Based on a True Story

Hundred Dollar Candy

June 28, 2023

Read time: 5 minutes

TLDR:

A little boy and his mom search for energy.

We walked along the Dickerson-Kennedy Turnpike and made our way down to the Mutombo Railroad.  A handful of cars flew past us.  I got excited.  It was the first time I had seen cars drive so fast!  Our Chevy Cruze had too many miles and too many holes in it to drive that fast.

My mother held my hand and asked me about my day.

“How was school today, Billy?”

“Great!”

She asked me about what we learned.  We learned our months that day, in order, from January to December.  I told her all about it.

“That’s great, Billy.”  She smiled.  It’s not the same smile she smiled when I was younger.  Her eyes didn’t move with her smile anymore.  It looked like she tried really hard to smile.  Her crow’s feet were more defined and her wrinkles in between her eyebrows stayed in place.  It looked like she was always thinking.

“We sang the Months Song too!”

“That’s great, Billy.”

I started singing:

January, February, March, April, May, June, July!

August-September-October-November-December!

These are all the months we have…Go ahead, give it a try!

January, February, March—

My mother smiled at me.  Her eyes moved a little.

***

We walked along the Dickerson-Kennedy Turnpike until we hit the railroad.  There were handfuls of people all scattered about.  Everyone was doing the same thing. 

We were looking for coal.    

Everyone had a bag or two with them.  One person had a shopping cart.  And everyone was filling their bags and shopping carts with the same blackened coal that was good for picking.  You see, the coal was how we kept warm. 

We walked past a couple of people we recognized.  One of them was wearing browned Nikes and a Detroit Tigers ball cap.  Another person was wearing their work boots and overalls.  Another was wearing a dress.  The man in browned Nikes and a Detroit Tigers ball cap walked towards us.  He took off his ball cap.  “Afternoon, Michelle.”

“Afternoon, Sam.”

“Wow, is that little Billy?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Hello, sir!”  I stuck out my hand to shake.  He gave it a friendly shake.

“Already shaking hands, son.  That’s good.  Boy, the last time I saw you I think you could fit in the palm of your mother’s hand.  Nice to see you, Budd-o.”

The man spoke to my mother.

“How’s everything?”

“Everything is good, Sam.  Everything is good.  How’s Rachel?”

“She’s good.  She’s good.  She’s worked three jobs today, so she’s been busy today.”

"Really?  She have to go far?”

“Eh, yeah she had to take the car out.”

“Sounds like good work.”

“Yeah, yup.  She’s doing some roofing so there should be good money in it.  Long work.  Probably will set up camp out there until the job is done.  No sense driving back.  I told her I could hold the fort down.  We’ll see if they still need her at the end of the day.  I don’t know.”

“What about you?  Anything good lately?”

“Actually, I ought to check up on what’s out there.”  Sam pulled out his phone, scanned the nearest QR Code he could find, and held his camera up to scan the QR code.  We saw his screen.

Street Cleaner

Digitarian

Laminator

Copy and Paster

Email Professional

Lawn Mower

That was just the first few jobs.

“Anything worth it?”

“No, not really.  What about you, Michelle?  Any good work lately?  Anything for Billy here?”  He laughed.

“Same old stuff.”

My mother’s same old stuff usually amounted to fixing electronics.  Usually, I could find my mother fiddling around with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver when I came home from school.  After that, I could find her dumping buckets of water into the street to clean up, serving hot dogs, or mowing lawns.  But she always fiddled around with electronics.

“Always trying to stay busy around the neighborhood,” she said.  “Just keeping our eyes peeled like always.”

***

It was time to go.  But before we left, Sam took a piece of coal out of his backpack and held it to me.  “Here ya go, Budd-o.  Take this one on the house.”

I held my hand out and took the lump from him.

“Thanks, Sam.”

“Did you know,” said Sam to me, “when your mother and I were kids, if you were on Santa Claus’ naughty list, you would get a lump of coal in your stocking.  Can you believe that?”

***

We went on. 

My mother carried the big backpack and I carried the little backpack.  We walked and collected all the coal we could.  We found bits and pieces here and there. 

A train whistle went off in the distance.

“Train!“

"TRAIN!“

"Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrainnnnnnnnn!”

People got out of the way onto the side of the railway.  The train rolled by.  Dust spilled out and the whistle thundered.  Pieces of coal spilled out and we all scavenged for them.  My mother came to me with a handful of coal.  She held it in her hands and up to her belly.  “Here, Billy.”  Her blackened hands reached out to me and handed me a couple of lumps.  “Put this in your bag please.”  We set down our backpacks and put them away for good. 

***

We kept on walking for a little while longer.  It was getting close to dinner time.

“Okay, Billy,” said my mother, “it’s time to go home.”

We walked back towards the Dickerson-Kennedy Turnpike. 

Along the way, the stitching in my mother’s backpack fell apart.  Coal spilled all over.  We were on top of a hill.  The coal tumbled-tumbled-tumbled all the way down.  Her face fell towards the ground.  Then, it stared up into the sky.  She took a deep breath.  She closed her eyes and said, “Jesus.”

I looked up at her and looked at the spilled coal.  I went to go pick it up and her hand stopped me.  “Billy, no.  “Here, Billy, give me your backpack.” 

She took my backpack, held it in her hand, and we walked towards the coal.

“You know what, Billy?” she said.  “Do you want some candy?”

I got excited.  I hadn’t had candy since Christmas. 

“Yes!”

“Here,” my mother pulled out a one-hundred-dollar bill.  “Go to the store, get yourself some candy.  I’ll meet you at home, okay?”

“Okay!”

My mother gave me a kiss and smiled at me.  It had been a long time since I had seen her smile like that.

I thought about all the candy I could have.  One hundred was not going to be enough for some chocolate, but I thought about Twizzlers, Sour Patch Kids, Skittles, and JuJu Fruits.  That day was a great day.

Time for a Joke:

We've been collecting coal for sedimental reasons.