Saturday Sweets

We sat in silent anticipation. In the sitting room the excitement was palpable. The sounds of fiddling and concocting, rustling and pouring came from the kitchen dresser.

And the cry went up:

"Eyes closed! Hands in your laps! Little backs straight!"

We sat in a regimented line on the sofa. Eight little eyes squeezed shut. Eight little hands on eight little knees. Four little backs poker-straight.

And the ritual continued as every Saturday before, and many after.

Deprived of the sense of sight, we felt the egg-cup deposited in our hands replete with its precious load of jelly tots, smarties, jelly babies and dolly mixture.

Eyes open we surveyed our prize. Each of us had a singular method of proceeding: one shovelled every morsel straight in and gulped a gooey mixture of sticky sweetness; another savoured each one slowly, allowing the last to dissolve completely before moving on to the next; the third saved them for later, allowing the possibility of gloating to come into play; and the last... she ate a few, saved a few and, invariably, gave a few away.

Life is a little like Saturday Sweets... Which one are you?