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Candy was my greatest weakness, It felt like Christmas every time I was lucky enough to get my grubby little hands on a chocolate candy bar or better yet, a handful of bubble gum. Some way, I don't know how, but I usually managed to score some type of candy just about every day. So thanks to my grandma, I was convinced that I would end up being the only little girl with false teeth. I freaked out at just the thought of my grandma's teeth sitting in their little container on her sink. She used to tell us kids, " See what happens when you eat too much candy!" Of course I believed her, she had the proof!

I learned at a very young age how to make a trade among my little friends, especially if there was the slightest chance that somewhere down the line candy would be involved. This one particular mid summer day was no exception. My twin brother, Terry and I along with Angie and David the neighbor kids had busied ourselves at digging a huge hole out in their side yard. We were building a swimming pool. Mom's plastic picnic table cloth was laid down to keep the water in the hole from disappearing. It actually worked for about 5 minutes, but to us kids it seemed like hours! Talk about a mud fest. I guess all the creamy mud got me thinking about some creamy chocolate candy. Eventually all the squealing got noticed by mom and we were ordered to fill up the hole and hose ourselves off. After obeying mom's orders I directed my attention back to my candy craving. I ran a quick mental inventory of all my valuables worthy of trade. As I walked past nice old Ms. William's back porch, I innocently just happened to notice that she had an awful lot of pop bottles. Pop bottles! That was it! Maybe just maybe she'd be willing to trade something with me for some of them pop bottles. I ran into the house, the screen door slamming behind me. I found a plastic ring to offer her for trade on the pop bottles. She would just love it. I was sure she would gasp,"Well, I declare young lady I've never seen anything so beautiful in all my days!" I flew down the stairs and straight over to her back door. I made sure to knock loud enough to wake the dead, cause she was probably hard of hearing too like grandma. I waited... I could hear shuffling feet approach the door. I suddenly began to feel a little twinge in the pit of my stomach as I realized this was going to be my very first trade with a real grown up! What if she ran me off! Grown ups were always doing that to us kids. I swallowed looking up to see her looking down at me there through the window. Slowly she opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. I nervously presented my deal to her, showing off the ring and pointing to the pop bottles as I spoke. She paused for a moment then gave a big toothless grin. " Sweetie, I'm saving up them there bottles to help buy me some new teeth." she explained grinning toothless.

That day I learned the truth about grandma's false teeth, but I also got my first job hauling Ms. William's bottles every week down to the neighborhood store for candy money.

Learn more about this author, Teri Tolliver.
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