Speaker 1: The great ice cream wore. Danny knew it was going
Speaker 1: to be a strange day when two ice cream vans
Speaker 1: arrived on his street at exactly the same time. What
Speaker 1: was going on? It was the hottest Saturday of the summer.
Speaker 1: The road shimmered and the grass looked tired. Even the
Speaker 1: birds sat in the trees with their beaks open, as
Speaker 1: if they were too warm to tweet. Danny was sitting
Speaker 1: on the front step, fanning himself with a comic book
Speaker 1: when he heard music, not one song, two songs. One
Speaker 1: went ding ding ding ding, The other went la La La,
Speaker 1: La La. They grew louder and louder. Then around opposite
Speaker 1: corners of the street came two ice cream vans. One
Speaker 1: was pink and white with mister Whippy's Wonder Van painted
Speaker 1: on the side in curly letters. The other was blue
Speaker 1: and yellow with Tony Bell's Frozen Delights written in shiny gold.
Speaker 1: Both vans stopped outside Danny's house, Both windows slid open,
Speaker 1: and both men leaned out. Mister Whippy had a tall
Speaker 1: white hat and a mustache that curled upward at both ends.
Speaker 1: Tony Bell wore sunglasses, a stripey apron, and a very
Speaker 1: serious expression. This is my street. Mister Whippy said, no way.
Speaker 1: Tony Bell said, this is my street. Danny looked left,
Speaker 1: then right. He had only wanted a strawberry cone. Mister
Speaker 1: Whippy rang his little bell. Tony Bell rang a bigger bell.
Speaker 1: Mister Whippy frowned. Cheeter, he growled. Tony Bell smiled. Then
Speaker 1: mister Whippy pulled out a sign, Today only double flakes.
Speaker 1: The children on the street gasped. Tony Bell vanished inside
Speaker 1: his van. He came back with a bigger sign, today
Speaker 1: only triple flakes. The children gasped louder. Mister Whippy's mustache twitched.
Speaker 1: Oh is that how we're playing it? He said, and
Speaker 1: pulled a lever. A hatch opened on top of his van,
Speaker 1: and out popped a giant plastic strawberry with the words
Speaker 1: free sprinkles for everyone glowing on its side. Tony bellnarrowed
Speaker 1: his eyes. He pressed a button and his van roof
Speaker 1: opened a huge The chocolate fountain rose into the air,
Speaker 1: bubbling and splashing. On its side, the words free chocolate
Speaker 1: sauce glowed. The children cheered. Danny slowly stood up. This
Speaker 1: is getting good, he said. Soon the whole street had gathered.
Speaker 1: Mister Whippy made ice creams as tall as traffic cones.
Speaker 1: Tony Bell made Sundays in buckets. Mister Whippy invented the
Speaker 1: Mega Marshmallow Mountain. Tony Bell created the banana split of Doom.
Speaker 1: Mister Whippy served a cone with twelve scoops and called
Speaker 1: it the Wobbler. Tony Bell made one with thirteen scoops
Speaker 1: and called it the Wobblier. The children loved it, The
Speaker 1: parents did not. Danny. His mom called from the doorway,
Speaker 1: do not eat anything taller than your head. Danny looked
Speaker 1: at the ice cream in his hand. Luckily it was
Speaker 1: only up to his eyebrows. Okay, he said, happily. Mister
Speaker 1: Whippy and Tony Bell glared at each other. You can
Speaker 1: copy my ideas. Oh you like, mister Whippy said. Tony
Speaker 1: Bell scoffed. Copy, I improve you ruin. Mister Whippy said,
Speaker 1: you fear proper vanilla and real chocolate flakes. The crowd
Speaker 1: went quiet. Everyone knew that was a serious insult. Tony
Speaker 1: Bell slowly removed his sunglasses. Proper vanilla? Are you saying
Speaker 1: I don't know proper vanilla? Mister Whippy folded his arms. Yes,
Speaker 1: Tony Bell disappeared into his van. For a moment, nothing happened.
Speaker 1: Then the side doors burst open, smoke rolled out, lights flashed.
Speaker 1: Tony Bell emerged holding a cone covered in rainbow syrup,
Speaker 1: popping candy, cookie dust, chocolate stars, jellyworms, and something that fizzed.
Speaker 1: I call this, Tony Bell announced, the Supersonic Space Sunday.
Speaker 1: The children screamed with excitement. Mister Whippy looked worried for
Speaker 1: exactly one second, then he smiled and turned back into
Speaker 1: his van. Machines clanked, whisks, word freezers hummed. Then mister
Speaker 1: Whippy came out holding a cone so bright it seemed
Speaker 1: to glow. And I call this, he said, proudly, the
Speaker 1: galactic whippy Blaster. The cone sparkled, and a tiny firework
Speaker 1: popped from the top. Danny's mouth dropped open. Tony Bell
Speaker 1: stared and gasped. You put fireworks in ice cream, only
Speaker 1: tiny ones, mister Whippy said, with a cheesy grin. The
Speaker 1: competition became ridiculous. Tony Bell invented ice cream pizza. Mister
Speaker 1: Whippy made a milkshake so thick it bent the straw.
Speaker 1: Tony Bell made one so thick the straw stood up
Speaker 1: by itself and saluted that was crazy. By three o'clock,
Speaker 1: the pavement was sticky, the air smelled of sugar. Every
Speaker 1: child on the street had a pink, brown, or green mouth.
