The Candy Store

“I yearned for all the treats in the candy store, from days of yore.”
It’s true the fudge was cut and weighed with love. But the appeal was more nostalgic: Licorice pieces from the late 50’s in bins, little coke bottles, one to take home to my husband, who always appreciates little things, because that’s the way the coke bottles used to be, and other candies like Slo Pokes and Necco mints.
It reminds me so much of the one theatre in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, my friends called the “show house,” It had only one small concession stand lit up underneath the glass. Oh, I remember, Paydays were in there, too, nuts clustered around caramel. All those fun things little girls verging on womanhood with new weight problems shouldn’t have.
Is it really the candy we yearn for, or is it the memories?
Advertisers have the inside scoop on what we really want when we’re attracted to a product. We’re not buying KFC; we’re finally getting our family to appreciate the hard work we go to, to pick up an order everyone likes. We’re not buying mouth cleanliness; we’re avoiding what the product used to be like as we climb atop cupboards and chandeliers, succumbing to a fun and better flavor.
Speaking of that, we don’t just freshen our mouths, we twirl around in a parallel universe, while everybody, including the “geek” is still in the office. (A brother of mine commented, regarding a 60’s cigarette commercial, that when he picked up a cigarette, he used to expect he’d be in a meadow by a brook with a nice looking chick, but when he took a puff, all he got was and ordinary cigarette: Sex in a pack.)
In fact, we even buy our own future physical existence. “It’s your future. Be there.” We don’t buy healthy indoor plumbing, we want to “stop ourselves up”, so we don’t carry “Johns to Go” on the back of our vehicles. We try to avoid our esophagi decaying. Gee, we didn’t know our esophagi were decaying, because we’re eating foods that are bad for us in the first place! Take a purple pill. Oh, and perish the thought of ever having one of those nights –toss, turn, look at the clock – take another pill. And to think that one’s insides look like leaky pipes, and so do everyone else’s. Comedian Louis Black says, “Americans worry about their health.” Is it any wonder? I thought I’d seen and heard everything about prescription pharmaceuticals, and “Ask your doctor about this and that”, but the final straw was, “Get this knee surgery. Ask your doctor if this would be good for you.” Now, they’re advertising surgeries?
Yes, maybe the lady cutting and weighing the fudge is really Mom. Mom made fudge in the 50’s. Sure is good to see her again. “Thanks for the fudge, Mom.” They used to stay home and make it for us kids. Sure do miss those days.