Kindergarten was going quite nicely. Operative word" Going. I couldn't, for the life of me, know what I was learning. It just seemed like we cut and pasted and ate a whole lot of white paste! No wonder Mom told me I looked a bit pasty. I asked her how she knew? "Knew about what?" she asked. "Knew about me eating paste!" "What?" "You eat white paste?" "Sure Mom" "Everyone does!" "If everyone jumped off a cliff would you?" Just then Chris calls out from the living room: "If I was a lemming, I probably would." Chris was an avid reader and knew about everything. "Chris, we will talk about that later" said Mom. Back to me, she demanded I never eat paste again. I told her "But I loooove it!" She said : "Absolutely not!" "I raised you for better things than eating white paste!" So, on that note, I went to school with a chip on my shoulder. When Sissy asked if I had any money, so we could spend it on penny candy. I said as a matter of fact, I do! And I showed her my milk money. Her eyes about popped out of her head. "Gosh Julie, do you know what we can get with that?" She proceeded to regal me with tales of watermelon slices, gumdrops,pixie stix,soft chewy red coin money, root beer barrels and Klein lunch bars. As I started to drool, off we went to the little corner dairy store. It smelled like ancient kitty litter. I breathed through my mouth, as I always did when I went there. A huge cat strolled over to me and started to entwine its legs around my ankles. I shook it off with fright and it deftly leaped to the top of the candy counter. So that's what all those tiny paw prints are about, I mused. I asked for a nickel bag of candy and specified what I wanted. Sissy yelled out, "Make that a double!" "A nickel bag and make that a double!" Should have been an omen of trouble over the horizon...We ran out of the store with our treasures. Sissy suggested that we walk around the block enough times so we could eat all of our candy and have it out of our teeth before getting home, I agreed that would be the prudent thing to do. After all, at OUR house, we had our rules. If anyone brought candy into the house, there had to be enough to share with everyone. Nuthin' doing, I thought to myself. It was my milk money, hence, it is my candy. I may be nice, but I am not THAT nice. Besides, I shared with Sissy. We ate our entire bag of candy, except two root beer barrels I had for my sisters. Sissy said she wanted donuts for dessert, and said we could run to Limbers Bakery and get ten for ten. Boy, I sure was glad Sissy was my friend as she sure knew what to say and do out in public. She held her hand out to me to get the money. Oh yeah, it was my treat. We got the donuts and crammed one into our mouths before we left the door.We had two down in a few steps. After three, I looked at Sissy and told her I wasn't feeling very well. She assured that I would get over it. She said just to walk real fast and we would wear it off. I suggested that we use our "propellers" and run. (our arms whirling like helicopters) So we ran with our arms out in front of us like propellers. The rest of the donuts fell out of the bag and rolled down the street. "Oh poop!" I yelled out loud. Sissy looked at me like I was a Martian and said, "Oh Shit!" I started to cry and she said she was sorry for teaching me bad words, and said we better get home quick or Mom would call Big Lee, my Dad who was a State Police Trooper, to come look for us.
Sure enough, we got home late. I wondered how I could get out of what I knew was coming. After all, I spent my milk money on candy, crossed busy Liberty street without Mom or Dad, and got home late from school. Mom looked very worried when I walked in. But just at that moment, Barb started to choke on her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Mom whacked her hard on the back and half a sandwich flew out of her mouth. I was surprised that Barb coughed up ANY sandwich, as she would usually throw her sandwiches, bit by bit, behind the refrigerator. She would GAG on her sandwiches if they were made of Wonder Bread. You know, the kind that helps to build strong bodies twelve ways. I suppose it would, should one actually EAT the stuff. I wonder why she would gag... The bread was only about a week old by the time we ate it as Dad would always buy the bread from the Thrift Bakery. I would always toast mine, so it didn't matter. I called it "Toasted Peanut Butter" and that's what I asked for as I nonchalantly sat down at the table and winked at Barb, showing her a root beer barrel I saved for her. Mary Kay looked at me with admiring eyes, like I was her hero. I guess I was for that shining moment and I savored that along with my lunch.
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