A LITTLE GIRL AND A CANDY BAR

THE BABY RUTH CANDY BAR EPISODE

One bright, sunny afternoon when
I was about eight or nine years
old, Dad was going to take a load
of wheat to the grain elevator
and it was quite a
distance to ride in a wagon pulled
by two horses.   He thought
I would keep him company on that
long trip. I was delighted he asked
me to go so I could spend a little
time with him all by myself. No
doubt I jabbered like a magpie all
the way there.

While the men at the grain elevator
unloaded the wagon....they scooped
off the load as they had no
automatic equipment back then...Dad
and I went into the elevator office
and got a drink of water. While in
there I spotted a candy bar machine.
Dad probably took his last nickel
and dropped it in the machine.
I chose a BABY RUTH and in those
days candy bars were huge. Sure
got a lot for a nickel.

I remember as we crawled back up on
the seat of the wagon to head home,
I unwrapped that delicate morsel.
How exciting to have a whole candy
bar for myself. I remember taking
one huge bite and as I chewed up
the nuts and swallowed, I looked
down at the candy bar in my hand
and there were huge, white worms
crawling out of those peanuts.
What a horrible sight and I threw
the candy bar over the side of
the wagon.   Talk about upset..
not only that I had eaten the
worms, but that I had to throw
the rest of that delicacy away.
I think my jabbering stopped and
I was quiet the rest of the way
home.

In those days, with no air
conditioning, it was hot in the
office where the candy machine
was located and so few people
had extra nickels to use for
candy, that bar had probably
been in the machine a long time.
Anyway, long enough to get wormy
and ruin a little girl's after-
noon.

For years, I would look at the
Baby Ruth candy bars and have no
desire for one....I always imagined
worms crawling out of the peanuts. As
time went on I decided to buy
one and sure enough, it wasn't
wormy, and it tasted great. They
are much smaller now, but once in
awhile, I buy one just for "old
times sake".....