The Case of the Missing Chocolate

We were ragged children, walking to school in the snow and bitter cold. We dreamt of cola but drank water and tea. Our sandwiches were two pieces of white bread glued together by margarine and jam.

Every morning my Mom would send me off to school with a Hershey’s kiss at the bottom of my lunch bag. I loved those kisses! I would suck on each one slowly till it melted and disappeared. I kept the shiny wrappers in my pockets so I could smell them whenever I was hungry or failed an exam.

You can imagine my surprise when one day after lunch I fished deep into my lunch bag and found – nothing. The chocolate kiss was gone. I had seen Mom pack it in the morning. Had I eaten it without even noticing? Impossible. The next day it went missing again. And the day after that as well.

In the playground, I heard Sue complain that someone had been taking chocolates from her lunch box. Peter too! Soon everyone was chiming in like church bells – “We have a chocolate thief!”

We would have suspected Billy, of course. Billy spoke through his nose and wore a funny yellow cap. Everyone made fun of him. He was so crazy about chocolate that we nicknamed him “Billy Chocolate”. But Billy couldn’t have been the chocolate thief – he was ill with pneumonia and in the city hospital.

I had a plan. At recess I just climbed the old maple tree in the schoolyard. I could see our entire classroom. It didn’t take long.

Celia? Celia was the kindest girl in our class. How could she be the chocolate thief? But sure enough, there she was, going through our lunch bags. She removed the chocolates and carefully stored them in a bag she always had with her.  I had caught her brown-handed!

All day long I wondered what she was up to. After class I stayed behind and climbed the tree again. I saw her write a short note. I followed her as she left school.

The city hospital? What was she doing there? When she came out, her bag was empty.

I never told anyone what I had seen. When Billy recovered and came back to school the stealing stopped. Many years have passed since then. Everyone forgot. Even me.

Last week I ran into Billy at our school reunion. “I will never forget Celia,” he said. “Do you remember when you guys threw me in the ditch and I got sick with pneumonia and almost died? Every day after school she would come visit me with a bag of all the chocolates that the class sent me together with a get well note. That kindness helped bring me back to life.”

I said nothing but felt my face glow like a red tomato.

“Oh, and by the way,” he smiled. “A special thanks to you. Your Hershey kisses were the best of all.”

Chocolate

Chocolate was a bitter beverage used by ancient Mayans and later the Aztecs in Mexico thousands of years ago. The Spanish colonizers of Mexico brought chocolate back to Spain where the addition of sugar or honey turned it into a sweet, popular drink. Chocolate bars are a more modern invention, dating back to the mid nineteenth century.

Chocolate is produced from the beans of the cocoa tree. The trees require warmth and moisture, and grow near to the equator in Central and South America and Africa.   After the beans are collected, they are allowed to ferment for up to a week. Would you have guessed that without the activity of microorganisms, chocolate would not be chocolate?

After the fermented beans are roasted, they are crushed and turned into a liquor that goes into the many chocolate products that we cherish and love.

Hershey started making its famous kisses 113 years ago. More than 70 million are produced every day!