The Corner Store

In the middle of my childhood neighborhood stood a little white building. The neighborhood kids affectionately called it - The Corner Store. When I went to public school in 5th grade I found out the rest of the neighborhood called it Little White's although it's official name was the Grindley Market.

It seemed like such a huge store and the counter seemed even larger. Behind the realistically tiny counter stood not so pretty wooden shelves. Those not so pretty shelves held something very beautiful to the neighborhood children...CANDY.

Every kind of candy imaginable to a kid back in the mid 1970's...bottlecaps, licorice, Milky Way, Snickers (I remember paying 15 cents), Three Musketeer's, Big League Chew, candy cigarettes, Goetz Caramel Creams, smarties, candy necklaces....but the best was the penny candy...Tootsie Rolls and Swedish Fish. My very favoritest being the latter....SWEDISH FISH!

We (me and my BFF Kim) were usually allowed to take a whole Quarter to spend. The whole way there we would talk about what we were going to get. I usually liked to divide mine up - a little of this and a little of that. With a whole Quarter that meant 25 pieces of candy...that could last a loooonnngggg time!

I remember one particular Sunday afternoon. Kim came home from church with me and we took our quarters and walked up to the store. We made our purchasesand walked home. As all children do, we dumped out the goods and began to observe, compare and enjoy our candies. It didn't take long to realize that the lady had given me much more than I had paid for. Wouldn't you know that our lesson in Sunday School that morning had been about honesty? So, we put all our candies back in the bag and walked back to the store. I happily handed my bag to the lady and said, "you gave me too much." Expecting her to be so proud of my honesty I eagerly awaited the praise with a smile on my face. But I wasn't greeted with the praise I had expected. She crumpled down my little brown bag and handed back to me all while rolling her eyes. I was shocked and confused. I thought she would applaud my honesty. But she didn't.

Many years later I realized that she was either in a hurry or didn't want to be bothered with counting out that many fish. If she would have just taken the time to say, "oh that's okay" or "I just guessed". But she didn't. Her bothered attitude led me to believe that honesty didn't always pay or wasn't rewarded. Thankfully I now understand the whole situation - but I didn't for many years.

Just a thought for when dealing with small children. What do you think?