ON THE COVER Ice-Cream And Future Dreams

So many flavours – how can Nancy ever make her choice? ?

Nancy stood and stared, rooted to the spot, gripped by indecision. A cacophony of colours swirled in front of her eyes. She reached out a hand to the clear glass, resting her fingertips there, finding comfort in its coolness.

She didn’t think she’d ever seen that many colours before. Soft folds of pink, swirls of deep cerise, mounds of bright green, balls of bright blue and layers of deep dark brown. A whole rainbow laid out like a glorious landscape. Mounds upon mounds, like a mountain range.

She felt much cooler now – cool

enough, in fact, to slip her sweatshirt on – and her head had stopped thumping. Away from the early morning August heat, from the villa and “the wait”, suddenly she felt in an oasis of calm. The outside world was exactly that, out there. The worries of the day, the months of hard work, were all a world away in here.

She looked around at the small, empty ice-cream parlour, with towers of biscuit cones on top of the gleaming glass freezer, bottles of sauces along the high counter, jars of sprinkles on the shelves behind, reflected in the mirrors there, making the tiny shop look bigger. And in front of her, the freezer full of every kind of ice-cream you could imagine.

She ran her finger along the glass, reading the Italian for each of the flavours and then, as there seemed to be no one around, saying them out loud, liking the way the words felt as they rolled off her tongue. She started with, “Gelato!” Icecream! c She smiled. It had been a lovely week w at the villa she and her friends had re ented after all the hard work leading up to o their exams. An end-of-exams c elebration and eighteenth birthday p resent all in one. “Cioccolato,” she said, enjoying the fe eel of the sound. She was excited to sp pend time with her friends again. There had been no time before their A-levels. Revision had taken up all her spare time, keeping up with her carefully planned timetable. Everyone had high hopes for Nancy. Her mother was already telling people the college she would be going to and how she planned to be a doctor – just like her and her father.

It was how it had always been; it was just expected that that’s what she’d do, and so she had. She’d made the right Alevel choices, applied to universities and, depending on her exam results later that morning, she’d be on track to follow exactly in their footsteps.

“Fragola,” she said, and repeated it more slowly because she liked the way it sounded. “Fra…go…la.”

He handed her a SMALL POT. “Try THIS ONE, tell me what you TASTE”

Her parents were going to the school to pick up her results, insisting she should relax in the sun after all her hard work. She felt far from relaxed when she’d woken early that morning. But here, in the cool of the ice-cream parlour, relaxed was exactly how she felt.

“Fragola, cioccolato,” she repeated, smiling to herself. “Ciocc…” “May I help you?” Nancy jumped and stopped mid-flow. A dark-haired young man appeared from behind a fly curtain, which tinkled like little bells as it fell back into place.

“Sorry, I was just attending to a new

batch of ice-cream.” He pointed in the direction of the back room. “Now, what can I get you?”

He smiled widely and she stared at him, in awe of his perfect English.

“Um, I don’t know,” said Nancy, still unable to make up her mind as she looked at the brilliant display of icecream mounds behind the cool glass.

She felt torn between looking at the beautiful array and the very good-looking young man smiling at her, his eyes the same colour as the cioccolato ice-cream.

“I usually just go for caramel,” she confessed. It had been her favourite since she was a girl.

“What you need to do is try a little of everything before you decide,” he said enthusiastically. “All the ice-creams are made here in Sicily, in our town of Città d’Oro, from the cows that live here side by side with the lemon trees.”

Nancy found herself catching her breath and blushing at his passion, a fire starting to burn within her own stomach. She looked down at the row of icecreams again, trying to distract herself from his beautiful eyes and bright smile.

“This ice-cream comes from the heart of our island,” he said, and once again Nancy blushed and wished she felt that same kind of passion about her life and her chosen career. Or was it even her chosen career? She couldn’t remember choosing to be a doctor – it’s just what it was always assumed she would be.

Her other friends in the villa had so much more passion for the courses they wanted to be accepted for and where they hoped life would take them. Mair played saxophone and wanted to study music, Alice wanted to be an architect and was soaking up the Sicilian stonework made from the lava of Mount Etna. And Tia wanted to study law, as if her life depended on it; she wanted to fight the injustices in the world.

Nancy, she realised, simply didn’t want to let her parents down.

“Here.” The young man was handing her a small pot, with a spoon in it. “Try this one and tell me what you taste.”

His gaze made her insides flutter as their fingertips touched. A small trickle of ice-cream ran down the side of the pot. She licked it away, smiling at him as he watched her. She put the spoon in her mouth, loving the coolness, letting it sit there until it melted and finally swallowing, enjoying every bit of its creamy, soft flavour.

“I don’t know, it’s beautiful, but it doesn’t taste of anything in particular,” she said. “Just, well, like ice-cream should… creamy!”

“That’s our plain ice-cream, just the taste of milk and sunshine.” He smiled, as warmly as the Sicilian sun. Then he lined up three more little pots for her to try. “Strawberry.” She smiled. “Fragola,” he corrected her and they both laughed. “Coffee. No, almond?” She was unsure. “Biscotti,” he corrected. “The little biscuits we have with coffee here.”

