This story is adapted from the Grimm’s fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel”, a story of a young brother and sister abandoned in the woods by their parents. While lost, they stumble across a witch’s hut who captures them with plans to eat them. However, the children outsmart the witch, kill her and return home with some of the witch’s treasure where they live happily ever after. This adaption is set in the 2010s in Anywhere, USA.
The harmonious call of sweet notes drifted through the warm air. Jon and Megan leapt up from the lawn and ran to the sidewalk with childish enthusiasm. In the unseen distance, the melodic song announced the return of their favorite person of the spring and summer months: The Ice Cream Man.
“He’s back,” exclaimed Jon, his enthusiasm lifting him off the ground in speedy jumps suited for a kid younger than his 13 years.
“I’m so excited, “answered Megan, acting as a normal 11-year-old would. The breeze picked up slightly, moving her flowing pearl-blonde hair from her face, revealing anticipation that radiated from her jade colored eyes.
They listened intently toward the East, slowly tracking the chorus as it moved along the roads beyond their sight. Much to their dismay, the unseen truck never turned down one of the roads that led to their street. Instead, they listened as the music begin to drift away until they could no longer hear them.
Saddened by not getting to see the truck, Megan sat down on the tattered blanket under the tree and picked up her doll. Brushing the twisted knots out, she looked up and said to Jon, “The music was different. I wonder why he changed the song?”
Jon pondered what she said for a moment. Megan was right, the music was different. For the past four years, the Ice Cream man had always played the same song when he came through the neighborhood. Maybe he decided to change the song because he was tired of hearing the same thing for years. It didn’t matter though. Only two things mattered: Would he have Jon’s favorite Bomb Pop, and more importantly, would they be able to get money to buy something in the first place.
Turning to Megan, he said, “We’ll ask Mom and Dad tonight if they have any quarters. Maybe we can see him tomorrow.”
***
For the next week, every late afternoon, Jon and Megan stood in their front yard and listened as they heard the Ice Cream man on the other side of the neighborhood, but they never once saw him or his truck. It didn’t matter that they didn’t have quarters to buy anything. At this point they just wanted to see him.
But the Ice Cream man eluded them. No matter what they did, the children could never catch a glimpse. They would wander up and down the street as far as they were allowed, looking up the side streets hoping to see him coming down, but it never happened. All they heard was the enticing new song, leaving bittersweet notes in their ears.
Frustrated, Jon turned to Megan and said, “Enough of this. Tomorrow Mom and Dad are working late. When we hear the Ice Cream Man, we will head up one of the streets and catch him.”
Megan looked up at her older brother and said, “Are you sure? What if Mom and Dad find out we left the house?”
“They won’t,” Jon answered. “Tomorrow is Wednesday and they always work late on Wednesday.”
Megan twirled her hair, pondering the plan. With a slight frown that wrinkled her forehead, she asked, “But how will we get anything? We don’t have any money.”
A mischievous grin formed on Jon’s face. He turned to his sister and whispered, “Don’t worry. I found Dad’s stash of rolled quarters.”
***
The next afternoon was cooler than normal. Wearing his favorite blue hoodie, Jon stood intently on the sidewalk in front of his house. Medium brown hair flowing in the wind, his hands were in his pockets, gently caressing the 6 rolls of quarters that he had taken from his father’s closet. Even though he wasn’t worried that his father would notice they were missing, Jon was concerned that the rolls would be noticeable to the shady neighborhood kids they may encounter. The last thing he wanted to do was get into another fight with those thugs.
“Megan, do you have everything?”
Megan walked up, slinging her pink backpack across her shoulders. Kneeling to tie her shoe, she looked up and answered, “All set!”
The children stood there, waiting in anticipation. He was late. Maybe it was too cold to sell ice cream. They waited for fifteen minutes past the time they heard him every day before. Saddened, they were about to give up when they heard the familiar tune reach their ears.
In delight, Megan squealed, “He’s here!”
Jon focused on the sound and picked up where he estimated the truck to be. He took off running to his left for two streets and turned up Hickory Lane. On his footsteps was his sister, pink backpack bouncing up and down her back like a rider on a horse gone wild. Up they ran until the reached the end of the street and stopped, kneeling over and panting from their mad dash for cold, sweet goodness on a stick. Finally catching their breath, they looked to the left and saw an image that they would never forget.
