there was a basket of tootsie pops on the receptionist's stand, so of course i had to take two. all that were left were the chocolate ones, but that's okay because it's been so long since i've had a tootsie pop that i've forgotten what my favorite flavor was. it may very well have been chocolate. though i suspect not, as i generally prefer fruity hard candy to chocolatey hard candy. but interestingly, i do prefer chocolate to fruit. most of the time. ah, but for a really good asian pear. or perfectly ripe berries. or the sweetest of clementines. the problem being, that most of the time you don't know whether the pear or berry or clementine you are about to bite into is going to be sweet and good and ripe. until after you've chosen it over the chocolate and can't go back on your decision.

but i digress.

as i was eating tootsie pop number 2, i remembered that there was something you were supposed to look for on the wrapper--some symbol. i believe the symbol was a star. neither of my wrappers had stars. i don't think there was any reward for finding a star besides the reward of having witnessed a rare occurrence. or even if the tootsie pop people knew about the stars or intended them to be a rare occurrence or perhaps had a big prize factory back in toledo or wherever the company is where kids who found stars got to go to to pick prizes, kinda like willy wonka's chocolate factory, and the prize givers were all just sitting around the prize factory wondering why kids weren't coming to collect. lack of advertising, is what i'd say.