Tootsie rolls

I used to think tootsie rolls were a sell-out, not-worth-your-time candy. On Halloween night, after several hours' worth of intense trick-or-treating effort, my brothers and I would wade through massive piles of our newly acquired candy. Inevitably, I would have thousands upon thousands (I'm certain of it) of tootsie rolls, which, every year, I'd pile up into a frustratingly tall pyramid. Oh, the candy that could've filled their spot in my bag! Oh, the sad laments of youth!

The tootsie roll's fate was not noble. They'd either be traded for something - anything - more appealing from a brother's loot (usually I got rocked in the trade - 10:1 or some ridiculous exchange rate like that). Or, when that didn't work, I'd give them as an offering to The Mom (who made her living collecting trick-or-treat "fees" after we checked out our haul each Halloween night) to keep her sampling fingers out of my precious snickers or skittles.

ANYway, I share this background with you only to say that I think my taste buds have advanced over the years, and, just like with tomatoes and green peppers, I now find the tootsie roll quite a delectable treat. In my new, very mature frame of mind, I can in no way mock the sincerity and valiance in which the following hoard was both collected and guarded: