Once you have your first taste of chocolate there's no going back! From the beginning it was never anything but obsession. I don't remember much of my first candy experience but I sure as hell remember my first chocolate bar.
My great grand parents used to keep a bevy of snacks and goodies in bowls on top of several off-white doilies in the dinning room. Their collection rivaled that of any candy store I had ever seen. There were all sorts of colored jelly beans, peanut brittles, licorice medallions, caramels, mints, taffies, gumdrops and chocolate.
From the moment we arrived I would begin to stalk those bowls as if they were wildebeest at the watering hole. While no one was looking I would bound out of hiding from under the dinning room table, snatch handfuls of wrapped goodies, and bolt for the back door and out into the yard. It wasn't until I rounded the garage that I would open my fist to see what I managed to pillage.
My first chocolate bar was a Hershey Bar (milk chocolate). I remember this because of the shiny gold wrapper and the fact it was all I manage to steal on that particular run. It felt big in my hands as if I stolen a gold bar from Fort Knox. I distinctly remember looking around for security guards, police, swat teams.....my parents.
Once I peeled the foil back and stuck the bar in my mouth I thought I had bitten into a volcano, a sort of chocolate Vesuvious. Each bite was like another fiery blast to the senses. Did I take my time to savor my victors....nope, I gobbled it up on the spot. In this null and void there is only chocolate, a deep whiff and the olfactories had kicked in, it was maddening. I must have looked like a cocaine addict rubbing my gums with the melted chocolate from my fingers.
After it was all over I just stood there looking at the wrapper. It was a magical moment. Everything felt friendly, inviting, soothing. Even the grass along the garage seemed to be waving at me. From then on I knew things would be different.
