Chapter 11: We All Scream for Ice-cream
Granny's was packed with people eating their usual Saturday lunch and chatting. Neal, Alex and Phil sat outside enjoying the last rays of sunshine and discussing developments – or the lack thereof.
"I mean, how cool would that be? If we could leave?!" Alex flipped her long blonde hair back. "Think of all the places we could go!"
"Like where?" Phil shrugged. "And that's if they manage to break the curse in first place, mind you. Nobody's found anything."
Philip was nearly two years younger than Alex and almost a whole head shorter. He had brown hair and light blue eyes and was a little too pretty for a guy – in Alex's opinion. Guys should not be pretty. Handsome, yes, but not pretty. She turned to look at Neal. He and Phil were almost the same age, but Neal looked older than sixteen. He was his dashing father in miniature, muscular, broad-shouldered and good-looking. She smiled at him.
"I don't know, anywhere!" Alex said gesturing with her hands. "Don't you two hate being stuck here all the time? It's not like there is much to do around here …" She played with a strand of her hair. "Seriously, Ivy did the right thing ditching this dunghill."
"Did she tell any of you?" Neal looked around at his friends, who shook their heads.
"Nah, but it was bound to happen. Her Mom is hard-ass." Alex took a sip of her coffee and tried not to grimace. How all the adults seemed to like that awful brewage was beyond her, but she had decided that she would like it too (or pretend to) from now on. After all, she'd turn eighteen soon.
"Belle's not that bad." Said Neal who had spent lots of time over at Ivy's.
"Pshh, can you say overprotective and overbearing?" Alex rolled her eyes. "Miss French is worse than my mom – and that's saying something." She leaned back in her seat and stretched her arms "I can't wait to be shot of this place."
"I hope Ivy's okay, though." Phil played with his coke can nervously.
Neal yawned and cracked his knuckles. "She's not stupid. She's fine."
"Yeah, remind me to write her a formal thank you note when she gets back. If it wasn't for her, we'd all be stuck here forever." Alex laughed at Phil's worried expression and creased forehead "Oh God, Phil, lighten up!" Philip was always worried about something or other. He was always the rational and responsible one, too. Alex had no idea, how he and Neal could be friends at all. Neal came up with all the fun stuff they did and Phil just tagged along, cautioning and fretting. He wasn't a snitch, though.
Neal's phone buzzed on the table. He looked at it, his face splitting into a wide smile. "My sister. She wants me to meet her at the old ice-cream parlor right now." He grinned at Alex and Phil. "She says to bring you two and not to tell the parents."
Neal slid the phone in his jeans pocket, emptied the rest of his coke in one gulp and got to his feet.
Alex copied him. "Let's go then."
They both looked around at Phil, who had stood up too, but didn't look convinced. "If that's anything like last time, my dad's going to kill me."
"Oh, come on! " Alex and Neal exclaimed in unison.
"You two will be the death of me!" Phil said, but followed them down the street nevertheless.
When they reached the parlor, the door was open and a few loose boards leaned against the wall. Cautiously Neal and his friends entered the building. The only light came from the open door since the windows were still boarded up. The parlor had been disconnected years ago, so there was no electricity and no other light sources.
Neal burst out laughing as soon as he had spotted his older sister on the floor. Emma sat cross-legged, a huge ice-cream container in her lap. "Hey kiddo, there you are. Everyone, grab a spoon and help me with these." She pointed at a huge deep freeze in the corner.
"Wasn't this place shut down?" Neal asked, taking the plastic spoons that Emma held out and handing one each to Alex and Phil.
"Yup" Emma scooped another spoonful of rocky road into her mouth.
"Then why is there still ice-cream?" Phil inspected the deep freeze's contents. "Shouldn't it have melted? This thing isn't even on."
"Before we boarded the place up, it was searched. There was no ice-cream." Emma shrugged. "This stuff seems to be new. Found it a few hours ago." She swallowed. "It must've just appeared for some reason. Definitely wasn't there before."
Neal dove into the freezer and dug out a container labeled 'Chocolate Peanut Butter' then sat down on the floor across from Emma, ripping the lid off and taking a spoonful. "Not bad!" he exclaimed, digging in. "When Mom finds out you are making me eat cursed ice-cream that's older than I am, she's going to kill you."
