THE ENTREPRENEURS

 "A bad day eating candy is better than a good day eating salad..." -unknown

Way back when,  when we were ten, my friend, Dora and I,  decided we  needed to make some money. In which to buy candy. In particular, Ring Pops. The kind you stuck on your finger. The allowance we both had was not enough. A quarter a week did nothing to assuage our  habit.  

So we became entrepreneurs…….

First we made Macaroni  Toilet Roll dinner napkin holders.  We glued elbow macaroni onto as many toilet tolls as we could fine, painted them  wild colours, then sprinkled  with gold glitter . Luckily Dora’s older sister had a stash of glitter tubes she wouldn’t miss. 

We made about 20 and sold them, for 15 cents each,  to other ten year olds  at school. Unfortunately, within a day, the macaroni had fallen off and there were some returns. We promptly reglued the pieces and passed them back.

We made enough to go to  the corner store during lunch time. The lady who owned it, a Mrs. Bunson, himmed and hawed at our extravagant purchase of 4 Ring Pops, and 12 candy straws ( they were cheaper). Mrs. Bunson accepted our coinage, dropping it into the cash register with gusto. 

As we  got back to school, some of our customers were waiting with cranky looks. To appease them crowd we shared our sweet loot  and were left with one half of a candy straw. Back in the classroom,  the teacher took all of the candy away. Even the broken candy straw.  She  locked it all in her desk. 

The week after we came up with an enlightening idea. Why not sell raisins? My mother had a bucket of them.  Everyone seemed to like the raisin idea.  We made enough for Candy Cigarettes.  

Next day we bought the Candy Cigarettes  and ended up passing them out. Guess we had to share.  We all got detention when our teacher  noticed  us were “smoking” candy cigarettes while swinging on the swings.

Not to be deterred, I think our best  product was the  Polished Rock we peddled. Didn’t cost a thing . Just some clear nail polish that Dora got from her mother’s dressing table. She  brought three bottles.

We shellacked those babies with a tiny leaf under all the polish. We lugged them to school on the back of Dora’s bike, and charged 30 cents  for the large ones, 20 cents for the small ones. 

They were our BEST items ever. We made enough to get Fun Dip packets, Kool Aid drink Mix packets (it was all the rage to stick  your fingers in the drink mix ) and ( my fav) Sweet tarts. When we got back to school, our teacher was waiting. She made us turn over the candy to her. Then she locked it in her desk. We never saw that candy again. Mrs. Bunson had called the school. Ratted us out at last.

Our mothers got involved. We had to take back ALL of the rocks.  And give them to Mrs. Bunson at the Candy Store.

She had us put them in a row up and down the path. They looked nice, shining away in the sunlight, with their polished tops. A permanent reminder. For years to come.

I always wondered what happened to that candy that was squirreled away in our teacher’s desk. I swore I saw her passing out Candy Cigarettes to the others in the staff room.  I was sure I saw her wearing a Ring Pop. 

But I could be wrong…………

Photographs 2022