Een: Hete Ijssalon

And so, for the rest of that unbearable summer, De Smeltkroes became legendary. People didn’t come for the ice cream—they came to race it. They placed bets on how many seconds a scoop would last. They brought spoons and drank it like soup. Bennie, realizing his niche, removed the freezer units entirely. He sold his ice cream at room temperature, served in cups with bendy straws.

Kees looked at the flood of dairy, the broken mop, the defeated Bennie sitting in a puddle of his own inventory. He sighed. een hete ijssalon

This story is about De Smeltkroes (The Crucible), which opened three doors down, in the middle of a heatwave that had dogs lying flat on their sides and birds walking instead of flying. And so, for the rest of that unbearable

The day the temperature hit 39.5°C, the trouble began. They brought spoons and drank it like soup