Parked on the other side of the road was the Ice Cream Man but it was more than his song that changed. Instead of the familiar white truck with the faded red and blue stripes was a black truck with bronze lettering. It was larger than the old truck and was illuminated with rows of multi-colored lights that changed in cadence with the song that played. The children stood mesmerized in awe of this new mobile treasure chest.
Shaking his head and refocusing on the task at hand, Jon took Megan’s hand and they walked towards the truck. They stopped to read the digital menu. All the ice creams available were like nothing either of them had seen or heard of. Some of them had names that they couldn’t pronounce. As they watched the menu scroll, Jon grew disappointed to see that his beloved Bomb Pop was no longer available. Visibly frustrated with this development, he took his sister by the hand and motioned for them to leave.
“Where are you going,” a deep voice asked from within the truck. “Don’t you want to at least try something new?”
Jon and Megan turned to see a door opening from the truck next to the order counter. Billowing white clouds of smoke flowed outwards, followed by first one long leg then the other. They were clothed in black leather pants wearing black boots. The legs came down the three steps and touched the ground, pausing for a moment. They turned towards the kids and took a few slow, methodical steps. From the cloud emerged a tall man. He stood over six and a half feet tall, a full foot and a half taller than Jon and two feet taller than Megan. Slenderly built, he was wearing a long black leather coat with bronze buttons over a black shirt. Atop his head was a black hat ringed in bronze with a short feather. On his forehead was a pair of blackened goggles rimmed in the same bronze. His eyes that were nearly black in color, looking like a great white shark. From under his hat, long, wavy black hair flowed, matched by his beard that hung down to his chest. He paused and smiled at the children, revealing a snow-white row of teeth.
Jon and Megan stood still in awe of him. Stammering, Megan asked, “who are you?”
Removing his hat and taking a deep bow, the man said, “I am the Ice Cream Man, but you can call me Adelram.” He raised back up and returned his hat back on top of his head.
“A-del-ram,” said Megan slowly.
“Adel-rom,” he answered with a patient voice.
“I’m sorry,” said Megan sheepishly, looking at the ground, causing Adelram to smile again.
Jon looked at Adelram with sudden suspicion, overcome by a sudden chill he mistook for the wind. While reviewing the menu, he had unwrapped all six of the rolls of quarters, causing his pockets to jingle with each step. Now with his hands in his pocket, the jingle intensified with nervous energy.
Noting the boy’s anxiousness, Adelman asked, “Would you two be interested in trying a very special ice cream from my home? It is made from the sweetest milk and the purest sugar as well as other secret ingredients. It will be the best ice cream you will ever have.”
Before they could answer, Adelram swiftly and gracefully pulled his hands from behind his back and revealed two small cones, each with a small scoop of ice cream on top. Taking the cones, the children looked at the ice cream with childish curiosity. It was greenish in color but seemed to glow, as if there were the lights of fairies dancing within. As the light began to reflect in their eyes, Jon and Megan raised them to taste. However, before they could, Adelman stopped them.
“Please excuse my manners,” he said. “I almost forgot the most important part. A special treat such as this for special kids deserve the extra treatment.” He lowered his goggle to cover his eyes and then pulled a controller from his pocket. Pushing the button, a new song began to play, deep, melodic, and hypnotically mysterious. The lights on the truck changed, dancing to the sounds while bathing the children in cheerful brightness that engulfed them. They fell into a trance watching the show as they slowly raised the cones and began to eat the ice cream. Their pupils dilated, filling their minds with visions of children singing and dancing. Then, their eyelids grew heavy, starting to close. Megan slowly collapsed at Jon’s feet, causing him to step back. Jon then drifted off into darkness, they last thing he saw was Adelram, that smile widening with sharp teeth. As he dropped to the ground, a few quarters lightly fell from his hand and rolled onto the street.
***
When Jon woke up, he found himself in a cage. Terrified, he grabbed the bars and started pulling on them, yelling as loud as he could. He thrashed around violently for a moment until he heard Megan’s voice call out from the darkness to his right.
“We can’t get out. It’s too strong. I tried all morning.”
Letting go of the bars, Jon looked around. In the dim light, he saw many cages. They were all empty, but they all had a pillow and a blanket. Some had stuffed animals or toys. From the look of them, they all had been used recently.
“Are we alone,” he asked?
