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THE NARRATIVE ARC
There Was Never a Simpler Time
We lived in poverty, but candy made things sweeter
My cousin came up with a brilliant business plan: We could raise candy money by selling our old clothes and toys to the neighbors. Always eager for candy, I quickly agreed. We each gathered up an armload of stuff we didn’t want and became traveling salesgirls.
As I recall, everyone was glad to buy something from us. Our venture was a success!
I have always thought this was a happy memory until I started thinking about it today.
We lived in a town of 200
In those days, the town had only one store in town — a gas station with a big glass case full of penny candy. I thought it was called Newby’s, but when I just looked it up, I saw it was actually called the Texaco Service Station.
I never heard it called that in my life.
In the 1970s, you could get a whole paper sack full of treats there for about a quarter. I don’t remember how much candy we got on our first day of business, but I do remember it was also our last day of business. My mom put an end to our lucrative venture.