handed it to the football-headed boy. "Here you go! Will there be anything else?"

Arnold started to walk forward again. "No, no. I'm fine, that's it."

The ice cream man's eye started twitching. "So, that's it? That's all you want?"

"Um, yeah, that's it."

Arnold could see the veins in his eyes bursting and dying his whites red as he stepped out of his truck and into Arnold's face. "Oh, so now you think I'm not doing a good job, huh? Always backing off, making one purchase, not bothering to say hi or 'Hey, you've really made an improvement!' or anything? I'm just a freak to you, aren't I? Yeah, a freak! You think that just because I take anti-depressants that I'm not a human being or something, don't ya! DON'T YA!"

Arnold jumped away from the deranged ice cream merchant. "Okay, calm down. This was all I wanted; I wasn't trying to…"

The psychotic ice cream man grabbed his white Jollie Ollie hat off his head and tore off the bill. He began to rant in a style very similar to Dennis Leary. "YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I MAKE DRIVING THIS TRUCK? HUH? I'M BARELY MAKING MINIMUM WAGE! I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY DRIVING THIS TRUCK AROUND ALL DAY LONG! COME ON, HOT SHOT!"

"Maybe you should just leave now, you're scaring away customers."

"Oh, I'm scaring away customers? I'm scaring away customers? Well, if all my customers are like you, MAYBE I DON'T WANT ANY CUSTOMERS!"

The Jollie Ollie Man backed off and climbed into the front seat of his truck. He buckled his seat belt and peeled away from Arnold as fast as he could making his tires squeal with a deafening screech. Arnold went back over to Lila's house and gave her the package of ice cream.

Lila accepted it and wrapped her arms as well as she could around his shoulders. "Thanks, Arnold! This means a lot to me!"

While Lila tried to hug him, Arnold could only think of two things: that he didn't pay the Jollie Ollie Man for the ice cream, and that for some reason Lila smelled like sour milk. As soon as her arms let go, Arnold dusted off his shoulders as if trying to shake away her disease. "Lila, I should really get going in case that ice cream man comes back looking for me. You know how it is, right?"

Lila nodded. "Oh, I know. In my past life, I was a fugitive on the run from the ice cream police. I know exactly what it's like."

"Okay, Lila." He walked backward off her steps and waved good-bye. "See you later."

She waved back and spoke with a mouth full of ice cream she had just placed in, "See you, Arnold! Watch out for the ice cream police!"

As soon as he knew he was out of Lila's sight, he started running home. For some reason, he felt he had to get away from this girl he had been so fixated on. Now, instead of something drawing him to her, something pushed him away. It wasn't the fact that she was pregnant or that her brains had been replaced with mashed potatoes; it was something else. The little girl he fell in love with all those years ago was gone. In her place was a stranger he never knew and doesn't want to know anymore.

Arnold now knew, officially, that it was time to move on. May the past be buried and never unearthed again. Times had to change.

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