Aki-Essays: Challenge (7-24-09)

In the middle of summer, the day was hot. Suffering from a shower of scorching sunlight, a boy, a 4th grader in a public elementary school, was demanding something cold which would go down his esophagus, cool himself off and quench his thirst. He had come back home after school and was pacing about near his apartment this weekday. No way the boy would behave like average kids at the same or any close age, as he seemed to lack logicality, if adults had it.

The boy was outside his apartment already for 30 minutes or so and a lot of sweat had beaded on his skin and subsequently trickled down his body. Then, he was just instinctively leaning toward a convenience store near his apartment, one which he got used to going to, missing cool air coming from the air conditioner and some kind of cold drink or something succulent to eat. Upon putting his hand into a pocket, he found only several coins for something that would satisfy him the most.

Having walked on the asphalt street, one of those crossing a residential block and laden with heat and tar melting slightly in the July sun, the boy arrived at the store within a few minutes after he had the desire. Most of the walls of the store were made of glass and transparent, and the lit signs around the store indicated its name as every convenience store did. In the case of this store, the signs featured yellow. Although this store was not a franchise under any of the largest retailing groups to practice some uniformity such as running a piece of theme BGM, the boy had never identified noticeable differences from other chained convenience stores; The arrangements of the shelves and a wide range of products looked identical to ones in those stores.

The boy could simply buy a chilled beverage if thirst was the sole cause, but he also wanted to toy with a cool lump inside his mouth. And as the appeal of ice cream defeated the other in his mind, he proceeded to the large freezer. Through the glass covers over the freezer, a variety of ice cream was enticing the boy from the inside. After enjoying freedom of choice for seconds, he decided on “PINO,” a small box which contained six chocolate-covered round pieces of ice cream, and bought it.

As soon as getting out of the store through the automatic door, the boy a little hastily broke the perforated strip of the box and pulled the cover up to reveal the delectable contents inside: neatly arrayed six pieces of ice cream on a plastic tray. Each piece was flavored with vanilla, caked with a thin layer of chocolate. Picking one out with a plastic needle which was also inside the box, the boy brought it into his mouth.

“Yummy!” the boy yelled inside his brain. The ice cream and the chocolate immediately melted together and started dancing on his tongue. The piece was not too cold that his palate was not functioning normally, and he could enjoy the flavors of both the ice cream and the chocolate even while being involved with their love affair, a conflation. As the lump dropped down into his tummy, his lungs and heart were also permitted to participate in the harmonious chaos, feeling the comfortable coldness.

After gobbling up five others, he, yet, said, “I should have bought a drink.”

A while after he resumed gadding around his apartment, he was feeling hot again.

“It’s time I went back home.”