FRIENDS OF OURS and former neighÂbors—let’s call them Bill and Pam—have a preÂcoÂcious 8-year-old son named Shaun who loves root beer PopÂsiÂcles. He takes his time eating them to make the flavor last as long as posÂsible. At first, Bill and Pam found this a little anÂnoying, beÂcause PopÂsiÂcle’s melt and get messy.
But they found a way to use their son’s eating habit to their adÂvanÂtage: when they wanted to have an afÂterÂnoon quickie but Shaun was in the apartÂment, they gave him a root beer PopÂsicle and told him to go out on the balÂcony and reÂport on all the neighÂborÂhood activities.
YesÂterday, while Bill and Pam were getÂting down to it, they gave Shaun a PopÂsicle and sent him out to his roost on the balÂcony. He began his reÂport on what was hapÂpening around him.
“There’s a car being towed from the parking lot,” he yelled.
“Good—what else?” Bill yelled back.
“An amÂbuÂlance just drove by,” Shaun replied, and conÂtinued reÂporting his observations.
“Looks like the AnÂderÂsons have company.”
“Hey, Matt’s riding a new bike!”
“Looks like the Sanders are fiÂnally moving out.”
“Oh, the Coopers are having sex!”
StarÂtled, Bill and Pam looked up. Pam cauÂtiously called out, “Um, Shaunie, how do you know the Coopers are having sex?”
“BeÂcause Jimmy Cooper is standing on his balÂcony with a Popsicle . . .”
FEATURED IMAGE: The frozen conÂfecÂtion above is cerÂtainly not the PopÂsicle of my childÂhood. That item had two parts with a tick in each, so that one PopÂsicle could be easily split in half and shared. Also, the colÂoring of the classic root beer PopÂsicle was darker. But then, the conÂfecÂtion above is not a PopÂsicle, which is a tradeÂmarked name. It’s a root beer float popÂsicle (note the generic lowÂerÂcase). Get the recipe HERE.
