With Ice Cream

Between the poultry shed and the Ferris wheel, a woman in a yellow volunteer shirt was trying to open a sleeve of plastic forks with a pencil.

Syd stopped beside her. On the table behind her sat an apple pie.

“You two here for the tasting?” she asked.

SydWe are now.

OliverHere. Let me get that for you.

He opened the sleeve and handed it back.

“Wonderful. I need two people. Names?”

They gave them. She wrote them on a card and pointed to two folding chairs.

“Make yourselves comfortable. I’ll get your sheets.”

SydThere’s ice cream in that cooler.

OliverHow do you know?

SydThe scoop.

At the microphone, a man in a straw hat adjusted his glasses.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our judges have arrived. Please welcome Syd and Oliver.”

A woman near the front clapped without putting down her lemonade. Syd raised a hand and took the chair nearest the cooler. Oliver straightened the other chair so all four feet rested on the ground.

The volunteer brought two pencils and two scorecards.

OliverIs there anything you need us to do afterward?

“Just hand those back to me. You’re a big help.”

SydCould I have some ice cream with mine?

“That’s how she serves it.”

SydLovely.

Eight numbered cards stood along the display table. Behind the first was the apple pie. The other seven stood by themselves.

Susie Q LeMontague waited beside her entry in a blue dress and a white apron. She had brought her own knife, her own server, and a steel tub of homemade vanilla ice cream packed in ice. Her good earrings flashed when she turned toward the microphone.

“Susie Q,” said the announcer. “Back with us.”

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

“And looking very confident.”

“I am, Ralph.”

“Well. We’ll try to rise to the occasion.”

She nodded, accepting this, and cut two generous slices.

The crust broke cleanly beneath her knife. A little steam rose from the cut. She lifted each piece onto a plate, then set a round scoop of ice cream beside it.

SydYou made that, too?

“This morning.”

He moved his scorecard out of the way.

Oliver drew his plate toward him, unfolded a napkin across his knee, and picked up his knife and fork.

“The judging will now begin,” Ralph announced. “Take all the time you need, gentlemen. We are very comfortably on schedule.”

Under the next tent, somebody started a leaf blower.

Syd cut into his slice. The top scattered into crisp flakes, and the apple beneath it held together just long enough to reach his mouth. He leaned over his plate and followed the first mouthful with some ice cream.

Oliver cut a small piece from the tip. He gathered a little apple, a little crust, and a little vanilla onto his fork. He took one measured bite, laid down his utensils, and sat still.

The apples were tender, with enough tartness left to meet the butter and sugar. The bottom crust was crisp. Cold vanilla melted into the warm filling, and the faint salt in the pastry came through at the end.

Oliver looked down at his plate.

OliverOh, that’s good.

Syd nodded. He had a flake of pastry on his lower lip.

SydThe bottom’s crisp.

OliverYes.

SydWith all that filling. I’d like to know how she does that.

OliverAsk her.

SydI will. When I’ve got a minute.

He took another mouthful. A little vanilla reached his chin.

Oliver picked up his pencil.

SydYou’ve stopped.

OliverI’m filling this in.

SydYour ice cream’s going.

OliverI see it.

SydAll right.

Oliver entered a neat ten beside each category. He considered the line marked COMMENTS, then wrote, Excellent pastry. Apples just right.

OliverAnything you’d like me to add?

Syd swallowed.

SydTell her about the ice cream.

Oliver added it.

On Syd’s card, the tens leaned in several directions. A drop of cream spread through the zero beside FLAVOR.

SydCan you read that?

OliverYes.

SydGood.

Oliver handed both cards to the volunteer. She carried them to Ralph, who laid them side by side and studied them through the lower part of his glasses.

Susie Q clasped her hands at her waist.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Ralph said. “We have a decision.”

He paused. A boy at the back continued scraping blue ice from a paper cone.

“And it is unanimous.”

Susie Q took a quick breath.

“The blue ribbon in this year’s county fair pie competition goes to…”

He looked down at the cards once more. Susie Q leaned forward.

“Susie Q LeMontague.”

She gave a cry that carried as far as the tractor display.

Both hands flew above her head. She turned in a full circle, then seized the volunteer in a hug that lifted the woman’s name badge sideways.

“Oh, thank you. Thank you!”

The woman with the lemonade clapped again. Beside her, a man brought his hands together twice, then caught the fair program sliding off his knee.

Susie Q accepted the ribbon with both hands. She pressed it to her chest, closed her eyes, and raised it overhead.

Ralph moved the microphone away before she could catch it with her elbow.

“A tremendous afternoon,” he said. “And several hours of fair remaining.”

Susie Q began a slow circuit of the judging table, holding her ribbon high enough for the people outside the tent to see it.

Syd bent closer to his plate. The ice cream had reached the far edge.

OliverYou’ve got some on your face.

SydWhere?

Oliver touched his own chin. Syd wiped his cheek.

OliverLower.

Syd found the vanilla with his thumb. There were crumbs on both sides of his mouth now.

SydIs there a spoon?

Oliver passed him one.

Susie Q stopped at the front of the tent and held the ribbon out to a woman pushing a stroller.

“Apple,” she said.

The woman smiled and kept moving.

“Homemade vanilla, too!” Susie Q called after her.

Ralph consulted his program.

“Let’s hear it once more for Susie Q.”

A few people obliged. Susie Q bowed to them, then turned and bowed toward the other side of the tent.

Oliver kept one hand on the volunteer’s stack of scorecards when a breeze lifted their corners. With the other, he passed her the pencils.

OliverDo these go in that box?

“Yes, please.”

Syd scraped the melted ice cream from the edge of his plate.

SydYou ought to try yours with a spoon.

OliverI will.

SydGets into the crust.

Oliver looked at the pale pool gathering beneath his slice.

OliverI’m looking forward to it.

“At three o’clock,” Ralph announced, “the garden club will demonstrate flower arranging in this very tent. Chairs may remain where they are.”

Susie Q returned to the table. Her face was pink, and she had caught her breath. She smoothed the ribbon between her fingers.

“Well, boys?”

OliverIt’s wonderful. Thank you.

SydCould I have another piece?

“With ice cream?”

SydPlease.

Oliver reached over and held the cooler lid for her.

Susie Q laid her ribbon on a dry corner of the table and picked up the knife.