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I've been a Milky Way girl since I was five.With Halloween just around the corner, I have a mini-excuse for having my forbidden goodies in the house. The other 51 weeks a year, I can't risk even bringing them onto the property - the temptation is too strong,
In my hometown, a little mom-and-pop store - Murphy's - was directly across the street from my school. Not many days went by that I didn't stop in for my nickel Milky Way "fix." Oh yes, there was the rare Sugar Daddy or handful of Double Bubble, but mostly I stuck to the old tried and true. In later years I learned to eat Milky Ways frozen. They lasted longer that way, but I'm really amazed I still have my teeth.
I don't think I've ever bought Halloween candy without Milky Ways in the mix. These days, I'll have to admit that Butterfingers are running a close second with an occasional side trip to Heath Bars. I suppose if I had to, I could eat a Mounds bar, but like most kids who at one time or another overindulge in a candy, mine was Mounds and I got sick on them in third grade. At the time, I liked them almost as much as Milky Ways and one day I decided that my latest book from the library would be more fun to read with a stash of Mounds bars. I bought five - an entire quarter's worth - ate them all, and naturally got sick as a dog. I don't think my mother knew why but maybe the coconut breath gave me away. I steered clear of Mounds bars - and Almond Joy as well - for the next fifty or sixty years. Tom, my late husband, got so sick on candy corn when he was a kid that he couldn't even look at the "little orange teeth" as he called them.
When I started thinking about candy for this article, I was surprised how broad and eclectic my tastes are now ... from the soft New Zealand licorice that Santa brings, to maple sugar candy, to the peach sours at Peterson's Candy in Busti. I'm amazed at how much I love candy yet have to work so hard at staying away from all of it. It doesn't seem right. If God didn't want us to have candy he wouldn't have created chocolate, right? And I think it must have been one of his Celtic saints who invented butterscotch.
I like all those chewy, sugar-coated candies like spearmint leaves and spicy gumdrops, although for some reason I like them all better when they are left out and a little stale - the chew lasts longer.
"Some candy, little girl?" If I had run into that man our mothers all warned us about, I'd have been in deep trouble.
My mom had a sweet tooth, and she always kept holiday candy around the house when I was growing up. Halloween through Thanksgiving there was that bowl of candy corn mix that also contains chewy pumpkins, turkeys and chocolate witches on a broom.
At Christmas she brought home the thin, glass-like ribbon candy. Each color crunched into a different flavor exploding in my mouth. She always bought a few boxes of candy canes because they were important to decorate the tree although they were mysteriously missing by the time the tree came down.
This year I've made a mistake with Halloween candy. Normally I buy it closer to the holiday to avoid having it in the house. But I found the mixes I wanted (Butterfingers and Milky Ways are not made by the same candy company) and tossed them in the shopping cart about ten days ago not thinking about the date. The bags, which landed on the dining room table, somehow each sustained a small tear over the weekend. I noticed today they're not quite as full as they should be. I somehow thought Dear Richard wasn't much of a candy eater. It must be the cat. Either Finian, my feline companion, has developed a sweet tooth or he's letting a candy thief into the house while I'm at Walmart.
I've decided to dump the entire selection into the big Halloween goodie bowl - naturally placing the Milky Ways and Butterfingers at the bottom - and I'm going to stash the bowl in the back of the car until All Hallow's Eve. Finian would never sneak out there in the middle of the night for a Milky Way fix. Would he? I hope not, because I have it on good authority that the neighborhood coyote only likes Snickers - and cats.
Marcy O'Brien can be reached at moby.32@hotmail.com