Snickers satisfies



I had a Snickers bar for a snack the other day at work. Not one of the new Snickers bars, with all kinds of new stuff added to it. I had the original, old-fashioned Snickers bars. And it was great.

I know that in today’s world of 24 hour CNN and all the other news on t.v., my mid-day snacks aren’t really news-worthy. But you wouldn’t believe how that one little candy bar opened a flood gate in my memory.

First of all, I had forgotten just how good a Snickers bar really is. You’ve got your peanuts, nougat, caramel and chocolate all rolled up in to one convenient little package. If ever there were a billion dollar product that was underrated, it’s a Snickers bar.

When I was young, my grandfather kept a bag of Snickers under the seat of his pickup truck. When I’d go with him to check cows or make a run to the Co-op, he was always good for at least one treat. And if he happened to turn his head for a second, he was good for at least two.

If I’m not mistaken, he was also the one that introduced me to putting peanuts in my coke. Pepsi, I think it was. Whenever I walk in the house nowadays with peanuts in my Coca-Cola, my kids look at me like I’m from Mars. I’ve tried to get them to give it a shot, but they aren’t having any.

As a high school student I worked part time at the little Texaco station here in my hometown. Most evenings I’d put me a Dr. Pepper and Butterfinger bar in the cooler for a few hours. That’s the way to eat a Butterfinger folks, or just about any candy bar, now that I think about it. But it works best on Butterfingers, and there isn’t a better snack in all the land.

See, the trick is to get the Butterfinger bar just cold enough to break easily, but not so cold that it freezes and you have to chip a tooth biting into it.

Thinking about that job at Texaco makes me think about all my buddies that used to stop by and talk to me while I worked. And first girlfriends. And my first pickup truck, a ’78 GMC with a big ol’ homemade iron bumper on the front. We all called it a “cow catcher” bumper, because it reminded you of the big metal thing that trains used to have on the front that protected them from cows on the tracks.

What a great truck, too. Brown with chrome wheels, and you started it by pushing a button. I always thought that was so cool, that I pushed a button to start the truck.

I bought it from a kid that I went to school with, and $10 bucks would allow you to ride around all weekend. Heck, $10 worth of gas wouldn’t get you down the block now.

You know what I miss about those old vehicles? The smell of whatever it was when you started them on a really cold morning. I don’t know if it was gas, or gas mixed with something else, or what. All I know is that I loved cranking that old truck up.

A friend and I were riding around in that truck one night when I pulled out in front of someone and caused a wreck. The first thing I remember thinking when I came to was “Great. I’ve got this big huge bumper on the front, and I get hit on the side. That’s my luck.”

It’s funny- I hadn’t thought of that truck in years. Until I had that Snickers bar for a snack.



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