Breaking Off A Piece

It took a five-minute drive from the exit after the Iron Skillet on I-94 in Wisconsin to find, but the gas station convenience mart had a phenomenal candy bar aisle.

After a seven-minute perusal, I carried my bounty with both hands. There were only one and a half people in the checkout line at the mart, a young mother and her little girl. One had a handful of scratch-offs, another sported a baseball cap made of denim.

They paid, then turned to leave. I smiled and nodded as they walked past me to the door. The mom smiled back with eyes squinted in perplexion.

The girl looked a little jealous.

The bell on the door jingled as I dropped my cornucopia of sweets onto the counter. The checkout gal looks at me.

“Havin’ a movie night?”

“Ah … no. Heh, just have a bad … just, uh, work for a candy company. Always am bringin’ stuff in to the boys for inspiration.”

“Ah, that’s a fun job to have!”

“Yeah, it’s uh, a real tough business to break into, but the perks are pretty good.”

“What’s it called?”

“It’s, um, a … It’s called (cough) sorry … um, BlackHawk Candies. … “It’s a startup in Chicago.”

“Oh. Great.”

…

“That’ll be $27.38.”

…

Tasting Notes

– The Trader Joe’s very dark chocolate with almonds is just as bitter as its non-almond counterpart, but a little more balanced. The almonds cut a little bit of sweetness in to the very bitter dark chocolate. Not one I could eat a ton of, but tasty.

– I have no idea with what sorcery Chewy Sprees are made, but they are fun and I like them.

– Checkout gal, if you are on this page because you googled BlackHawk Candies, I am sorry I lied to you.