My Magnificent Theory Of Chaos

• Anjuli Hook, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2020

I’m handing ice-cream to a customer when the door swings open at Cosmic Concoctions & Catastrophes. I’m still counting the change, so I barely look up. But as soon as I do, I recognize him and my face sours as if I’ve sucked on a lemon. Because it’s Sherman, a really annoying boy from my class. I glare at him as he smirks his way over to the counter laughing at my neon green, glow-in-the-dark uniform with a matching hat. He has a point. It really is hideous.

“What do you want?” I ask him begrudgingly, to which he replies “One Choc-Fudge Mint”, to which I nearly burst out laughing. “Oh, I’m sorry,” I reply, my voice sickly sweet “Today is Chaos Theory Day” and I watch, as Sherman grows pale.

Now, the ice-cream shop I work at is not exactly normal. We still serve the normal flavours like vanilla and chocolate (including some incredibly delicious, if strange combinations) but then we have special themes. Themes like galaxy, mermaids, sci-fi, you get the idea. And this morning, the owner Fred, a small, eccentric man with a shock of bright blue hair excitedly announced today is “Chaos Theory” Day.

How it works, is that the servers get to pick the customer’s ice cream combinations. And, it’s so much fun and a great way to challenge people, with some really disgusting flavours we bring out especially for it. It might sound like something that scares people away, but you’d be amazed how busy it gets on a Chaos Theory Day, especially with those Instagrammers and Tik-Tokkers. I say to Sherman, who is still incredibly pale, “Would you like to know some of the options you could get?” And before he has the chance, I start listing every disgusting ice-cream flavour I can think of. “Cayenne Pepper, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Pre-Chewed Gum, Cabbage, Peanut Butter and Sauerkraut, Dental Floss, and...” I pause for breath “That Dead Mouse Your Cat Left on the Doorstep flavour - but, of course, it isn’t actually a dead mouse; it just tastes like it.” Then I look up to see Sherman is now a pale green. “But, if you’re too scared to try one, I’ll just give you a Choc-Fudge Mint Bubblegum combo.” Sherman swallows and replies “It’s on”.

I head over to the serving bar and grab a waffle cone, and lower a scoop of choc-chip ice-cream into it, and then scoops of mint and bubblegum. I hand it over to him. Sherman looks terrified, as he takes a hesitant bite out of the ice-cream, before pausing “Hey, it isn’t so bad!” he says happily and walks out the door. I smile. Wait until he finds the chocolate covered grasshopper I hid inside. Following that thought, I hear a high-pitched scream come from outside.