The Secrets of Ice Cream Success (25 page)

The seat of the dunking machine
was lowered to the floor by Mr Gardener and Carlo hopped on, giving
his team a thumbs up. The hydraulics kicked in at the press of a
button and the chair slowly swung into position above the gunge
tank. Although only around six feet in the air, Carlo still had a
good view as a crowd gathered to watch with both the Leodoni’s and
Hill’s teams front and centre alongside the Mayor, who took the
opportunity to pose in front of Carlo urging him to smile for the
cameras. Carlo had a feeling that he would not try for the same
shot once Mr Hill was sat there.

The Mayor shuffled the Hill’s
team to the front of the group, took a basket from Mr Gardener and
handed it to Herbert who looked at the balls inside and then up at
Carlo with a look of mixed menace and glee. Herbert put the basket
down on a line ten meters from the target and picked up a ball,
hefting it in his hand to check the weight as Mr Hill and Mr Jones
stood next to him looking less than thrilled at the attention.

‘
OK, three
shots each, gentlemen.’ The Mayor shouted. ‘In your own time, take
it away!’

Herbert stepped back to offer
his employer the first shot, but Mr Hill bustled Herbert back to
the front, wanting to get the entire debacle over and done with.
‘This was your idea, you do it!’ he huffed pushing the boy forward.
Herbert seemed perfectly happy to oblige and stepped up to the
line. With a nonchalant nod at Carlo, he pulled back his arm and
sent the ball flying high over the top of the entire dunking
apparatus, landing with a splash in the “Hook-a-Duck” stall behind,
scattering rubber ducks and eliciting a confused “Oi!” from the man
running the stall who was trying to see where the rogue missile had
come from. The Leodoni’s team joined the crowd in laughter, booing
and catcalling as Herbert, muttering about the first attempt being
a “Tester”, bent down to select another ball.

‘
One at a
time, please.’ Mr Gardener said, indicating that Herbert should
step back and let the rest of his team take a turn
first.

‘
Haha! Get
past!’ shouted Norton.’

‘
Amateur!’
added Ben.

‘
Booooooo!’ Mr
Leodoni joined in, though no one really noticed the disembodied
sound over the general hubbub. He was, he decided, having rather a
large amount of fun.

Mr Hill once again refused the
opportunity to go next motioning that his employee should take the
throw. ‘Make sure you hit it!’ he growled to Jones as the taller
man stepped up and selected his ball.

Herbert hovered in the
background thoroughly annoyed at his first attempt and not at all
sure he wanted his colleague to hit the target. In his mind it
should be him to dump Carlo in the tank and he was aware that there
seemed to be a growing list of failures that Mr Hill was not
particularly pleased about. Herbert coughed loudly as the throw was
about to be taken and received a prod in the stomach from Mr Hill.
‘Be quiet!’ the old man snarled.

But to Herbert’s relief and the
joy of the Leodoni’s team, Mr Jones’ throw flew wide of the mark,
shooting in-between the target and the still dangling Carlo who
turned and beamed to his cheering supporters.

‘
Get out of
the way, you fools.’ Mr Hill said, pushing past his two younger
employees and grabbing a ball which he hurled without much thought
in the general direction of the gunge tank, where it landed with a
sad “plop” before sinking forlornly into the thick green
gunge.

Norton jumped up and down with
glee as Mr Hill swore and stalked to the back of the queue. ‘Don’t
worry, Mr Hill. You can retrieve that one when you get dumped in
later!’ Norton called across.

Herbert made to confront Norton
on behalf of his employer but found another ball thrust into his
hand by Mr Gardener, who cheerfully informed them all there were
two more attempts each.

Herbert took a deep breath to
calm himself and turned back to the tank where he could see Carlo
happily bouncing in the chair, seemingly enjoying the experience
tremendously. Anger got the better of Herbert and he forgot the
target, instead launching the ball directly at Carlo which, to
everyone’s surprise, turned out to be the most accurate shot so far
hitting Carlo squarely on the temple causing him to flinch and over
balance, almost tumbling off the chair as it bounced on the
mechanical arm. Scrambling back into place Carlo saw Ben and Abi
launch themselves towards Herbert to confront him, only to be
dragged back by the much taller Lumsden as the Mayor
interjected.