Emma laughed. "That's why you are not telling her." She wagged her own spoon at her baby brother "Besides, who said anything about making you? As far as I am concerned, you and your friends just showed up here and decided to join me of your own accord – despite me advising you guys against it." Emma raised her eyebrows.
"Fair enough." Neal shrugged "Man, this stuff is good."
Alex and Phil, who had gotten out the almond and raspberry flavors and sat down beside Neal, nodded in agreement.
"Here, try this one." Alex held out her spoon for Neal, who passed her his container in return.
"Why exactly are we eating all this?" Phil asked, pausing the scooping motion and pointing at the containers with his spoon.
"Because at the bottom of each container should be one of these." Emma pulled something out of her jacket pocket and held it out for the teenagers to see. On her palm rested two shiny silver pearls the size of marbles.
"Ooh, pretty." Alex touched one with her index finger. "What are they?"
"No idea." Emma shrugged, putting them back into her pocket. "Found the first by accident and then tried another flavor to see if there were more."
"But you think they could help break the curse and get Ivy back home, right?" Phil asked, hopeful "That's why you asked us to help, didn't you?" he shoveled more raspberry sorbet in his mouth eagerly, swallowing hard and then grimaced.
"Brain freeze!" Neal and Alex laughed and then looked at each other, locking pinkies "Jinxed."
"Easy there, tiger" Emma was chuckling too. "Yes, I hope that there is a connection to Ingrid and her spell."
"How do you know the ice-cream is not dangerous?" Alex eyed the container in front of her with sudden apprehension. "Maybe it's cursed too?"
"Don't think so. I don't get any dark vibes from this stuff." Emma shrugged "Plus, this is my third flavor already. Would have dropped dead before now if anything was wrong with it." As if to prove it, she dug her spoon in once more.
"Couldn't we just empty the containers without eating the ice-cream? You know, to get to the pearls faster?" Phil's speech was almost incoherent, because of all the sorbet in his mouth.
Emma shook her head "Nah, tried that, didn't work. You have to eat it to get to the silver marbles."
"So they are magic!?" Alex put her spoon down. "What if this stuff is doing something funny to us and we just don't realize it?"
"You don't have to eat it, if you don't want to." Neal took the almond flavor from her "no one is forcing you, you know?!"
Alex blushed. "That's not what I meant."
Emma kicked Neal's right shoe with her foot. "Hey, dork, leave her be. That's her decision."
"Okay." Neal pushed the ice-cream back towards Alex, who did not resume eating it. She looked a little torn. "But since when do you go all Phil on things?!" he shot his friend a disapproving look.
"Neal." Emma looked at her brother pointedly. "Shut up."
Neal glowered at her, but did not say anything else.
"Got one!" Phil, apparently oblivious to the tension in the room, wiped his mouth with his sleeve and held up one of the pearls. He proudly handed it over to Emma, who pocketed it.
Everyone laughed at the delighted look on Phil's face.
"Now that's the spirit" Emma grinned. "Care for another flavor?" She got up and strolled to the freezer. "We've got chocolate, banana, black forest, Turkish delight, caramel, strawberry and fudge brownie left" she listed.
"Fudge brownie, please." Phil said determined, clutching his spoon like a weapon.
"Coming right up" Emma dove into the freezer and got the desired flavor plus the Turkish delight for herself.
On her way back she peered into Neal's container. "Now I am disappointed, brother dearest." She teased sitting back down. "You're slower than I thought. You sick?"
Neal crossed his arms "Had an opulent lunch, if you must know" he said loftily. "But I can take you any time." He got up, got the caramel flavor from the freezer and took the lid off "Now we're on even footing." He looked around at Phil and Emma "Race you for it. Last one to finish is a mule."
"I'll be ref." piped up Alex, scrambling to get to the space between them. "Okay, ready, set, go!"
Henry was driving down Main Street at walking speed when he noticed that the ice cream parlor door was open. He stopped, thinking. Had anyone been assigned the parlor to search recently, he wondered. He wasn't sure. Better safe than sorry, he figured and parked the car to investigate further. As he walked closer, he could hear people talking inside and roaring with laughter and – was that a donkey braying? He stuck his head in the door and had to choke laughter.
