Chapter Six
Soren
The party was a big hit, and I even got to listen to the story while Karen and I got things ready for seconds.
Everyone had been served in the adorable bowls with the animal-themed spoons, or at least all but one.
The little who had his own special ice-cream spoon.
Ms. Lily turned the pages in the oversized picture book with the pages that unfolded to reveal the “world’s biggest ice-cream cone” and the boys and girls who built a ladder to get to the top and retrieve the cherry for their friend.
As expected, as soon as the story ended, all the littles lined up for a second round. We’d brought far more than we thought we’d need, but they made a good dent in the gallons and really did a number on the toppings. The glitter was only a memory.
After the littles played a couple of games, the party was over.
Usually, in the little room, there were a lot of daddies and mommies with their boys and girls.
This was the first time I’d been there when it was littles only—except for Chained staff and Karen and me.
It was a whole different experience and one I appreciated being able to be present for.
Normally, those who had their own daddies or mommies or even chose a single caregiver for an evening of play were very focused on that person, but tonight?
They showed a whole different side of being little.
We were just there to serve their treats, although they were very sweet and polite, and Ms. Lily and a couple of other staff members were there to make sure it all went smoothly.
Leaving the littles to focus on one another and play together without the guidance the daddies would normally have provided.
Not that the daddies would have been bossing them around, at least not usually.
But the littles would be looking to them for various sorts of things.
For example, a common activity was a daddy building a big tower for the little to knock down.
This afternoon, I witnessed a group of littles build a tower then look at one another in awe.
They had a consultation and then one of them did the honors, sending the blocks tumbling while the others cheered him on.
Things were less organized with no daddies suggesting a little finish one activity before starting another.
Faces were not wiped of chocolate syrup.
But it wasn’t a bad situation at all. I’d had littles tell me that sometimes when a group didn’t have a daddy, they would parent one another—but not in this situation.
They were just wild and free and having fun. And Ms. Lily’s staff was going to have a messier than usual room to clean.
When they were all gone, we gathered our bowls and spoons and serving ware into a plastic storage box, threw away the paper napkins, and folded the tablecloths on top of the box.
We had a gallon or so left, and I gave that to the staff, along with some chocolate and caramel syrup and chopped nuts that remained.
Once out of the little room, we passed through the club that was getting ready to open.
Unlike the little room, where games and stories were the order of the day, along with treats and crafts, most of the private rooms and certainly the main room were an entirely different world.
A world of floggers and dungeon furniture and stimulation of all kinds.
There was also a conversation area where I often met with the other daddies to relax and have a drink or talk about our lives.
Everyone had their own needs and desires, and Chained was a place where those things could be experienced by grown-up people in a safe environment.
As I wheeled the handcart with the freezer and other things piled on it toward the rear exit, I cast a longing glance toward the comfortable sofas and chairs just off the main floor.
It would be nice to stay and visit, but I had to get back to the shop.
To put everything away as well as see how the afternoon had gone without me.
Karen had brought her own car and would be going straight home.
She’d been a big help this afternoon, and we’d had to give up a couple of cake orders for it.
But she was the only one in the shop I knew would be comfortable, even enjoy the atmosphere of the little room.
We were getting so many cake orders, I thought maybe I should see if we could train another person to help.
But that would have to wait for another day.
After such a great day, my thoughts returned to the decision to open the store. It was never my plan, but always my dream. From the first time I visited a soda fountain as a child, I thought people who sold ice cream had the best job in the whole world.
That opinion had not changed.
So, instead of putting the building on the market, I did some research and turned it into an old-fashioned ice-cream shop with new flavors and ideas.
It had done well, so far, and with the inspiration I received from the afternoon’s event, I could see more money streams as possible.
My product was delicious, made with the best ingredients, as many local as possible, and I was interested to see where we could expand.
I remembered pictures of vendors in pushing their wheeled cart along park pathways on sunny afternoons. Would it be possible to find one of those and rehab it? Or even make one?
Maybe…
After parking in back of the store, I carried everything inside and either put it away or by the sink to be cleaned.
The bowls were delicate and would not handle the super-hot and somewhat-violent commercial dishwasher, so I filled the deep stainless-steel sink with soapy water and settled them in, followed by the spoons.
I could have just left them all for the morning when someone else would wash them, but I didn’t like leaving things around to attract vermin.
The Health Department frowned on that as well.
Setting a dishwasher rack in the other side of the sink, I washed each bowl and utensil and laid them in the rack before spraying away the soap.
They’d be fine to put away tomorrow, as long as they were clean.
Then I reached into the washing side to pull out the stopper and my hand closed around one last spoon. But it wasn’t one I’d provided.
Oh no.
One of the littles had accepted a bowl but when I offered him a spoon, he shook his head and held up his own spoon.
He was the cutest of them all while he told me it was the best ice-cream-eating spoon, and he always used it.
His special spoon. Many littles had items they were especially attached to, and as a daddy, I respected that.
And then I walked off with someone’s favorite spoon.
I didn’t know how it happened, but I had to make it better.
What to do?
Most of the littles who frequented Chained knew one another. I hadn’t run into this little before but with getting the store ready and opening it, I hadn’t gone very often, so I could easily have missed him even if he was a regular.
I rinsed and dried the spoon carefully then took a picture of it on the counter and texted it to Jovan.
I ended up with this after the party, and I know it’s special to its owner. Can you show Ernie and see if he knows who it belongs to? Please! I feel so bad.