‘
Now now,
let’s play fair.’ The Mayor said, looking worried.

‘
Sorry, it
slipped.’ Herbert mumbled, stepping back.

‘
Booooo!’
jeered the Leodoni’s team as Carlo indicated to Mr Gardener that he
was fine and ready for the next attempt.

The fifth attempt from Mr Jones
was the closest so far, glancing the target but not causing it to
trigger a dunking, whilst Mr Hill didn’t even look at Carlo as he
waddled up, picked up his ball and threw a lacklustre sixth attempt
with little effort, walking straight to the back of the line before
his throw had even landed, still 3 meters short of the tub.

Carlo knew that Herbert was
perfectly capable of hitting the target having already been struck
by him with what he was sure was a purposefully thrown shot; so he
prepared himself to be dunked at the seventh attempt as Herbert
stepped up to the line. Carlo waved to the crowd in thanks for
their support and applauded Herbert encouragingly, nodding towards
the target and secretly rather looking forward to being dunked into
the green slime below.

But once again Carlo was left
high and dry as this time Herbert propelled his ball with vicious
intent straight at the target where it struck just shy of the
centre ring, the only place that would trigger a dunking. It was,
Carlo admitted, an excellent attempt, but a bellow of rage echoed
around the area as Herbert rounded on Mr Gardener waving his hands
at the target.

‘
That was a
direct hit!’ he screamed. ‘Why didn’t he fall?’

‘
Can’t have
been a direct hit, otherwise he would have.’ the small man said in
a matter-of-fact manner, losing his broad smile for the first time.
‘My machine is precise. Unless you hit the centre circle of the
target it will not activate.’

‘
I
DID
hit the centre
circle!’ Herbert screamed, looming over the man. ‘Everyone saw
it!’

‘
Clearly, you
did not!’ the man replied, pointing at the perfectly dry Carlo
still dangling above the gunge tank.

‘
I want
another go!’ Herbert shouted.

But Mr Gardener was used to
dealing with upset customer questioning his apparatus as a way of
covering their own wayward aim. ‘Not a chance! Three shots only,
now please step aside for the rest of your team to take their
turn.’

Unused to having smaller
individuals not cowering as he towered over them with his most
intimidating loom (Ben aside), Herbert mumbled his way to the side
of the crowd stuffing his hands in his pockets, so upset he didn’t
even react as Norton did an impression of Herbert attempting to
throw, tripping on his own ankles and falling to the floor.

In the meantime the penultimate
attempt had flown wide of the mark once again as Mr Jones looked
just as uninterested in the entire event as Mr Hill himself and
barely put in any effort. Realising that the other members of his
team were now stood to the side and there was no one to hide
behind, Mr Hill took a deep breath and at least tried to look like
he was actively trying to hit the target. He removed his large top
hat and his jacket and handed them both to Herbert before
collecting the final ball, his balding head now glinting almost as
much as his bright waistcoat in the evening sun.

‘
Good luck, Mr
Hill.’ Carlo called out, genuinely hoping for a direct
hit.

Mr Hill ignored him and took
aim, breathing heavily and sweating in the heat. He pulled back his
arm and released it as hard as he could towards the target. The
ball arced gracefully, if slowly, through the air falling rather
pathetically into Carlo’s hands who caught it in his lap, before
dropping it into the tank with an embarrassed smile.

The crowd applauded politely as
the Mayor stepped forward looking slightly perplexed having not
anticipated that one of the teams would fail to hit the target
entirely.

‘
Well, I
suppose Master Leodoni gets a reprieve.’ The Mayor said, indicating
to Mr Gardener that he could lower Carlo to the ground. Carlo
shrugged to the team with a sigh of resignation.

‘
Oh for God’s
sake!’ Abi muttered, picking up a spare ball from the ground. She
strode up to the Mayor and without missing a step propelled the
ball directly at the target, which it hit with a satisfying
metallic clang triggering the hydraulics. There was a slight pause
as everyone stood staring at her in surprise before Carlo was
tipped out of the chair, barely able to say ‘Arghh!’ before he
landed face first in the gunge.

