Grandma's Teeth

I don't know what jogged my memory of this the other day, but once in a while it pops into my head.

Right after my Grandpa Hendricks died, in 1992, Hal and I stayed overnight with my grandma to help her do a few things and so she wouldn't be alone.

Quite late at night, probably around 11:00 or so, I started craving a sweet treat. I knew where my grandpa usually hid a stash of caramels, his favorite candy, and I figured there would probably still be some there because he hadn't been gone very long. (Though caramels aren't my favorite, so I must have really wanted something sweet or hoped that there might be other candy hidden there as well.)

I sneaked out to my grandma's kitchen as quietly as I could, so I wouldn't wake her up. Then I opened the cupboard and reached in. I found a glass there, in front of the usual candy containers. I went to move the glass to the countertop so I could get to the candy and something splashed on me. In the dim moonlight I examined the glass a little closer to see what the deal was when I realized what was in it, a pair of teeth! It scared the daylights out of me. (I don't know why it scared me so badly, I was used to seeing my other grandparents' teeth in glasses in their bathroom.) I think I even squealed a little bit. I hurriedly set the glass back and ran back into the guest room and jumped under the covers.

At the time, not thinking clearly, I really thought that my grandma had put her teeth there to scare me away from eating all her candy (which is funny because she is my "nice" grandma - maybe that's why it was so scary to me, because it seemed so out of character for her).

Now that I am a lot of years away from the situation, I bet she put them there to hide them because she was embarrassed and didn't want us to see her teeth. It was just rotten luck for both of us that I happened to have such a bad sweet tooth.

I still get a little chill thinking about the whole ordeal.