“Hey, what’s going on out here?” Mr. Brown called as he came hurrying out of the kitchen. “That’s no way to talk to one of my waitresses,” he told the man angrily. “She’s new here, new to this country, and she’s never worked in an ice cream parlor before.”
“That’s obvious,” the man answered. He was very tall, and when he stood up, he towered over Mr. Brown. Without saying another word, he stormed out of the parlor. He didn’t even stop to pay for his lunch.
“Well, good riddance to him,” Mr. Brown said, shaking his head at the waitress. She managed a small smile then buried her head in her hands.
“Why don’t we help clean up the counter?” Jessie suggested. “They seem very short of help.”
“Good idea,” Henry said. Hastily, the Aldens gathered up some napkins. Henry and Violet began mopping the counter. Jessie cleared away a soggy sandwich.
Mr. Brown wiped his hands on his big apron. He patted the new waitress gently on the arm. “Simone, please don’t cry,” he said gently. “I’ve just been so busy this week, I haven’t had time to train you properly. It’s not your fault we lost that customer.”
Benny quietly handed Simone some napkins so she could dry her eyes. “Thank you,” Simone said, smiling at Benny.
“Where are you from, Simone?” Jessie asked gently.
“I’m from France,” Simone answered proudly. “I came here for the summer to improve my English.”
“Your English is excellent,” Violet said with admiration.
“I studied it a long time in school,” replied Simone modestly.
Mr. Brown looked thoughtfully at the Aldens. Benny was now wiping the far end of the counter. Henry had gathered all the soggy napkins and was throwing them away in the trash.
“I can see you children are hard workers,” Mr. Brown said. He looked very impressed. “Would you be able to help Simone and Brian this afternoon — after you’ve had your lunch? We don’t have a big staff yet, as you can see.”
Before the children could answer, Brian hurried by carrying a tray of sandwiches. “Oh, Mr. Brown, one of your suppliers is at the back door. What should I tell him?” the young waiter called.
Mr. Brown sighed. “I’ll be right there.”
“I think those sandwiches are for us.” Benny eyed the tray hungrily.
“Please children, sit down and have your lunch. Then, if you’d like, we’ll put you to work this afternoon. By the way, can you make sodas and milkshakes?”
“I think we could,” Jessie answered. “We always used to watch Tom and Ruth work behind the counter.”
“Oh, would you show me?” Simone begged. She dabbed her eyes with a napkin.
“Sure,” Jessie said with a grin.
Mr. Brown sighed with relief. “That would be wonderful,” he said. “Until we hire a cook, I don’t have much time to be at the counter. I’m so busy making ice cream and sandwiches.” Mr. Brown paused as if noticing other customers at the counter for the first time. “I’ll get you another sandwich,” he told the young woman in the white skirt.
“Thank you,” she replied, smiling at Mr. Brown. “I think that man was very rude.”
“He’s been in here before,” Simone said, shaking her head. “He’s always complaining about something.”
“Really?” Mr. Brown frowned.
“Yes,” Simone continued. “Yesterday, he said his vanilla milkshake wasn’t mixed correctly, but he drank it anyway. He said he knew how to make much better ones.”
Mr. Brown sighed and shook his head.
“I told him I was sorry he didn’t like his shake,” the waitress continued. “He said he couldn’t understand how I could be working here when I didn’t know how to do anything.”
“So today when he came in, he gave you instructions?” Mr. Brown said kindly.
“Yes, but you heard what he said about his ice cream soda.” Simone looked sad.
“I heard him,” Mr. Brown answered grimly. “Did he at least pay yesterday?”
“Yes, but he almost threw the money on the counter,” Simone replied.
“If he comes back, let me know,” Mr. Brown said abruptly. “I’d like to talk to him. Now you must excuse me. I have to get back to the kitchen. I’ll be right out with your sandwich,” he told the woman in the white skirt.
While the Aldens ate their lunch, they could not stop talking about the strange customer.
“It sounds like that man just wanted to make a big scene,” Henry remarked as he stirred his vanilla milkshake.
