Black Licorice with Papa

 

Now Papa always kept a big 4 ply kleenex in his pocket and a roll of salted black licorice.  Now I was and probably still am a candy loving person.  I love candy and will sneak it, ask for it, and do anything else I can think of to get it.  When I was about 5 my eagle eyes saw a roll of what I knew to be candy in my Papa's hand.  I looked up to him with my biggest love-filled eyes and asked - Can I have one of those? Papa replied that I would not like them as they were salted and did not have sugar in them. 

I didn't care and was now determined to have one of those mystery candies from his pocket.  He asked if I was sure, like very sure I wanted to try them.  I said of course I would.  I love that kind of candy.  Papa knew that I had never had one and so he probably figured that I would try to spit it out at the first chance and never ask for one again.  There was an unspoken rule that if you asked for something, you had to eat it all and not spit it out.  

He gave me one and I popped it in my mouth, black licorice with a huge amount of saltiness.   He was watching me carefully.  I knew he was waiting to say 'I told you so' and I was just as determined that he would not get the chance.  These things you could never just swallow and they were a hard chewy candy so it took time to deal with but I kept at it.  

Papa waited to see me make a face and try to get rid of it but I just smiled and said - this is really good.  I like them a lot.  There was no way that I would admit that these things were awful and that I had finally been given a candy that I didn't like.  

I ate it all and Papa just shook his head and then asked if I wanted another.  I politely told him that I didn't want to spoil my supper and said I would wait for another day.  Of course he thought I would never ask again but he didn't know how determined his granddaughter was.  Every time we were in the garden together I would ask if he had a licorice candy and he would pull out the roll from his pocket and hand me one which I would take and eat.  Funny thing was that over time I came to not mind the salted licorice at all and actually enjoy them.  I can say that every time I would have one, I thought of my Papa.   

I can still find them today if I wish but honestly I don't very often anymore - LOL.