ABSTRACT
Helmut lies in bed. It is eight-thirty in the morning and although he has slept at times throughout the night, his mind has been racing. It is hard to remember what exactly he had been thinking about. He could recall pondering a conversation with his brother who had told him with earnest affection that he should start up in business as an ice cream vendor. He had replayed this conversation many times. He had imagined applying for a licence, looking for a van, reading up on the production which should be so simple, but well…he just did not know. He could see his elder brother’s love and exasperation, a face that haunted him. But where would he go to find a van? Where do they make them? What would his friends think of him sitting in the van? Perhaps he should hire somebody to do that side of the business. He could try to set it all up and then hire a person. But if he did that, then how would he learn the true end of the business? No one would be successful in a new venture, he knew, if they tried to run it from the top. One needed bottom up experience. He found himself thinking of the colours of the van. White with a blue line around it? Blue with a white line? Did that fit in with the customer’s association with ice cream? Maybe it should be red with white lettering. What would it say? What would he call the ice cream company? Helmut’s Ices? The Flavour Van? The Ice Cream Van?
