Trip to the Candy Shop - Part 1

 Happy April!

Here's a new story for you. It's 3 parts long and I won't tell you what my editor said about it. :P Enjoy it or not.

 

 

The Trip to the Candy Shop

Part 1

    “Are we really and truly going to the candy store, Hannah? Really and truly?” Biddy, in her green and white gingham dress, clutched her cousin’s hand eagerly.
    Hannah laughed. “Yes, really and truly. Since it’s your birthday, you get to pick out a treat.”
    “And Bobby too?”
    “Of course! It wouldn’t be fair to leave Bobby out since it’s his birthday too.”
    “But he’s older than me.” Biddy gave a skip, and her brown braids, tied with yellow ribbon, bounced.
    “Where is Bobby?” Fifteen-year-old Hannah looked around for her younger cousin. “Why don’t you go find him, Biddy, while I get my pocketbook.”
    With a promise to be back soon, Biddy dashed away, and Hannah went to her room. She checked the mirror and made sure her red bow in her hair wasn’t falling out. She couldn’t help smiling at her dress. She loved red, and the white lace collar and the lace on the sleeves and pockets were her delight. Picking up her pocketbook and making sure it held the money needed for a trip to the candy store, she left her room and then sighed as the bow on the back of her dress caught on the doorknob and came untied.
    “Oh, Mother,” she said, hurrying into bedroom where Mother was putting away some laundry, “won’t you please tie my bow again? It got caught on the door.”
    “Of course. Are you going somewhere?”
    “To take Biddy and Bobby to the candy store. Remember?”
    “Oh, yes. I had forgotten you were going to do that today. It will make their day special since they can’t be at home for their birthday. Perhaps I’ll get a cake baked for them while you’re gone.”
    “Oh, Mother, what a nice surprise that would be! They’d love it, I know.” And Hannah turned and kissed her mother’s cheek. “I’ll let them take as much time as they want picking out their candy. And maybe we’ll walk a different way home to give you more time.”
    Mother laughed and nodded. “All right. I’ll start as soon as you are safely away. Now you’d better go. I hear Biddy calling for you.”
    Hannah, pleased that Mother was getting into the spirit of making their young guests’ birthday special, hurried way, happy to do her part. “Do you have a clean shirt on, Bobby?”
    “Why do I need a clean shirt? This one isn’t dirty.” Bobby eyed his blue and white striped shirt carelessly. “We’re just going to the candy store.”
    “But you want to look nice, Bobby,” Biddy said. “Hannah and I look nice. And it’s your birthday.”
    Bobby ran his fingers through his wavy hair and snorted. “You’re girls. And if it’s my birthday, why can’t I dress as I want?”
    Fighting back the desire to laugh, Hannah motioned her cousins toward the door. “I think Bobby’s shirt is clean enough. I didn’t see any grass stains or dirt on it. Goodbye, Mother,” she called.
    Mother came to the hall. “Bye. Have a nice time.”
    The summer sunshine was bright and warm. For a time Biddy held Hannah’s hand while Bobby walked on ahead. It was fun, Hannah thought, to have two cousins to mother and play with for a time. Biddy was six and Bobby seven, and they had come to spend a few weeks at their aunt and uncle’s while their parents took a trip. Hannah didn’t have any brothers or sisters, and this new, though temporary, addition to the household was quite charming.
    “Hannah, which way now?” Bobby called from the street corner.
    “We have to cross the street and keep going straight another block, but wait for us, Bobby!”
    Hopping from one foot to another impatiently, Bobby waited. “I can cross the street myself,” he told Hannah as they crossed together. “I know how to look for cars, and there wasn’t a single car on this street.”
    “I’m sure you can,” Hannah replied with a smile, “but I didn’t want you to get too far ahead of us.”
    Mollified that he wasn’t considered a baby, Bobby slowed his pace a little and let the girls keep up with him.
    “Do you know what you are going to pick at the candy store?” Hannah asked as they neared their destination.
    “I want to see what they have,” Bobby said.
    “Me too,” Biddy agreed.
    “It might be hard to pick,” Hannah laughed. “But you can both spend twenty-five cents.”
    “On any candy?” Biddy’s eyes were large.
    “On any candy.”
    A little bell jingled as Bobby opened the door. He held it open for his sister and for Hannah who thanked him with a smile as she passed through.
    Collective gasps of amazement came from both children as their eyes traveled around the small shop where barrels and boxes, display cases and shelves held nothing but candy, candy, and more candy. There were boxes of chocolates, barrels of small candies to suck on, each onew wrapped in a little plastic wrapper. Taffy of all colors and flavors, chocolate bars, and chocolate bears, chewing gum, and chewy candies, little cakes and packaged cookies, lollipops and gumdrops. All there just waiting to be taken home and eaten until you had a belly ache.
    “Good afternoon, Hannah.”
    “Hi, Mr. Donald. These are my cousins, Bobby and Biddy. Today’s their birthday, so I brought them here to spend a birthday quarter each.”
    The older man, his hair, what little he had left, was white, and his blue eyes beamed from behind his glasses. Leaning on the counter he addressed the two wide eyed children. “Happy birthday. Did you two know that your cousin used to come in here on her birthday and get candy?”
    “Hannah did?” Bobby turned and looked at his cousin skeptically. “Was she ever as little as Biddy?”
    Mr. Donald gave a hearty laugh. “Oh, yes. She most certainly was. And every year she’d look and look and look at all the candy, but every year she always picked the same thing.”
    “What?” Biddy’s voice was hushed in awe.

Have you ever gotten to pick out candy for your birthday?

Did you get to watch the eclipse?

Do you plan to come back and read Part 2 of this story?