There sat Neal, Alex and Phil, a midst what looked like various ice-cream containers on the floor, falling about laughing and opposite them, Henry had to do a double take, sat a mule with very light fur. Before he could do more than blink however, there was a popping sound and in the mule's place appeared Emma shaking with a fit of the giggles and turning back into a violently braying animal the next second.
Wiping the smirk off his face, Henry entered, making the teenagers jump "Anyone care to explain what is going on in here?"
Everyone just laughed harder – or brayed, respectively.
"What shenanigans is everyone here up to?" he tried again, reminding himself horribly of his other mother "What is all this nonsense?"
"Man, you've got to see this" howled Neal from the floor "Oh, man. She's a … freaking mule!" He had tears in his eyes and could not get up, laughing and hiccuping helplessly – like a turtle on its back.
"I am seeing it alright – but what am I seeing exactly?" Henry raised his eyebrows, turning to look at Emma "Mom?"
"Ah, sorry, kid, just the ice-cream –" Emma burst into fur again. Henry waited. "I don't know what it did. I can't stop it at the mo-" the rest of the sentence was drowned by braying and the Emma mule sat sheepishly, looking up at her son apologetically.
Alex shrieked with laughter and covered her very red face in her hands, rocking back and forth. Even Phil was laughing, barking between gasps for air.
Henry's lip twitched. He did not know how much longer he would be able to resist the temptation of joining in. He had to save his face in front of the teens, though. They gave him enough trouble with their stupid pranks as it was and would lose the last shreds of respect for him if he lost it now. "Okay, I am calling Mom. She'll sort this out." Henry got the phone out of his uniform.
"No, wait, kid. She's going to kill –" Emma got to her feet and stood on four hooves for roughly twenty seconds. "What the hell, this has to stop –"
Henry looked at the mulefied Emma, his fingers hovering over the buttons, the corner of his mouth turning upwards "I can always call grandma, if that's what you prefer. I don't think she can help much with the magic problem, though." He looked pensive.
"Gods no! She's going to have my hea-"
Could a mule look annoyed, Henry wondered "Okay, calling Mom then." Dialing he added "and you lot stay put too." He fixed the teenagers on the floor.
Further south someone else had broken out the ice-cream as well. Contradictory to habit, Gold had wandered to the freshly stocked fridge and opened up the pint of cookie dough ice-cream that he had bought for his daughter. The idea of half-baked dough in his ice-cream repulsed him a little, but Ivy had insisted that this flavor was in fact the best there was and he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Besides, what else would he do with all the food now, but eat it himself? With ice-cream and spoon in hand he sat down in his armchair. Usually his favorite spot in the house, he couldn't get quite comfortable today. He had never noticed how quiet the house was before. He shifted in his position and gingerly scooped up half a spoon of ice-cream. The taste was a bit strange, but not at all unenjoyable, he decided. He turned in his seat, to tell Ivy this, only to realize that she was no longer reading her novels outstretched on his sofa. Funny, he thought bitterly, how fast you got used to someone's presence.
A little restless he placed the ice-cream on the table and walked to the bedroom. It still was exactly as Ivy had left it this morning. The bed wasn't made, her shirt tangled with the covers and all her belongings strewn across the floor and furniture. Gold sighed. The afternoon sun was peeking through the blinds, bathing the room in warm light. He half thought about scooping all the things up and putting them into the yellow backpack and then changing the covers, but he couldn't bring himself to touch anything. Instead he hobbled back to his armchair and sat down once more. Maybe he should have bought a radio, he thought, drumming his fingers on the armrest. He did not care for television at all and he never would, but a little music would have been nice right now. Belle had a lovely singing voice. He wondered if Ivy did too. Unfortunately, he couldn't carry a tune to save his life, so maybe not. He looked at Ivy's denim jacket on the sofa's backrest. They would need to come back and pick everything up, Gold told himself. They weren't gone completely yet. He would get one more chance and he'd better not blow it.
A/N: A note on the age difference - I know that during 4A Alex and Phil were shown as babies during the mommy and me class scenes. However, I still maintain that Alexandra (Cinderella's daughter), who was born during Season one, should have been a toddler by then and not a baby. Therefore, I've decided to make her roughly two years older than Neal and Philip and thus almost three years older than Ivy.
Ignore me if that doesn't make any sense at all, because honestly I don't know with this show anymore sometimes.