Ice Block
| Ice Block | |
|---|---|
| (Intermission) | |
 | |
| Chapter | “90.1” of 129 (list of chapters) |
| Published | January 13, 2016 |
| Page count | 2 |
| Major characters | Paulo, David |
| Locations | Roseville neighborhood |
| Collected in | Volume Six |
| Chapter navigation | |
| ← Golden Hour | Dial Tone → |
| Read chapter | |
Paulo has something important to say to David, and he very nearly gets it out. Then the ice cream truck shows up. This two-page intermission is about the things best friends don’t have to say out loud.
Synopsis
Paulo spends the walk home working up his nerve while David rattles through one of his video game stories. At last, he says “Hey, David, about last night..” Before he can continue, David suddenly spins around, grabs him by the shoulders, and bellows at the top of his lungs. An ice cream truck has just turned onto the street.[1]
David bolts for the truck. The ice cream man greets him by name, and David offers to buy Paulo whatever he wants. Paulo tries to object and gets pulled into a one-armed hug instead. “Nonsense, only the best for my amigo!” David just smiles at him, and Paulo’s nerves finally drain away. He smiles back, sighs, and insists on covering the bill himself, which earns him an awestruck “YOU’RE SO COOL”. Last night never comes up again.[2]
Character dynamics
- Paulo and David: Paulo and David stay close even though something big goes unspoken. Paulo is anxious about the night before, but never gets to name it. David answers his one attempt with plain affection instead of a conversation. The comic never says whether that’s a deliberate dodge or just David being David. Whatever Paulo was bracing for, a hug and an offer of ice cream turn out to be enough. He picks up the bill to answer in kind.[2]
Trivia & observations
- Veronica’s commentary bills the chapter as “Intermission time!! Or rather.. an epilogue I guess!”[1] The official Volume Six chapter listing gives it the four-word summary “Dave’s a sweet friend.”[3]
- Veronica typed her notes for page one on a plane about to land in Tokyo, at the start of a ten-day holiday in Japan.[1]
- Paulo’s “about last night..” is word for word how Lucy opened the morning-after conversation with him in Another Shoulder. This time around, Paulo is the one who has to say it.[1][4]
- David’s crack about “the big burger bucks” refers to Paulo’s job at Burger-Tron, which he picked up on his sixteenth birthday in Small Fry.[2][5]
- David isn’t the comic’s first ice-cream-truck chaser. A drunk Mike hollered after one in Confrontation,[6] and only one chapter earlier Abbey pointed out that “Chasing ice cream trucks isn’t necessarily ‘heroic’”.[7]
- David is on a first-name basis with the ice cream man, who greets him with a deadpan “Hey David” before he’s even said what he wants.[2]
Related chapters
- Golden Hour: The “Last night” Paulo tries to bring up happened at the end of Golden Hour’s beach trip. David told a spiraling Paulo “And that’s why I love you,” and swore he had never been more serious in his life. He then watched Paulo bolt in a panic. This walk home is the first time the pair have been alone together since.
- Boy Toy: Paulo’s questions didn’t start on the beach. A few chapters earlier he asked Mike whether he’d ever liked a guy, and Mike reminded him that “Gay and straight aren’t the only orientations, you know.”
- Fair Game: Paulo eventually finds some of the words he couldn’t manage here. He admits to Matt that “I’ve crushed on girls all my life and I’m not even sure I’d..” before panicking all over again.