Pulling Chewing Gum

We grew up poor but we didn't know we were poor. Even as poor as we were we had more than some. I had a cousin and her mother and daddy who came to visit us nearly every Friday or Saturday evening if memory serves me correctly. They seemed to not be as poor as we were. They had more than we did financially. I remember I always got hand me down clothes of hers and was so proud of them. My cousin and I were very close. We still cherish our close friendship even today. In fact, I asked her permission before sharing this story and told her I wouldn't call her name. She said she didn't care for me sharing it. You may think I should have better sense than to share it after you read it.

It was the highlight of our week to have my cousin and her parents come visit. My daddy and her daddy would leave on the truck and mother and her sister visited. My cousin and I played together.

I guess I was about nine years old one evening when I saw that my cousin was chewing gum. I never remember having chewing gum as a child until I concocted this game to play with my cousin. She was chewing away on that gum, Juicy Fruit if my memory is correct. You know how good that smells. We were sitting on my bed in the big living/bedroom or front room, when I said, "Let's play pulling chewing gum." She said, "How do you play that?" Remember now, I wanted some chewing gum and she had some. I said, "You get a hold of your chewing gum and stretch it out. I will grab the string in between and put it in my mouth. Then I will pull and you can get some." She was very agreeable to play with me and I was looking forward to chewing gum. She willingly stretched the gum out, and I grabbed a handful sticking it in my mouth quickly. She kept pulling and I kept grabbing until I had the majority of her gum in my mouth. Then she said, "Now you pull." Smarty me said, "No, let's don't play anymore."

The song states, "Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?" Well, I chewed the flavor out of that gum and it rested on the bedpost overnight. I was glad to have gum the next morning.

Oh, the games children can make up. Surely we are the only ones who ever played the pulling chewing gum game. What's that saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention"?