Tyler opened the door and ran out into the garden. After a long wait, summer had finally arrived and Tyler was extremely excited. He loved the summers because it meant that it was now time for him to go visit the ice-cream parlour. Ice-cream was something, Tyler could not live without.

So if someone wanted to win little Tyler’s heart, all they had to do was gift him a small bucket of ice-cream and you would be his new hero. Tyler hated that he had to wait for such a long time before summers arrived because his mother never let him have ice-cream during any other season as he was prone to tonsil pains and the cold flu.  But during summers, he could have ice-cream twice a week and that was enough to keep him happy.

The day for his first ice-cream parlour visit this summer had finally arrived and Tyler was bobbing up and down with excitement. He couldn’t sit still for one more minute, but his mother seemed to be taking a very long time to lock up the house. Tyler’s father had left for work early in the morning. But before he left, he had given his wife some money for Tyler’s ice-cream outing. So when his mother announced about their trip after Tyler woke up, he almost fell of the bed in happiness.

He wished he could take his best friend, Brian, along with him.  Now that summer break had started, they wouldn’t meet every day at elementary school for the next two months. Also, Brian had gone to visit his grandmother and wouldn’t be back before the end of next week.

‘Mummy! Hurry Up! I want ice-cream!’

Tyler yelled as he stood beside his mother’s car and waited for her to take him to the parlour. Just then, his mother came out the door with her purse and car keys in hand. Tyler could be very difficult to handle when he was made to wait for his ice-cream.

The trip to the ice-cream parlour consisted of Tyler’s constant excited chatter and his mother’s repeated warnings for him not to move too much in his seat. Finally they reached the ice-cream shop and Tyler almost tripped on his feet as he ran towards the shop with his mother in tow. He couldn’t wait to order his favourite, the chocolate cup ice-cream with choco chip and sugary sprinkles on it.

As Tyler and his mother made their way into the shop, they were followed by another little boy, who looked to be around Tyler’s age and his mother. Tyler overheard the boy say to his mother how excited he was to have his first ice-cream this summer. He continued to tell her how he had saved every penny his father gave him every day has a gift of his hard work at school.  Tyler was surprised to find that the boy liked the same kind of ice-cream that he did. He smiled a little.

But the moment he entered the shop, Tyler was shocked to find that there was just one chocolate cup left. He had to get that. He wouldn’t be happy with any other flavor on his first ice-cream outing of this summer.  So he made a run for the counter. He wouldn’t let the other boy have his ice-cream. He hurried to the counter asked for the last cup of chocolate ice cream before the other boy was even halfway to the counter.

The man at the counter placed his ice-cream before Tyler with a smile as his mother made the payment. He quickly grabbed the ice-cream and hurried to a booth. He was very happy that he got his favourite. But when he turned back to look at the counter, he saw that the other little boy had tears in his eyes. Tyler felt wretched. He didn’t want to hurt the boy. He had just wanted his favourite ice-cream and now he didn’t know what to do.

So he turned to his mother and told her everything he had heard and what he had done so that he would get the remaining cup of ice-cream.

 ‘What should I do Mummy? I don’t want him to cry or be sad.’

His mother smiled and patted his head.

‘I know you didn’t want to hurt him Tyler. But you shouldn’t have done what you did. But it’s not too late. You can still fix the mistake you made’

Tyler looked at his mother expectantly. He was ready to do anything to see that boy smile. So his mother told him to share his ice-cream cup with that boy. Tyler looked thoughtful after his mother made the suggestion. He had never shared his favourite ice-cream with anyone before. He wouldn’t be able to enjoy the whole of it. But if it made the other boy smile, he was ready to do it.

So he got of his chair and ran back to the counter. He took another spoon out of the tray and made his way to the crying boy. He smiled and held the spoon out.

‘Hello. I am Tyler. You can share mine. I heard this is your favourite too’

The other boy looked overjoyed and hugged Tyler tight. He said is name was Reggie. Then they both sat down and dug into the ice-cream while their mother’s looked on with happy smiles.

Tyler had made his mother proud, that day, because he had learnt the valuable art of sharing.