Ice Cream

Ice Cream is the second collection of short stories written by English author Helen Dunmore and published in 2000 by Viking Press and in the United States by Grove Press in 2003. Stories "My Polish Teacher's Tie" - Half-Polish school caterer Carla Carter hears that the headmaster of her school is asking for penfriends for Polish teachers to improve their written English, for a future teacher exchange. Carla starts correspondence with Stefan, when he later arrives she thinks he believes her to be a teacher. Carla then reveals that she is just a caterer... "Lilac" - A mother has had a nervous breakdown so her husband sends her thirteen-year-old daughter Chris to stay in Sweden with her cousins, Agnes and Tommy. Chris then finds Tommy kissing his friend Henrik under the lilac bushes. "You Stayed Awake With Me" - The narrator, suffering from an unnamed disease returns to her family's seaside cottage with her childhood friend Janet. Then the narrator asks Janet about her sleeping with the narrators father when Janet was only fifteen. "The Fag" - The driver is travelling on the motorway through Devon where she is given a cigarette from her passenger. "Leonardo, Michelangelo, Superstork" - Two pregnant neighbours are suffering under the sweltering heat. Natural conception is now illegal, all women must be fitted with a 'Rubicon' to block natural sperms and unauthorized babies are killed. State-sanctioned cloning is only allowed but comes at a cost. The two neighbours have opposite situations. "The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife - A man's wife has been ill for some time, he returns home to find that she has just died. "Ice Cream" - On her birthday, Clara has the urge to eat ice-cream. Her personal trainer Elise warns her only have a double expresso. As a child Clara loved ice cream but with Elise's help she managed to curb her appetites and become a supermodel. But at the end Clara swallows vanilla ice cream. "Be Vigilant, Rejoice, Eat Plenty" - A parking meter appears to be offering advice to a woman as she heads to meet her divorced husband at a coffee shop. "The Clear and Rolling Water" - Jamie Robertson and Laura Foster lived on each side of the stream, their families owning the land on either side. They played together by the stream and travelled together to school. Laura's father renovated some cottages but found that he was unable to make them pay. The Robertsons offered to buy more of his Fosters land but bad blood arose between the fathers.