“No, there were other kids in here earlier. Adelram came in and let them out.” She pointed to a doorway on the far side of the room. “He took them through there.”
Jon shifted, hearing the quarters clink. Adelram hadn’t taken them. Quickly, he removed as many as he could and stuffed them inside the pillowcase before the door opened, flooding the room in piercing light. A figure entered, filling the opening and forming an eclipse that blocked them from salvation. It was Adelram.
“Good morning! Time to go to work,” he yelled from the doorway. “By the way, welcome to your new home. You’ll love it here!”
Adelram strode to the cages, carrying a large cane. Topping the cane was the head of a figure that looked like Adelram himself, wearing the same hat and goggles. With a twist and a pull, he unsheathed a large blade, like a small sword and tapped on the bars of Jon’s cage saying, “Don’t get any ideas, boy. I’d hate to have to teach you manners.”
Putting the blade back inside the cane, Adelram unlocked the cages and let Jon and Megan out. Instructing them to line up, he motioned to the door.
They entered a new room where they were led to a small area. They changed from their clothes into bright yellow jumpsuits that were hanging from hooks with their names above them. On the back of them they read “Youth Detention.” After they changed, they came back out and sat on a bench where Adelram gave them the rules.
“I will explain the rules to you very simply. You will be given a job. You will do your job. You will not speak to anyone while working. You will take breaks when you are told. You will eat when you are told. Once a day you get to go outside for 30 minutes. You will not speak to anyone on the other side of the fence. You will do everything I say.” Adelram took his cane and motioned over to a pile of dirty jumpsuits in front of a furnace. “Do you see that? Those belonged to other children who disobeyed the rules. Those children are no longer with us.” His devilish smile appeared, revealing the sharp teeth Jon had seen before he blacked out. He asked, “Do you understand?”
Terrified, Megan nodded. Jon, on the other hand, stood up from the bench as tall as he could, challenging Adelman. Adelman tapped the top of his cane with a pale, slender finger. His eyes, dark as night, locked with Jon’s bright green eyes, forming a battle between light and dark. Feeling the conflict, Adelman quickly reached out with his free hand and wrapped it around Jon’s throat. With incredible ease, he lifted Jon off the ground and pulled him close. “Do you understand,” Adelman hissed. Choking out a yes, Jon responded. Adelman dropped him. They were then led from the room and shown what to do.
***
For the next six months, Jon kept his head down and did what he was told. But he wasn’t one to give up so easily. He and Megan formed a plan where during their time outdoors, Megan would distract Adelram while Jon would jog around the enclosure. When he would pass the fence, he would discretely toss a single quarter outside. Each day, the quarters formed a trail until he started to build a small mound next to a tree by the fence that covered a note that read “Help us!”. Their hope was someone would see one of the quarters, follow it to the mound and find the note.
In time, it wasn’t the note but rather the mound formed entirely of the 1976 Bicentennial quarters that Jon and Megan’s father had been saving for over forty years that finally led the police to the compound where they were rescued. The children were being forced to make the ice creams that were on the menu of Adelram’s truck. These ice creams had narcotic effects that caused children and adults to become addicted to them. He also was distributing these same ice creams to his coven across the country. Eventually, several other children were found in similar compounds, victims of child slave labor, being forced to make items that the coven used to make themselves rich so they could buy positions of power and influence in their communities.
Unfortunately, Adelram was nowhere to be found and escaped. As the police were entering the compound with swat units, he simply vanished. When the detectives entered the small office inside the building, they found his large journal. The leather covers were cracked, the pages yellowed from an unknown number of years. Inside the journal were recipes for the various flavors of ice cream produced. One of these was called “Mystical Lights”, the same ice cream that Jon and Megan had eaten before their abduction.
Recipes weren’t the only thing in the journal though. There were lists of names dated back to the 1600s. As the authorities went through the list, every name was eventually confirmed to be of a missing child, for at least as far back as they could find the records. Unverified names were presumed abducted as well. Next to many of the names was a red x, signifying that child had died. Only the last twenty-seven names in the list didn’t have the red x. Those names were the children rescued.
But the last two names on the list had a different kind of mark. The mark was a flower, a Lotus corniculatus, better known as bird’s-foot trefoil. The symbol means revenge and they were drawn in blood next to the names of Jon and Megan.
Comments