Duran Duran blasted from the kitchen. So did Ben’s very limited singing voice. Churning the ice cream in time with the music Ben howled out the lyrics “I smell like I sound, I’m lost and I’m found, and I’m hungry like the wooolf-”. Suddenly, the music stopped and Ben was caught mid-note. Spinning around, Ben with flaming cheeks confronted a smirking Jerry Langdon.
“For the love of Chocolate Chip, Jerry! I thought you had a board meeting today,” cried Ben.

“I did, but luckily it finished early enough for me to come here and listen to your wonderful singing.” Ben blushed even harder but soon recovered himself.

“What do you have to tell me? You wouldn’t have come to my house if you didn’t have news from the meeting,” asked Ben leaning back against the fridge with arms crossed. Some ice cream dripped off the wooden spoon in his hand, but he ignored it. It took all his strength to keep glaring at Jerry and not clean up the drop of ice cream.

“Well, the marketing department has everything for the new flavor ready now, so it was decided to release the new flavor at the end of this month and not next month.”

“What! That’s unacceptable!” announced Ben. He snapped to attention, leaving a small smudge on his polished fridge. He wasn’t really worried about the change though. He practically finished the ice cream. The problem was he owned half the company, and no one even asked him if this was okay.

“I know it’s inconvenient but I really tried to keep the original date,” said Jerry.

“Jerry,” said Ben in an angry, but controlled voice, “I know you think you have the hard job managing the marketing department, but it’s just as hard for me to manage the creative department. I just can’t give birth to some new flavor whenever you demand it. Thought must go into it, there has to be experimentation. I can’t just put chocolate and vanilla together, add sprinkles and call it new. No! There’s an artistry that goes into making a new and exciting ice cream. I make all our flavors from scratch and you just change the date without considering the work I have to do to make even one flavor. You have to respect the process, Jerry. If one ingredient is out of balance with another it throws the whole ice cream off. Do you remember the disaster that was Chocolate Delicioso?” Though Ben’s tone remained controlled, his gestures did not. He punctuated each point with a quick swish of his hand leaving bits of ice cream all over his immaculate kitchen. He was too focused on the argument now to notice though.

“Yes, I do remember,” sighed Jerry.

“Then you know that you can’t rush these things!” Jerry just rolled his eyes which only enticed Ben to continue, but then Jerry made an observation.

“Ben Loboski you already finished the ice cream didn’t you! It’s right there!”

“That is not the point,” retorted Ben, “The point is you didn’t even consider asking for my input when half of our company’s name is Ben!”

“But the ice cream is already finished, so what’s the problem?” Jerry almost shouted.

“You didn’t even ask me! Half of this company is mine! I thought my partner in business would think of asking me before making a decision like that! Do you get it now?! ” shouted Ben.

“No, I don’t!” yelled Jerry. Ben didn’t know what to say next. His arms went limp, and he broke his stare. It was now that he realized what a mess his kitchen was. He let out a sigh and glanced back at Jerry who was standing quietly looking at his shoes. The silence hung for a few moments until Ben, as a sign of peace, asked if Jerry would like to try the new ice cream. Jerry nodded, and Ben dipped the spoon into the soft cream. “I like it,” said Jerry.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, it’s great.”

“Good,” sighed Ben, “I wasn’t sure if I put in too much vanilla.”

“No, no, it’s good.” The silence resumed, though more awkward than tense. This time Jerry broke the pause. He said he would go fetch some lattes for them and promptly left. Ben, with a small laugh at the little argument, grabbed a cleaning cloth and turned “Hungry like the Wolf” on again.