Best Served Ice Cold

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and Tintin was just coming back from a long walk. He'd been around part of Marlinspike Hall's luxurious grounds, down along the back of the house to the far meadow, where Snowy had been able to drink from the river that bordered their land. To amuse himself, Tintin had brought along a hollow, light-weight plastic ball, and had spent a good half an hour just sitting on the banks of the river, now low and sluggish in the long summer, throwing it into the water for Snowy to chase. Snowy loved it: it was good fun that helped cool him off. Tintin liked it because the swimming wore Snowy out quickly.

Now, as they neared the house, Snowy put forward a final burst of strength and took off at a tired run, making for the low barrel of water at the side of the garage. The French windows of the back sitting room were open, Tintin noticed as he drew closer to the garage, and inside he could see Nestor dusting the china ornaments that stood on the mantelpiece and coffee table. It was his ritual: every Sunday it was brass in the morning, china in the afternoon.

The door of the garage was open and the sound of music – early U2, The Joshua Tree was the album, Tintin thought – came from inside. This was another Sunday ritual: the Afternoon Tinker, where the Captain broke out his toolbox and gave something The Once Over. Sometimes it was the ride-along lawnmower, or the strimmer, and other times it was the boiler, but today it was his car. He'd put in a brand new car stereo as Tintin was beginning his walk and no doubt he was giving the engine a 'quick tune-up' while he still had his tools out.

As predicted, the bonnet of the car stood open and the Captain was bent over, stretched out as he reached in to tighten something at the back of the engine. The driver's side door was open and all the windows were rolled down, and on the grimy metal cabinet where the Captain kept his tools, the hand-held vacuum cleaner stood in its charger, testament to the fastidiousness with which the Captain approached his car.

The song With or Without You was playing, and the Captain was singing along in his surprisingly fine voice. "Hey!" Tintin called. The Captain jumped at the unexpected intrusion, and narrowly avoided smacking his head off the car bonnet.

"Ah, there you are," he said when he looked over his shoulder and saw Tintin. "Give us a minute, will you? Have a good walk?"

"Mm. The weather's glorious today."

"It surely is. Blistering barnacles! Turn, why don't you? Turn! Any plans for the day?"

"No. I was thinking of getting the sun-loungers out."

"Ooh! Good idea!" The Captain looked back at him with a grin, clearly pleased at the idea. "We could get a pizza for lunch. It's too hot to cook. What do you think?"

"Ugh. It's too hot to eat!" To emphasise his point, Tintin yawned suddenly. He was tired after his walk and looking forward to lying out with a magazine.

"I suppose you're right," the Captain said agreeably. "We can have something later, when it's cooler. And I happen to know that Nestor bought a pack of ice-lollies when he was doing the shopping yesterday. And there's cans of Coke in the fridge."

"Oh, nice!"

The Captain straightened up. "He actually brought one out to me a few minutes ago, before he started his precious dusting. You wouldn't open it for me, would you?" He held his hands out, showing Tintin his grease and oil stained fingers.

"Sure," said Tintin. "Of course." The can of Coke was standing on the far end of the metal cabinet, beside the hulking paint-mixing machine the Captain had bought in a fit of impulsiveness a while ago. As Tintin reached for the can the Captain, whistling along to the song, wiped his hands on a grimy rag and stood back out of the way.

Tintin popped the tab.

The drink exploded.

Tintin stood, shell-shocked, his mouth forming a perfect 'O' of surprise, as sticky, ice-cold, foaming cola ran from his face and hair.

"Wh…wha'?" he managed to say.

"You got served!" the Captain said smugly, before dissolving into laughter.

Author's Note: Started writing these for the fun of it. Updates will be pretty erratic, but the pranks will get bigger and better.