155 COOLING FLAVORS ARIEL’S POV After we had left where the magician was, I walked hand in hand with my little. diamond, Lukel, taking in the sights and sounds of the city. I was glad that I had finally seen him. Now we were waiting for Elizabeth to show up, so we decided to take a little stroll until she came. As we strolled along, Lukel’s eyes lit up when he saw an ice cream stand in the distance. “Mommy, can we get ice cream?” he asked, tugging on my hand excitedly. I smiled at my son’s joyful state. “Of course, Lukel. Let’s go get some ice cream.” As the two of us approached the stand, the colorful lights and lively music caught our attention. Lukel’s eyes widened in delight as he saw the wide variety of ice cream flavors displayed in the glass case. “Wow, there are so many flavors to choose from!” he bolted. I laughed and ruffled his hair. “Why don’t you pick your favorite flavor, Lukel?” His face scrunched up in deep thought as he looked at all the options. After a few moments, he turned to the vendor. “I want a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of strawberry, please!‘ The vendor, a friendly middle–aged man, smiled and handed Lukel his ice cream in a cone. “That’ll be $5, young man.” Lukel handed over the money immediately, and I just glanced at him. What could I say? He was a rich kid.. He eagerly took a lick of his ice cream. “Thank you!” he said to the man with a big smile. I ordered my own ice cream, and we both walked over to a nearby bench to sit and enjoy our treats. As we sat in silence for a few minutes, Lukel suddenly spoke up. “Mommy, why do we sometimes get to have ice cream at night? We usually did that in Canada, remember?” I chuckled. “Well, sometimes we just need a little sweet treat to make our day better. And what better way to end a beautiful night than with some delicious ice cream?” He nodded in agreement, and we continued to enjoy our ice cream together. The moment we finished up, I noticed a homeless man sitting on the ground nearby, looking longingly at the ice cream stand. 151 EDOLING FLAVORS Without hesitation, I got up and walked over to the man. “Excuse me, would you like some ice cream?” The man’s face lit up in surprise, and he nodded gratefully. I bought him a cone and handed it to him with a warm smile. “Enjoy,” I said before returning to Lukel. Lukel looked at me with admiration. “That was really nice, Mommy. Can we do that again next time?” “Of course, Lukel. It’s always nice to share our blessings with others,” I replied, giving my son a proud smile. “Just what Grandma told me.” “Of course. She’s a nice woman, very nice.” I spoke softly, holding his hand. “Speaking of her. There she is!” I followed the direction he pointed in, and Elizabeth was walking towards us. The moment she got close, she let out a deep sigh, not taking her eyes off Lukel. Young man. Where have you been?” “Take it easy, Elizabeth. He was just helping people out, like you taught him. I saw him with this magician, and they were having a great time.” “Yes, she’s telling the truth,” Lukel said, and I couldn’t help but laugh a little. Elizabeth shook her head, and she moved closer to him. “Didn’t you know you. had me worried? Don’t do that next time, okay?” Lukel nodded. “Okay.” “It’s a promise, young man. Promise me you’re not going to walk out of my sight. like that next time.” “I promise Grandma. Can we go home now? I’m starving.” “You’re starving?” I placed my hand on his shoulder. “I thought you just had ice cream.” “Ice cream ain’t real food, mom?” “Say what now?” He stood up. “Let’s just go home, please. Janice must really be waiting for me.” “Oh, Janice must be waiting for you, huh?” I stood up as well. “Well, you should have thought of that before you went ahead with the abracadabra stuff.” “More like Belcalis Almánzar,” Lukel said. I processed his words. “Isn’t that Cardi B’s real name?” “Yes, my favorite woman in the world. I’m crushing on her,” he said dramatically, his mind going off to only God knows where. “Your favorite woman? What about me, your mother?” He glanced at me. “Your case is different.” “And since when did you start listening to Cardi B?” I asked him, crossing my arms. “Two months ago, mommy. Oh, right, I never really told you about it. Grandma can testify.” I looked at Elizabeth. “Oh, he isn’t lying. He loves the rapper like hell.” “Yeah, yeah. Good luck crushing on someone who’s six times older than you,” I told Lukel. “No, she’s not,” he argued. “Apparently, she is,” Elizabeth stated to him. “I don’t care. She’ll forever be in my heart,” he said, and he began to walk away. Elizabeth and I were just looking at him. “Wow, that child is completely insane,” she murmured as our attention remained on Lukel. “Totally right about that,” I said immediately, and we both began to tread behind him. LUKE’S POV I drove to Tiffany’s apartment, carrying her out of my car and making my way inside the house. The door wasn’t locked, which was quite surprising, but what I wanted was actually. Still carrying her in my arms, I took her straight to her room upstairs. Turning on the lights, my eyes noticed something, which was not normal. There were pictures of me all around the wall, so many pictures, and I was kind of shocked. Could she possibly be this obsessed with me, or what the hell was I witnessing? Tiffany, still sleeping, shook a little, and I set my eyes on her. Her face was so peaceful at the moment; she was pretty, having the face of a cute baby at the moment. But my eyes went back to the wall. What the hell was this? I almost let go of her while looking at the pictures, but I held on tight. I carried her to the bed and slowly dropped her on it. I looked at the pictures once again, and I shook my head. DOLING FLAVORS. “Oh, Tiffany,” I said softly, looking at her. “Why did you have to do all of this? Are you obsessed with me?” I sighed, covering my face with my hands. My phone began to ring, and I quickly answered the call. Not wanting to, you know, wake the girl from her sleep. That’s if she’s going to wake up anyway. Her drunken state was really intense. “This is Luke Reynold, right?” The caller asked. “Yes, you’re speaking with him,” I replied. “How may I be of help to you?” “I’m Stanley Jones. I’m calling from the New Haven Police Department. “Oh, okay. Is there like a problem, or something?” “I’m calling to inform you that Harriet Donald has broken out of prison.” “What?” I blurted immediately. “Hold on, Harriet did what now?” “I know, it’s quite unbelievable, but she escaped. But you don’t have to worry, sir. We’ll try our very best to find her and send her back to prison.” “Yes, find her, alright?! Why the hell do you people have to?” He ended the phone call before I could finish my sentence. Bullshit!
