I don't know if you have ever seen Bill Cosby relate the story about how his kids used to lose their minds when the ice cream truck was heard approaching their neighborhood or not, but it plays out here in the Aycock 'hood three times per week.
You would think that these kids (including mine) sense that Santa himself is bringing free toys up the street when they hear the familiar, obnoxious and cheesy "Do your ears hang low- do they tumble to-and-fro" tune coming from the 1977 Ford Econoline that has been converted into what passes for the present day Good Humor Man.
THE ICE CREAM MAN IS COMING!!! IT'S THE ICE CREAM MAN!!!!!
They literally shriek the words - three hundred and twenty three neighborhood kids - and several adults - drop all the babies and grab the old ladies cause everyone - repeat EVERYONE - breaks down historic and irreplacable front doors and actually fly off front porches not hitting a step to relieve the freezer box laden van of ice cream varieties that never existed when I was a kid. Sprinkle Bar - Torpedo - Teenage Mutant Ninja Four Flavored Frozen Surprise - Sticky Lips Better Cicle- and I don't know what all. Dollar a piece.
All during the frenzy that damn song is blaring so loud that I'm surprised the ice cream man can actually hear the orders that the little mouths are uttering. Same tune - over and over and over it plays until it is embedded in your brain with the same result that Pavlov discovered with his dogs.
Once the event is over and the "ears hang low" song is headed toward Fisher Park they all saunter back to their respective porches sucking on their bliss-on-a-stick like they had been utterly deprived of frozen treats for their respective 4 to 48 years. It's an amazing thing to witness - all of these crazy people acting like that...
I get a fudge cicle.
8:18:50 AM 
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