Abi sauntered casually back to
Mr Lumsden as Norton, Ben and Newton ran past her to the gunge
tank, waving their hands in triumph despite the fact their leader
had just been dunked. Carlo was extracting himself from the gunge,
green slime covering him from head to foot as Mr Gardener placed a
small ladder on the tub to help him get out.

‘
You look a
sight.’ Newton smiled.

‘
Thanks.’
Carlo said, wiping his eyes on a towel offered by Mr Gardener
leaving two relatively clean holes in an otherwise green
face.

‘
That looked
ACE!’ Norton exclaimed. ‘I want a go!’

‘
We haven’t
finished yet!’ Mr Gardener interrupted, waving the boys back to the
side-lines and nodding to the Mayor to continue.

The boys made their way back to
the others where Abi stood with a smirk.

‘
Thanks.’
Carlo said, wryly.

‘
You’re
welcome.’ she replied, holding out his bag in which he’d packed
some spare clothes.

‘
Life saver!
This stuff is awful. I’ll nip back to the van.’ he said, but then
groaned as he was called forward again by the Mayor.

‘
Master
Leodoni, if you would please join us with the other members of your
team.’

‘
But I…’ he
started to protest, hoping to get changed first, but gave in as the
Mayor waved him forward. ‘Come on you.’ he said, grabbing Abi and
pulling her with him.

Carlo and Abi reached the Mayor
and found they had been followed by Ben, Newton and Norton.

‘
Only three
team members allowed.’ Mr Gardener said, indicating Carlo’s larger
team.

‘
These two!’
Carlo said immediately, pointing at Abi and Ben.

‘
Oi!’ Norton
protested.

‘
What?’ Carlo
asked. ‘Ben is the best shot in the school. He’s just too lazy to
be in any of the teams.’

‘
Yep.’ Ben
agreed with a nod.

‘
And you’ve
just seen what Abi can do.’

‘
Yeah,
alright, but…’ groaned Norton, but not having much of a rebuttal,
he grumbled himself into silence.

‘
No, no, no!’
Mr Hill shouted, marching over to the group. ‘Not her!’ he said,
pointing an accusatory finger at Abi.

‘
Me? What have
I done?’ Abi asked.

‘
Errr…’ Mr
Hill stumbled over his words trying to think of a viable reason to
prevent the clearly sharp shooting young lady from taking
part.

‘
She never
sold any ice cream!’ Herbert supplied for his boss.

‘
Yes, yes!
That’s it. She never sold any Ice Cream.’ Mr Hill said, relieved.
‘And neither did he!’ he continued pointing at Ben under the
assumption that he was likely just as good a shot as his sister.
‘Did he?’ Mr Hill whispered to Herbert.

‘
No.’

‘
Good.’

‘
Whoah! Hang
on a second, I didn’t see either of you too selling any ice creams
either.’ Ben protested pointing at Herbert and Mr Hill, who looked
quite offended by the outburst.

The Mayor stepped in to point
out the obvious. ‘As there are only three team members within the
Hill’s party, it is clear that all three had to take part. However,
given that the Leodoni’s team consists of… one, two… ah… six’ he
counted, ‘clearly a compromise must be reached, therefore I agree
that only those members of the team that actually sold ice cream on
the day shall be allowed to take part in the dunking.’

Ben, Abi and Norton groaned
loudly.

‘
OK, OK.’
Carlo sighed. ‘Come on you two.’ he continued, pulling Newton and
Lumsden into place behind the line.

Herbert walked behind Mr Hill
holding his jacket and hat and then stood as the older gentleman
removed his shoes, socks, watch and handkerchief and passed them to
his employee. As Mr Hill started to undo the braces above his
shirt, Mr Gardener jumped in just in time, advising that the gunge
washed out easily and caused no permanent damage.

‘
Well, as long
as you’re sure.’ Mr Hill harrumphed. ‘This shirt was very
expensive.’

Carlo and the team watched Mr
Hill make slow progress climbing onto the chair and settling
himself in as Mr Leodoni invisibly circled them barely able to
contain his excitement.

‘
This will be
so much fun!’ he whispered to Carlo, before whizzing off
again.