Disclaimer: I do not own the Rat Patrol or profit from writing. I do it just for fun and because the world needs more Rat Patrol fanfic.
The heat had hit a record high. The Rat Patrol were on leave, but it was so hot out they were not enjoying their rare break from the fighting.
Hitch took off his red kepi to wipe his forehead. "It's scorching out. Back home, my siblings and I ate ice cream that we bought from the drugstore down the street from us."
"We used to make ice cream ourselves," said Tully, "Each of my siblings and I would take turns turning the handle on our ice cream maker. That was always fun. I wanted to be the one to pour the cream and flavoring into it. I got to make the ice cream whatever flavor I wanted. My favorite was maple. We'd put maple syrup in it."
"My brother and I would eat a whole watermelon on a hot day," recalled Troy.
"I would suck on frozen grapes," added Moffitt.
"I just wish we had something really cold," said Tully.
Later that day, while Hitch and Tully were walking through the village, Tully spotted a barrel shape among the wares an Arab was selling.
He nudged Hitch, "Is that what I think it is?"
"I don't know, what do you think it is?"
"That looks like an ice cream maker, like the one I used to have. I wonder what something like that is doing here?"
Hitch started walking. "Why don't we take a look?"
When they reached the Arab, Tully picked up the ice cream maker. He inspected it carefully. At last, he turned to Hitch.
"This is in good condition. I'm going to ask him where he got it." He turned to the Arab and tried to ask him about the ice cream maker. The Arab spoke minimal English, so Tully could not find out where he had found it. Finally, Tully just thanked the man in the limited Arabic Moffitt had taught him, and turned to leave.
Hitch grabbed his arm. "Do you still know how to make ice cream?"
"Ice cream? Of course, once you learn it's pretty hard to forget. The ingredients are very simple. Why do you ask?"
Hitch cocked his head toward the ice cream maker.
"Oh, no, no, no. Where would we get the cream and sugar? What would the Sarges say? "
Hitch shrugged, "I don't know. We'll tell them we're making ice cream. Maybe we can pool our sugar ration together."
"Okay, but what about the cream?"
"We could ask the cook?" Hitch suggested hopefully. He could see Tully was beginning to waver. "Oh, come on, Tully. It's so hot out. Ice cream is the perfect treat. You said yourself it's easy to make."
"Alright," Tully relented, "But we're splitting the cost."
Hitch grinned, "It's a deal."
Tully pulled out a few coins from his pocket. Hitch did the same and handed them to the Arab. The man took the money and beamed. He hadn't expected to sell it so quickly. Tully took the ice cream maker and they walked away. Some while later, they came across another man milking his camel. Beside him lay two clay jars of milk. Tully nudged Hitch.
"There's where we'll get the cream," he whispered.
"Drink camel milk?" Hitch asked incredulous.
"Well, you don't have to drink it if you don't want to, but it's quite good. I had some when I went with Moffitt on one if his digs. We're going to use the cream that will separate from the milk for our ice cream."
"Oh," Hitch nodded.
Tully went up to the man and asked to buy the milk. They bartered for a little while using mostly gestures to communicate. Tully was glad Moffitt had taught him how to bargain properly, if he hadn't, he would have been just fleeced of about two dollars. Highway robbery for a jar of camel milk. After quite some time, they finally agreed to a price. Tully pulled some money out of his pocket and paid. He thanked the man. Hitch picked up the jar, and they headed back to the base. There they were greeted by Moffitt.
"What are those?" he asked, pointing to the items they were holding.
Hitch glanced down at the jar he was holding. "Milk," he said brightly, "Or to be more precise, it's camel milk."
"And you need camel milk because why?"
"Well, you see Sarge..."
Tully cut in. "It's so hot out, we decided to make ice cream. We needed something really cold."
Moffitt raised his eyebrows. "I see. And where did you get the ice cream maker?"
"It's sort of a strange story," explained Hitch.
"Yeah," agreed Tully, "I think we had better skim this cream off the milk before it goes bad." He and Hitch tried to scooch past Moffitt.
"Excuse me, where do you chaps think you're going?"
Tully and Hitch turned around, the picture of innocence.
"We're going to skim the cream off the milk before it spoils."
"I hate to disappoint you, but your cream has barely begun to form. You still have a couple hours to wait. In the meantime, you can tell me your strange story as to how you managed to get ahold of an ice cream maker."
Hitch and Tully looked at each other.
"Well, I'm waiting."
"We just sort of stumbled upon it. An Arab had it among his items. Tully said it was like the one he used to have, so I thought we could make ice cream. It's really easy to make. It's so hot, it is the perfect day for ice cream."
"That's your strange story?"
"Kind of. It was strange that we could have found an ice cream maker in the middle of a desert."
Moffitt shook his head in a mixture of amusement and exasperation. "This would never have been allowed in my army."
