A sweet Tale

During that school year, we had a fund raiser to sell candy for one of the auxilliarys. Now, when I was little, I was mentored by the best salesman of all time; my dad! I watched him time after time sell something to someone, and after the deal was made, the purchaser was ever so grateful that my dad had talked them into it. He could sell ice to an eskimo, he could sell religion to the pope, well you get it, he could sell stuff. He had such confidence and I learned that speaking out and making someone feel good about themselves for buying your product was the way to successful sales. I tell you this, because when I received my allotted amount of candy bars to sell for the fund raiser I immediatley remembered an incident that had occurred when I was only 10 years old.
That year, before the children's home, before I was separated from mother and grandmother, before so many things, I attended a school in Atlanta Georgia. I was in the fifth grade and we also had a fund raiser to pay for new playground equiptment. We were selling those chocolate almond candy bars, and back then they went for the outrageous price of fifty cents each. In those days, a child could go door to door to sell candy without worrying about being accosted. In the neighborhood where we lived, most of the houses had formerly been huge Victorian houses, but had then been converted into apartments. Some of the houses were still single family dwellings, and all in all, the neighborhood was quiet and uneventful. There were huge oak trees lining the streets, making a canopy overhead that invited quiet walks in the cool shade. The yards were well groomed and sidewalks and walkways well tended and attractive. On occsasion a family cat would greet you at the edge of a yard or a dog would bark in greeting as you walked by. It was a very pretty area. I decided that I would start out early on a Saturday morning to begin to sell my candy. They were offering incentive prizes, and I wanted to be sure and get one. After all, how could anyone resist inviting chocolate candy bars that were going for such a good cause? Well, lots of people resisted my candy, but on and on I trudged selling one now and then. The day grew warmer and the time passed. I found myself with most of my inventory, and began to worry that maybe I would not be able to sell all of the candy. As I walked along, I noticed a really large house, bigger than all the others. It was a huge white house with three stories, white pillars from roof to porch bottoms, lots of beautiful windows with shutters open on each one. There was lovely landscaping and plants placed artfully next to the wicker furniture that sat further down the porch away from the front door. I thought to myself that those people must have lots of money, and maybe they would like some candy. Remembering my dad and his success, I walked up to the door with confidence. I took a moment to straighten my hair, smooth my dress and arrange the candy in the box. I picked up the box by it's little handles, and rapped smartly on the door. In only a short moment, an attractive man dressed in golfing clothes answered the door. For a second, he seemed very surprised to see a little girl standing there, but then he beamed a megawatt smile at me and cocked an eyebrow. I jumped right in before he could say anything, looking him square in the eye. "Hello, my name is Jodie and I am selling candy bars to raise money for our school to buy playground stuff. I thought that since you lived in such a big house, and let me tell you it is a lovely house, that you must have lots of money. I knew you would want some of this candy, because if you didn't buy any, tonight when you went to bed you would have a hard time getting to sleep thinking about how you let me and the school down. I wouldn't want that to happen to you, so how many of these candy bars do you want?" With each sentence, the man seemed to grow more incredulous. Still smiling, he said he would take the whole box! Then he said, "say little girl, you are quite a salesman! You are very convincing- have you ever thought about what you wanted to do when you grow up? How about politics?" I snorted, "Politics? Shoot, politicians are nothin' but crooks!" (I was repeating what I had heard so many times from my dad). The man roared with laughter and told me he hoped I would change my mind someday. I told him, "fat chance" and then offered my hand to shake in thanks for his generous purchase. As I skipped down the stairs without my box of candy, I thought of the prize I would win for selling the candy. I went home and bragged to my brother about the sale. Later that night when my mother got home, I happily told her about selling the whole box to just one person. She asked who had bought it, and I told her it was the man in that really large white house a street over from us. She looked surprised and asked me exactly which house I was talking about. I clarified the location and she just flopped down on the couch. It turns out that the house I had been to was the Governors mansion. It seems that Governor Carl Sanders himself had answered the door! No wonder he asked me about politics! I haven't changed my mind much about politicians, although there are some good ones, (they are definetly in the minority!), but I will always remember the day that I talked a Governor into buying candy. It turns out that the gift to sell has been handed down to my daughter Jessica, and probably her kids as well. I don't remember how I did with the candy in high school, but I will never forget the candy in grade school!