June 2024 Flash Lit 3.3 - Banana

“Why would anyone eat that?”  Lizzie asked, looking at the ice cream, the whipped cream, the cherry, the nuts, the chocolate sauce, and the inexplicable banana.  “It’s too many flavors.”

Tina shrugged and kept eating.  “Eat off your own plate,” she said.

 

“But…” Lizzie started.

 

“I don’t care,” Tina said.  “I like banana splits.  I like this place.”  It was true.  She loved the boat-like dishes for splits and the footed icy dishes for sundaes and the cool marble tables.  Even the water was extra cold, like it had been infused with Altoids and air conditioning.

 

Lizzie, who had sampled five different flavors before settling on a small dish of chocolate ice cream, took tiny disapproving bites.  She wiped the corners of her mouth after each bite, but eventually the sugar hit.  She thawed a little in the cool of the ice cream parlor.  “So, what is our plan?” she asked.

 

“Plan?” Tina said with her mouth full.  “It’s summer.”

 

“We have to have a plan,” Lizzie said.  “This is our last summer before high school.  “We have movies and swimming and books and shopping and…”

 

“Summer,” Tina insisted.  Sometimes Lizzie was crazy.

 

Lizzie sighed.  “I don’t want to miss it,” she said.

 

“You’re bananas,” Tina said, but kindly.  “It’s right here in front of you.”