Penny Candies

Let's search for money! Couch cushions... laundry room... junk drawers... LOOK EVERYWHERE! Between the five of us kids we found about 12 cents. No food in the house. Buy dinner with 12 cents? We have to. Aha! Penny Candy! Yeah, we can buy 12 and split them. GENIUS! Back then the fruit flavored tootsie rolls were only a penny (thank God) . We bundled up, since it was wintertime in Michigan and walked to the candy store. We didn't eat them until we were back home. That way we could just sit and savor our meal. That was the most delicious candy I had ever tasted. I didn't chew them as they're meant to be eaten. I just placed it in my mouth and let it melt as slowly as possible. No talking... I didn't want to waste a second of this pleasure. When SHE returns from the bar she'll wonder (or maybe she won't) if we ate. I'm not telling her we ate candy for dinner. 25 years later, I went to visit HER. Trying to move on forget the past (it's for the best) . As soon as I walk into her house... sitting on the dining room table is a punchbowl filled with fruit flavored tootsie rolls. I didn't mention our ''meal'' 25 years earlier. I wondered if she knew and this was some cruel joke to have such a huge bowl filled with just the thing that would trigger so many emotions.