Ice Cream on the Roof

Hello All:

Today we open up our collection of Adjacent Channel writings for another peculiar story. Who eats ice cream on the roof?

Ice Cream on the Roof

Just out of college, you have opted to stay living at home with Mom and Dad while you establish yourself in your new career. It isn't so bad…

...well... there are those moments that make you sometimes consider that you should get your own place. Take for example, tonight: It is now ten o’clock PM and you have gone to sleep for the evening so you can get up early for work the next morning. But Mom and Dad have the old neighbor from across the street on the roof. He's been up there all day long, installing new roofing. When you came home from work, he claimed to be almost done. But he's remained up there past dinner... past dark... and now at ten o'clock at night. It's a warm, summer night; the windows in the house are open—including your bedroom—and you can hear him up there with his tools clanging around along with whatever pounding is necessary to secure the roofing shingles.

"Why don't you come down from there and call it a night?" your mother calls to him. "You can continue in the morning. There's no rain on the way."

"No, I'm almost done." reassures the old man. "About another hour of work..."

"We're having some ice cream. Do you want to take a break and have some with us?"

"Oh, ice cream would be great!" agrees the old man. "But I'll have it up here."

"On the roof?" your mother asks in a peculiar tone of voice. Even she thinks it's strange.

"Sure, just open the screen on the window and stick your hand out with the bowl of ice cream. I'll reach my hand down to take it, and it and eat it up here on the roof."

"Okay..." agrees your mother.

You lay there for a few minutes and actually begin to doze off. But then you are awoken as you hear the old man eating his ice cream with the metallic spoon making contact to the glass bowl. It's that high-pitched banging noise that reminds you of your teeth being shattered. And you hate that noise! It gives you the unpleasant, imagined sensation of teeth that had been frozen by eating ice cream, and then shattering upon making contact with the spoon.

There he is up there, enjoying his bowl of ice cream. And now you hear him digging away at whatever melted ice cream is left at the bottom. The spoon bangs and bangs at the glass bowl as he does this.

You can no longer take it. You sit up in bed; cover your ears, and release a blood curdling scream while shouting, "Stop it!"

The End!