Wish Fulfillment

It was here---as promised. Green Ice Cream! It must have been near St. Patrick's Day, and I was about 7 years old. Sealtest Ice Cream had promised a new flavor and it had finally arrived. And the store was right next door, attached to our very house. The posted signs showed the delicious looking scoops of pale green ice cream. I wanted it so badly; it looked like no ice cream I'd ever seen, and I loved ice cream. I was not in the habit of begging my parents for anything, or even asking, because all of us kids pretty much knew that only our basic needs were filled; in that time period, there were few extras. But I was so eager to try that green ice cream, I must have made my feeling known because I remember my mother's trying to scrape together enough money to buy that pint of ice cream. The price was 37 Cents. The 3 of us kids put together our money, my father added what was in his pocket, my mother delved down into her pocketbook. Still not enough money, until the last desperate digging down below the sofa cushions finally came up with the grand sum. I remember holding the money in my hand and running out the front door across the porch into Sara's Store. (Actually at the time it was still called Jack's Confectionery Store.) I paid for the pint of ice cream, and ran back into the huse, excited to experience the taste of that brand new flavor. My mother did as she customarily did, laying flat the pint carton, and slicing the little brick into 5 even pieces. I grabbed my dish and tasted----the green ice cream was pistachio and I hated it. Still do