She tried chocolate and pistachio, and then one more. “Wow!” She laughed. “Popping candy!” He laughed too, making her laugh even more, something she hadn’t done for months now.

“Surprise! Life is full of surprises once you start to taste it! There are lots of colours and flavours out there. Maybe you should take time to try them all!”

He grinned and something in Nancy shifted. He was right. There were a lot of flavours out there. Ones she’d never tried.

“Now, which ones would you like?” He held up a shiny silver bowl. Her lips were still sweet from the tastings. “There you are!” Nancy turned to see her best friend, Mair, standing behind her. “How did you know where to find me?” Nancy had texted only to say she was going for a walk to clear her head.

“Because you always turn to icecream.” Mair smiled.

“True,” said Nancy. “When all else fails, there is always ice-cream.”

The young man behind the counter filled the bowl with three big scoops and two spoons sticking out of it.

“This is…” Nancy hesitated and Mair looked between the pair of them.

“Nico,” he said politely. “Would you care to join us, on the terrace?”

He pointed to the stone steps leading down to a covered terrace with pots of geraniums, overlooking a lemon grove. “I was just introducing…” “Nancy,” Nancy finished for him. “Nancy to our ice-cream flavours.” Mair hesitated then raised a hand, spotting the two spoons.

“No. It looks delicious, but I’ll leave you two to it. I just came to tell you I got my grades! Mum just messaged. I’m going to music college!” She beamed.

“Whoop!” Nancy hugged her friend tightly, so pleased she’d found where she wanted to be in life and felt a pang of envy.

JUST ONE bowl of ice-cream before DISCOVERING what her FUTURE held

Would she feel the same if she got her grades today? Or would she just imagine how pleased her parents would feel?

“Right, I’m off back!” said Mair. “Let me know when you have your results!”

“Will do!” said Nancy and in that instant she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She didn’t want to answer straight away. Instead she waved Mair off and followed Nico.

“I’ll listen out for the bell over the door. Fortunately, it seems too early for most people to have ice-cream.” It was never too early for Nancy. He led her down the worn stone steps, out onto the terrace, looking over the lemon groves to the sparkling sea beyond.

Nancy caught her breath and sighed. It was heaven. She could smell the lemon blossom in the air, mixed with the fresh sea breeze and wondered if that could be an ice-cream flavour.

“Please, sit.” Nico smiled again seeing her reaction to the little walled terrace, watching her face taking it all in. “You seemed unable to decide, so I chose for you,” he said softly, putting the bowl between them.

Nancy sat, knowing she should check her messages. But it could wait – just until she’d eaten the ice-cream. Just one bowl of ice-cream before discovering what her future held.

Either way, she realised, she was going to be disappointed. Disappointed if she didn’t get the grades after all her hard work – and disappointed if she did, because she didn’t feel as Mair did about the plans for her life, all mapped out for her.

“So, we have the popping candy, the cherry… and my favourite,” he said, lifting a spoon for Nancy to try.

She took the mouthful. Oh, my, word! Her eyes widened, looking at Nico.

“That is amazing!” she said. “That’s… the taste of here!” She gazed at the citrus trees that surrounded them.

He nodded. “Limone, plain and simple. The taste of Sicily.”

“I love it,” she said and dipped her spoon in for more, as did Nico.

“Like I say, you have to try a lot of flavours to find the right one for you. But I’m glad you like the same as me.” He smiled and Nancy felt her insides melt, like the ice-cream on her tongue.

“So, your friend is off to college?” he asked. “And you?”

Nancy sighed, pulling out her phone and putting it face down on the table.

“I thought I had life mapped out… but my plans might have changed. I’m about to find out,” she said as she went in for the last scoop of ice-cream, at the same time as Nico. Their spoons clashed and another fizz of excitement bubbled up in Nancy as they both laughed and he insisted she have the last mouthful as she’d finally found the one she loved.

“You have to find the one that makes your heart sing.”

Back at the villa, the prosecco was ready to be popped. “Hey! Here she is! What’s the news?” her friends looked at her.

“I got the grades!” Nancy said brightly and they cheered, but stopped as they went to hug her and she held up a hand.

“But…” She took a deep breath. “I’ve decided to have a gap year!” They looked at her shocked. “I don’t know if being a doctor is what I want; if it’s my choice or just what everyone expects me to do. I’m going to have a year out. Travel a bit. See more of this island. Taste more ice-cream! I’m even going to have a go at making some with Nico this evening, creating my own flavour.” Suddenly she smiled and her friends did too, knowing that she’d made exactly the right choice.

“By the way, what flavour ice-cream did you go for in the end?” Mair asked.

“All of them. The only way to find out what you really love is to try a little of everything. That’s what I’m going to do, try a little of everything to find something I love!” she said, thinking of Nico.

With that, they popped the prosecco and toasted each other’s future happiness… and ice-cream. Because whatever happens in life, there is always ice-cream.