Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Resistance

60) Steven and Nana's House

I don't know if I am getting faster, but I make it to Steven's and Nana's house quicker than I thought I would. My feet hurt so bad. I don't see anybody on the way, but I do see a couple of abandoned cars that I'm going to check out on the way back.

The house is deserted too. I find some pain meds and bandages quickly enough, but there are no antibiotics here. I go down the hall where the Steven wall of fame pictures hang and look in the back bedroom where I find some blankets. I add them to my stash. I grab what little food there is left here, drink a quart of water, and head out the door.

As I stand on the front porch, I am stopped dead in my tracks by the sound of music slowly coming my way. I should run as fast as I can away, but I am frozen by surprise and curiosity and, as stupid as this sounds, by a memory.

The music is unmistakably the magical, enticing melody of happiness, and long summer days that never end. Otherwise known as the music from an ice cream truck. A minute later and, damn, it is really my memory come true - a real live, rolling, ice cream truck. Calling all children it sings and any adults who still remember what it is like to be ten years old. I am stuck in the past watching it approach. My mouth waters because this situation is like Pavlov's dog experiment - I want that ice cream.

The truck almost seems like it is headed my way, right to me. It is. It pulls up and stops right in front of the house as if it were looking for me to surprise me. The biggest surprise of all - driving the truck is Steven and sitting in the passenger seat beside him is Cindy Lou holding her baby in her lap. I do what any kid does when they hear that music. I don't wait, I don't look both ways before I cross the street. I run to the ice cream truck. I relive my childhood memory, and I jump up and down like the driver might miss me if I don't get his attention.

Steven leans out the window and plays along, "Hello, little girl, need a ride?"

"What? No ice cream?" I say and then laugh because I am so happy to see my best friend in the world.

"It's ok," says Cindy as she opens the back door for me to get in. "We're not strangers, Eliot, you can take the ride."

"Thanks Cindy," I say like it is the most natural thing for me to climb into the back of an ice cream truck.

"You are welcomed."

"What are y'all doing here?" I ask Steven and Cindy answers:

"Rescuing, again," sighs Cindy like it is the biggest job in the world. "And not just you, where's the prince?"