“Jackie’s Gelato Jackpot” is the place to be in this town. I’ve been there so many times, now, I can go alone with my guide dog Joey. Even if you’re blind like me, it doesn’t mean that you can’t like gelato.
After following trusty Joey across the noisy street and stepping up onto the high curb, I use my free hand to grab the slick handles and pull them toward me to enter into the sweet smelling shop.
My feet often squeak happily on the floor while I make my way to the front of the store. Sweet smelling scents of candles and various gelato flavors waft to my nostrils and make me feel good inside. I stretch out my hand and wave it over what I assume is a chair. Once I feel it, and make sure no one is sitting in it, I slide onto it. The swiveling barstools are slippery, squishy, and extremely comfortable. Joey sits patiently beneath the counter whenever I sit down.
I put my elbows on the counter and wait for someone to notice me. All the employees know me, and so they aren’t surprised when they find out there is a blind man sitting on the barstools. The counters are smooth and have wavy sides. There are stacks of napkin dispensers and salt and pepper shakers, because “Jackie’s” also serves succulent sandwiches and savory soup.
The walls are smooth, and covered with picture frames and wall hangings. All the tables, not only the counter, are hard and cool. I can feel rock-covered wall occupying one corner of the shop. They tell me that there is a train up on a high track that travels through tunnels in the walls.
Their gelato is probably the most wonderful tasting thing that you could ever imagine. “Fruits of the Forest” is delightfully sweet and scrumptious, consisting of the flavors of brilliant blackberries, cheery cherries, real raspberries and other “fruits of the forest,” as the name suggests. Chocolate gelato is creamy and lip-smacking yummy. It is especially delectable when the flavor is chocolate peanut butter; then it is mouthwateringly magnificent. “Amaretto Cherry” is fantastic… It has bits of delicious amaretto flavored chocolate chunks and pieces of chopped up cherries with cherry syrup mixed throughout the whole thing, it is truly grand. Vanilla gelato is mostly like regular vanilla, except that it is exceptionally creamier and tastier that most other vanillas. “Strawberries-n-Cream” looks plain, but does not taste plain. It is just strawberries and syrup mixed in with vanilla gelato, but it tastes like more. It has a special syrupy and sugary taste which makes you want more. There are many, many more flavors, but I have yet to try them… These were just a few of my particular favorites.
The shop is always filled with sound, either the shouting or laughing of children, the notes of happy, lively music floating through the air or the clinking and clanging of spoons in cups on the tables.
“Jackie’s Gelato Jackpot” is a place I love to be.
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THE END