Halloween was over, the chocolate candy consumed, and
empty wrappers told the tale.
Only the good stuff was eaten, leaving Tootsie pops,
generic copies and Jolly Rogers in candy collecting containers. The order had
been given to toss the losers away.
The challenge began when ten-year old Lily handed me a Cherry Lollipop, and kept the grape for herself.
“How many licks will it take to get to the chocolate center?”
We both looked at the candy on a stick, judged how
small the round candy was, and made predictions. Me: 75, Lily: 50. How long
would this competition take? Me: 30
minutes, Lily (bravado of a 10 year old): 20 minutes, for sure.
Ready, steady, GO!
20 minutes in, I had done 120 (cherry). And Lily was up
to 100.
25 minutes in, I was up to 200, and Lily was leading
with 220.
30 minutes in, I had moved to 308, and Lily was all
purple smiles at 315.
As the minutes piled up, my jaws cramped, the type of
cramp one gets after eating a bag of Sweet Tarts.
We struggled with sore tongues. “You’re going down, Grandma…”
600 to 582---653 to 690…would it ever end?
The end slipped in at 45 rough minutes. Me: 915 and Lily: 998.
Lily danced around the kitchen, hands in the air,
singing “Eye of the Tiger”. Me? I went to look into a mirror. Sticking out my cherry red tongue, sweet and
sour zones in the tongues had worked themselves raw.
Rule of tongue: eat all the chocolate stuff and dump
the rest. The Tootsie Pops are not a single
lick, a couple of crunches, maybe.
The
parameters of this game were vague. I gathered that the more licks it
took to get to the chocolate center was the winner. It shows self
control. Whatever. It is in poor taste to beat a grandchild who sings
"Eye of the Tiger" and knows the words.
Office referrals aside, Tootsie pops are not ideal for classroom consumption.
