Episode 12: Sweet success

I started going out trick-or-treating in Edmonds without my parents in about 2nd grade. There really was nothing to fear and there were no limits on where we could go or how much candy we could reap. My friends and I would carry pillowcases to collect our bounty of candy, usually stopping at home at least once to dump out the heavy bags and head out again. One year, we even changed costumes and went back to the same houses a second time. I must have been destined to go into accounting, because once I had my stash for the night, the first thing I did was to write up an inventory of what I had. I carefully sorted and counted each piece and even traded my sister for the candy I didn’t like, which was anything with coconut in it. Once I knew how many total pieces of candy I had, it was an easy calculation to figure out how many pieces I could eat each week if I wanted it to last until the next Halloween. I kept what I later learned is called a “perpetual inventory” by changing the number of Snickers bars, for example, each time I ate one. At any given time, I always knew exactly how many pieces of each kind of candy that I had left.

Unlike me, my sister scarfed down all her candy in the first few days, then would come begging to me for my candy. Occasionally, I would sell her a piece, but I rarely just gave one up willingly. That’s why I was sure she was the culprit when I discovered one day that the physical count of my Snickers bars didn’t match my inventory. I stormed into her room, screaming accusations at her and telling her she was to stay out of my candy. Mom overheard the fight and came in to find out what was going on.

Mom quickly figured out why I was so angry with Debra and stepped in between us to stop the fight. When I wouldn't back down, Mom finally blurted out, "It wasn't Debra who took your Snickers! It was me!"

Episode 13: So teed off

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