A Life In Gum

having grown up with a smoker for a father i have most certainly inhaled my fair share of second-hand so i never fell for the allure of big tobacco & the kool kids still, there have been parts in my life where i have found myself chewing--- i must admit, large quantities of gum have passed through my life in spurts leaving holes of gumless moments--- the furthest back i remember chomping on big red--- dad would drive to a gas station & i’d always ask for a pack if i remember correctly, the packs always had an odd number of sticks, still, all covered in sugar, my teeth would have completely rotted out of my head if i continued big red until this present day--- i don’t remember any special visual ad that struck me which might have made me invest so much time & effort into its chewing but without squinting my eyes to remember that theme song is still there right behind my retinas “longer with big red---that big red freshness lasts right through it--- your fresh breath goes on and on while you chew it...etc.” advertisers are as close to any concept of ”satan” that could truly pass in this ephemeral life little league will force any kid to stuff big league chew in your mouth until all your friends start doing the real stuff & maybe you decide that you don’t want your face to rot off because you fill your mouth with dripping wet excrement & then promptly spit it out afterward uck. there were the days where my idiot best-friend & i would try to see how much cinnamon bubble tape we could shove in our mouths before it burned so much we had to spit it out--- then, of course, they came up with the bubble puck, which was nothing more than just one huge hunk of gum the size of a hockey puck, so of course, we just shoved that whole thing in our mouths trying to cram another in, and alas, to no avail, we would promptly spit it out as well i can’t remember when i wised up to the fact that continued chewing of sugar gum would take all my teeth, but i did--- and so the other spurts of gum chewing throughout has been filled with the sugarlesses--- and of course, they are going to give you cancer.