October: Month of Candy Corn
I have a thing, for lack of better words, about buying a bag of candy corn each year. I won’t allow myself to buy a bag until October 1st and it has to be Brach’s brand. There really is no comparison, I’ve tried a few over the years, and my love of corn of candy dates back to my childhood. It’s true, so many of our likes and dislikes are because of that long ago period in our lives that shaped us into who we are. I like just 1 bag, and enjoy each piece because it’s what I do every October.
I was never big on costumes, but Mom would put me in a plastic apron and then put the mask over my face with HUGE cutouts for my very small eyeballs. Each year I was Olive Oyl and I think my twin was Spiderman. I could be wrong on that one. It was whatever the store had on hand when she bought our one costume that would last us through the end of our trick-or-treat years. I didn’t think anything of it, I just liked going to the houses and everyone knowing we were “the twins”. They’d always tell us to say hi to Mom, who was waiting for us at the end of the block so that she could drive us to the next block. It was fun, costume and all, but my favorite part was when we’d return home.
Dad and Granny always stayed behind to greet the trick or treaters. Dad, no doubt, stayed behind to have his share of candy before handing them out, but also he enjoyed seeing all of the kids knocking on his door for some tricks or treats.
When we got home with our stash of candy, they would have to “inspect” each piece before we could have any. I was under the false impression that it was out of safety reasons, but they knew all of the old people in our very small knit community of ranchers, so I doubt that was the case. Now that I’m wiser to their tricks, it was so they could snatch up what they wanted for their hidden stashes. Dad was candy corn, Mom was Snickers and, I believe Granny liked Milky Way and Baby Ruth.
My Twin would eat all of his candy by the end of the week, whereas, I would save each piece for negotiation purposes; even months later, I’d still have a hidden stash for this reason. He could have a piece of mine only as long as he was nice to me, but if he wasn’t, then I’d eat the piece he wanted right in front of him.
So, as I type this post, I am enjoying my first candy corn of the season.
