BuSiNeSs DeALiNgS oF tHe YoUnG & CaNdiLeSs

I'll raise you two Tootsie pops for a Butterfinger. I'm wondering if this Bedouin bartering type behavior happened in anyone else's family?

Halloween trick-or-treating began early in my neighborhood last night. The usual crisp fall air had been replaced by an almost summerish warmth. I lit our pumpkin and my roommate (code name Paddington) and I sat on our porch to enjoy the amazing weather and greet the masked bandits, Dora the explorer, woody, witches and princesses. As we waited for another group of kids to make their way down the street we started ranking our candy offerings by order of desirability. Not surprisingly we had a slightly different order; her top choice was a Snickers whereas mine was Butterfinger...an echo from my childhood.

When I was younger, the day after Halloween was filled with almost, almost, as much excitement as the night before. My brothers and I would dump our mounds of candy onto the floor and (in an O.C.D. like manner) organize our candy by groupings. I would secretly always get annoyed that I ended up with the most smarties and the least amount of butterfingers. Is it possible for a five year old to curse their luck? Well, somehow I did because, see, in our house butterfingers were king.

Once we had lined up our goodies the bartering commenced. My parents would often mediate the last portion of the shrewd business deals to make sure we all ended up with a few priceless butterfingers and the runner-up boxes of nerds as well as the mediocre tootsie pops and smarties (and probably as a way to make sure my swindling older brothers didn't take advantage of me.) Since that time I've had to limit the amount of candy I eat (being a diabetic and all) but every time I see a butterfinger (like last night) I have the sudden urge to hoard them.

What's your #1?