Speaker 1: Then mister Whippy unveiled his biggest idea yet. From the
Speaker 1: back of his van. He rolled out a shiny silver
Speaker 1: tube on wheels. Danny pointed, what's that? Mister Whippy grinned
Speaker 1: my whip cream cannon. If this guy wants an ice
Speaker 1: cream war, he's got it. The parents gasped, but the
Speaker 1: children cheered Yeah. Tony Bell stared in horror at the cannon.
Speaker 1: Then he slowly returned to his own van. It's fighting time,
Speaker 1: he cried. He opened the back doors. Inside was an
Speaker 1: even bigger tube. It was painted blue with yellow lightning bolts.
Speaker 1: This is my ice cream cannon, Tony Bell said. Mister
Speaker 1: Whippy's mustache drooped, and he climbed into his van and
Speaker 1: hit a big red button. Wooh, boom. A giant ball
Speaker 1: of vanilla ice cream shot from mister Whippy's cannon and
Speaker 1: flew across the road and splatted against Tony Bell's windscreen. Boom.
Speaker 1: The children roared with laughter. Tony Bell fired back boom.
Speaker 1: A blast of strawberry ice cream hit mister Whippy's van
Speaker 1: and slid down the side in pink rivers. Both of
Speaker 1: them started to hit their fire buttons. Boom, boom boom.
Speaker 1: Soon ice cream flew everywhere. Chocolate exploded over a hedge,
Speaker 1: mint chocolate chips splattered a lamp post. Raspberry ripple covered
Speaker 1: Missus Green's front gate. It was ice cream Ageddon. The
Speaker 1: scoop of banana landed directly on Dad's newspaper. Dad looked
Speaker 1: at it, then continued to read the newspaper. The battle
Speaker 1: grew bigger. The van circled the street, still firing. Mister
Speaker 1: Whippy fired whipped cream and launched sprinkles. Tony Bell fired
Speaker 1: cookie dough and blasted sherbet. Houses disappeared beneath sugary snow drifts.
Speaker 1: Cars became sundays. The road turned white and pink and
Speaker 1: chocolate brown. It was the middle of summer, but Danny's
Speaker 1: Street looked like a winter wonderland made entirely of dessert.
Speaker 1: Children slid down garden paths on trays. A snowman made
Speaker 1: of vanilla appeared outside Number twelve. Someone gave it raisin
Speaker 1: eyes and a cone for a nose. Things were getting
Speaker 1: out of control. Then a huge blast of ice cream
Speaker 1: hit Danny's front wall and another splatted across the windows.
Speaker 1: Mom opened the door, Danny, She said, why is our
Speaker 1: house wearing pudding? That was when Danny knew someone had
Speaker 1: to stop this. He marched into the middle of the street,
Speaker 1: climbed onto a mound of vanilla, and shouted, hold it.
Speaker 1: Both cannons froze. Mister Whippy and Tony Bell leaned out
Speaker 1: their trucks. What they said together, Danny pointed at the street.
Speaker 1: Look what you've done. The two ice cream men looked around.
Speaker 1: For the first time they seemed to notice the mess.
Speaker 1: Everything was sticky and dripping in chocolate sauce. Missus Green's
Speaker 1: garden gnome had vanished under a scoop of pistachio. Danny
Speaker 1: folded his arms. You were both trying to make the
Speaker 1: best ice cream, he said, but together you made something
Speaker 1: am amazing. Mister Whippy frowned. What a mess? Well, yes,
Speaker 1: Danny said, but also new flavors. Tony Bell looked down.
Speaker 1: Vanilla had mixed with strawberry, chocolate, mint, banana, Sherbert cookie
Speaker 1: dough and caramel. He scooped a little into a cup
Speaker 1: and tasted it. His eyebrows lifted. Mama Mia, that's rather good.
Speaker 1: Mister Whippy tried some. His mustache twitched happily. Well, zippity
Speaker 1: ding dong. That's amazing, he exclaimed. The two men stared
Speaker 1: at each other, then slowly they smiled. By sunset, the
Speaker 1: street had turned into the biggest ice cream party anyone
Speaker 1: had ever seen. Everyone helped clean and and eat. Mister
Speaker 1: Whippy and Tony Bell mixed the accidental flavors into tubs.
Speaker 1: They created Rocky Road, Ripple, Sticky Street, Sunday Summer, Snowstorm,
Speaker 1: and one special flavor for the kid who helped them
Speaker 1: overcome their differences, Danny's Delight, and the most popular flavor
Speaker 1: of all, cannon Blast Crunch. The next week, one brand
Speaker 1: new ice cream van arrived on Danny's Street. It was pink, white, blue,
Speaker 1: and yellow. On the side in enormous letters, it said
Speaker 1: the Whippy and Tony Bell Ice Cream Federation. Mister Whippy
Speaker 1: and Tony Bell stood proudly at the window. We are
Speaker 1: partners now, mister Whippy said, business partners. Tony Bell said,
Speaker 1: equal partners. Mister Whippy added mostly equal. Tony Bell said,
Speaker 1: mister Whippy glared at him. Danny laughed and ordered a
Speaker 1: cannon Blast crunch with extra flakes and sauce. As he
Speaker 1: sat on the curb eating it, he looked at the
Speaker 1: clean houses, the sunny street, and the two ice cream
Speaker 1: men arguing happily about whose name should go first. He
Speaker 1: decided that some wars were silly, some messes were delicious,
Speaker 1: and sometimes the best flavor came from mixing two very
Speaker 1: different things together. The end, thinking