Hitch grinned, "That's why you English are so uptight. You've never had the experience of making your own homemade ice cream. The smooth, velvety texture of the homemade ice cream, it's so cool and sweet. Not to mention, you need the seasoning of fellowship to make the experience more enjoyable."
"Good grief, Hitch. Are you describing ice cream or a piece of fabric? Or maybe a wine?" Moffitt struggled from laughing.
Hitch smirked and continued. "It's not just the result that makes it worth it. This is a great opportunity to bond with your fellow teammates and gain their trust. We have to trust each other to take their turn turning the handle. Not only that, we must each agree to the flavor of the ice cream. This requires a real understanding of each other. You see, Sarge?"
"When put that way, Hitch, I guess I can't deny you the opportunity to bond with your teammates."
Tully smiled, "Thanks, Sarge."
"Don't call me that. Oh, make sure you tell me when you're ready to make the ice cream. I don't want to miss out on a chance to build trust and understanding."
"Will do, Sarge," promised Hitch.
Hitch and Tully went to the mess hall and managed to convince the cook to let them use some ice for their ice cream.
During dinner, Troy asked, "What did you fellows do today? Did you stay out of trouble?"
Moffitt snorted, "If you can count buying an ice cream maker and camel milk with the plans to make ice cream as staying out of trouble."
"They what?"
"They bought an ice cream maker from one of the Arabs."
"How did an Arab acquire something like that in the middle of a desert?"
"I don't know, Sarge," answered Tully.
"And how did you get camel milk?"
"We came across a Bedouin milking his camel. We asked if we could buy a jar of milk. He was quite willing."
"What are you going to do with the milk?"
"I'm going to drink it," Tully answered, "It's quite good."
Troy sighed, "When do you fellows plan on making your ice cream?"
"After we're done with dinner, which would be right now." Hitch and Tully got up from the table and went to get their ingredients. Moffitt and a very perplexed Troy followed.
"Alright, what do we need?" asked Hitch.
"Cream, sugar, ice and some flavoring."
"Okay." They went from place to place collecting all the items. Tully and Hitch pooled some of their sugar together. And Moffitt and Troy got the ice from the cook. At last, they had everything they needed. Tully took a ladle and scooped the cream out of the milk. Then they hauled out the ice cream maker, and began the process. Tully dumped in the ice, cream, and sugar.
"What about the flavoring?" Troy asked.
"Oh, I forgot about that," said Tully.
Hitch pulled out some chocolate bars. "We could use these."
"I guess those could work. Throw them in, Hitch." Tully started turning the handle. All went well until the handle started getting stuck. Tully tried to find out what was wrong with it, but didn't find any problems. He went back to the grinding. He took ahold of the handle a tried gently forcing it to turn. The lid flew off along with a quarter of the would be ice cream. The cold concoction hit Moffitt and completely covered his face and shirt. Moffitt sputtered and took off his shirt. A good amount of cream and sugar had landed on his shirt. He shook his shirt into the machine. He quickly dried his face with what little dry spots he could find on the shirt. He turned to Tully and glared at him.
"I wanted ice cream, not a bloody shower."
"Sorry, Sarge," Tully tried his best to hide his laughter. Troy and Hitch had less success holding back their mirth. They were on the floor laughing. Their commotion brought Christina to the door.
"What are you boys doing? Oh, hello," seeing Moffitt she quickly turned away. Moffitt hastily picked up his ice cream covered shirt and put it back on. Christina came back in.
"What were you doing?"
"We are making ice cream," replied Hitch, "Or we were trying to, at any rate."
"Oh. What happened to prevent that?"
"The handle got stuck," explained Tully. "I figured out why, though. The chocolate chunks we put in there were to big for this thing. I think I've got it now." He resumed his turning. His arm got tired after a while, so they all took turns until it was done. Hitch took off the cover and proceeded to dish up ice cream for everyone.
"Seeing as Moffitt sacrificed his shirt for this ice cream, I think he should have the first bowl," said Tully.
Hitch handed Moffitt the ice cream. They all waited for him to take a bite.
"It's marvelous," he exclaimed.
Tully grinned, "It's smooth and velvety, isn't it, Sarge?"
"Did you enjoy your first experience making ice cream?" asked Hitch.
"I did," replied Moffitt. "I feel less uptight now that I had the privilege to make my own ice cream. I definitely feel like this was an excellent exercise in learning to trust each other and in understanding."
Christina and Troy looked confused at this exchange. Troy glanced at Christina and shrugged. Christina shook her head.
"I'm not even going to try to figure out what that was about," she muttered.
Hitch and Tully started laughing even more. They finally regained their composure and picked up their ice cream. They took a bite.
"Wow," said Hitch, "This is better than the ice cream from the drugstore I used to visit."
"Of course it was," replied Moffitt, "It was seasoned with the sauce of fellowship and my shirt."