“I wonder if there really was anything wrong with his soda,” Jessie said thoughtfully. She bit into her sandwich.
Henry sipped his milkshake. “This one tastes just fine,” he said.
“Yes, but Mr. Brown probably made that milkshake. It came from the kitchen, not the counter,” Violet reminded him.
“That’s true,” Henry said. He took another long sip.
“Why do you think that customer came back,” Violet asked, “when he didn’t like what he had yesterday?”
“Maybe he is going to tell everyone about the problems here,” Henry said. He wiped his hands on his paper napkin.
“Hey, maybe he works for Mrs. Saunders,” Benny suggested. He sat up a little straighter.
“We’ll just have to keep our eyes on him,” Henry said. He added some salt to his sandwich. “I wonder if he’ll come back.”
Benny nodded. He licked the last bit of chocolate sauce from his long spoon. “This ice cream sundae is as good as always,” he said happily.
After lunch, the children cleared their table themselves because Brian was very busy. “At least they’re getting more customers,” Violet remarked to Jessie as several mothers with young children came in.
Jessie and Violet went behind the counter to help Simone. Benny grabbed a broom and swept the floor, and Henry worked in the kitchen making sandwiches.
The next customer at the counter ordered a strawberry ice cream soda. Jessie called Simone over so she could watch Jessie make it.
Carefully, Jessie measured the strawberry syrup and milk. She poured the ingredients into a tall glass and stirred them. Then she added soda water.
“See, I’m leaving some room at the top of the glass for the ice cream,” Jessie said as she dropped a big scoop of strawberry ice cream into the glass. She then added a little more soda water and some whipped cream.
“Oh, you make it look so easy,” Simone said. She made a vanilla soda while Jessie looked on. The customer said it was delicious.
“Oh, I’ve learned so much,” Simone told Mr. Brown at the end of the afternoon. “I can now make milkshakes, sodas, and malteds.”
“I’m glad, Simone,” Mr. Brown said encouragingly. “I knew all along you could, but I’m glad you feel more confident.” He turned to the Aldens.
“I can’t thank you enough,” he told them. “With Henry making all the sandwiches, I had time to make enough ice cream to keep up with our orders for the week.”
“That’s good. We need more chocolate and vanilla ice cream at the counter,” Simone mentioned.
“All right, I have some in the kitchen freezer,” Mr. Brown said. “I’ll fill those containers before I leave this evening.”
“Could you teach us how to make ice cream sometime?” Henry asked.
“Of course, my boy. I’d love to.” Mr. Brown seemed delighted. “Just as long as you don’t peek when I put in the secret ingredients that make the parlor’s ice cream so special.”
The Aldens nodded.
“Good,” Mr. Brown said approvingly. “You see, I promised Mr. Richards I would never give away his secrets.” Mr. Brown paused. “You children wouldn’t be willing to come help us for the next couple of weeks?” he asked hopefully. “You’ve been such a big help tous already.”
The Aldens all looked at one another. They were all thinking the same thing. “We’d love to,” Jessie finally answered for them.
Mr. Brown grinned. “Good, come by in the morning. We open around nine o’clock.” The Aldens nodded.
“And before you go, let me give you some ice cream to take home to your family — on the house,” Mr. Brown said. He pressed a gallon of freshly made peach ice cream into Henry’s arms.
“What does ‘on the house’ mean?” Benny whispered to Violet.
“It means we don’t have to pay for it,” Violet explained. “He’s giving it to us as a present.”
Benny smiled. “I like presents like that.”
“Good,” Mr. Brown said as he opened the door for the children. “See you tomorrow.”
Watch was waiting patiently outside, in the shade.
“Oh, Watch, I hope you weren’t too lonely,” Benny said as he untied the dog’s leash from the tree.
“I visited him when things got a little slow in the kitchen,” Henry said. “Lots of people stopped to pet him. He seemed to be all right.”
On the way home, Benny skipped down the sidewalk. “I can’t think of a better place to work than the Ice Cream Shoppe,” he said happily. “Wait until we tell Grandfather!”
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