When I was a small child, we lived in Southern California. One local (at the time) delicacy was See’s Candy. Every Christmas, and every anniversary etc, my folks would buy a box of assorted chocolates. Now, in the two pound box there are two square candies that are unlike any of the others. They are simply DELICIOUS! Better, by far, than all of the other delicious chocolates in the box, but… there are only two. One for Mama… one for Daddy. None for lil me!
I was told “These two pices are for us… they’re adult candy! You can have whatever you like of the others.” It hardly seemed fair, but shrug if they were adult candy… what’s a little kid to do? When we moved to Missouri, our California relatives would visit and bring boxes of See’s chocolates to us poor isolated exiled folk, and, again… the “adult candy” was not for me! by now, I had actually tasted one (when one of the 'rents was off on a trip or something, I disremember) and I knew that they were utterly RAVISHING! The best candies in the whole box! Adult candies. I would just have to bide my time and grow.
Finally, when I was old enough to have graduated and gotten out on my own, I decided what I would do with my first real paycheck! I was going to See’s Candy factory in Los Angeles and I was gonna BUY me some of that luscious “adult candy” And so IN I went. The saleslady behind that white counter smiled “What would you like, today?”
“Uhm… I want some adult candy, please.” (I was amazed to discover you could actually buy individual kinds of candies, instead of a mix!) I’d like a quarter pound, please."
“Adult… candy?..” she asked, looking mystified.
It was in that second that I realized the sheer DUPLICITY of my parents! Here I stood, surrounded by luscious candy… and each one had a NAME… Tipperary Bonbons, Nut Crunch, Chocolate Covered Nugat, Orange Cremes… but, as I carefully studied the menu… NO “adult candy” What WERE they?!!
Stammeringly, I explained my predicament to the saleslady. “They’re SQUARE!” was the only thing I could offer by way of identification. “Well… you can try a few…” she said, realizing that I was NOT some mooch trying to cadge free candies from the store. “I’ll pay for the ones I try!” I added, trying my best to sound like the new adult I was, instead of the uncertain child the store was turning me back into!
It took several (somewhat expensive) tries before I found the one I wanted. With slightly sharper corners than other candies, it was finally identified, discerned from the chocolate covered caramel it resembled… I tasted, and joyfully bought, my quarter pound of Butterscotch Squares.
I exited the store with my little white bag of deliciousness, trying hard NOT to hear the laughter behind me. I knew full well that my experience would, in short order, no longer be between me and the saleslady… who knows, it could have become Company Legend in a few weeks’ time! What I had to do now was to go home and confront my sneaky PARENTS!
Adult candy INDEED!!