I remember the music. That catchy little happy sound that indicated the ice cream bike was coming closer. The heat of the summer was promised to melt away if you were lucky enough to have a bit of ice cream money tucked away. He would come around the corner with that ice cream cooler as the built on front half of the bike. He peddled a slow steady speed so the kids could run along beside him for a short time before he would pull over. I was always lucky and his stop would be somewhere along the front of my dad’s yard so I would have time to use my best “please, pleeease, pleeeeeease” and then walk out to wait at the back of the line.

The line was always long and I was happy to wait a bit so I could glace over the picture menu on the side of the freezer. There weren’t a lot of choices, maybe around 10. The pictures were great though with their vibrant colours and smooth images depicting a fudgesicle, creamsicle, rocket, regular popsicle, some kind of chocolate thing with nuts on it, a couple different ice cream sandwich options, and of course the ghost.

The ghost was an ice cream Popsicle that was shaped like a ghost and had gumballs for eyes. The ice cream was cold and melted different in the summer heat then a tradition Popsicle like the rocket or cyclone. The gumballs were great because any seasoned Dickie Dee treat eater knew that you ate the ice cream first and saved the gumballs for last so that the whole process could last longer. The coloured gum balls left a soft colour smear on the ice cream when it was pulled away and because the gum had been lodged in the side of the ice cream those first few chews felt bizarre. Truly the stuff memories were made of. The sound of Dickie Dee in the neighbourhood could brighten any day and it couldn’t be heard without the excited voices of children mixed in.

By Shari Marshall – 2019