I'm in first or second grade and I'm at my grammar school fair. There's a table where they're selling penny candy, and it's being manned by one of the sixth-graders. His breath smells strongly like oregano and tomato sauce from a frozen pizza. I wonder to myself why people like pizza so much. I don't like it at all.
I tell the boy which candy I want and he puts it into a brown paper lunch bag. I see the Flying Saucers for the first time. What are they? Little pastel UFOs that make noise when you shake them. I buy two. He asks me which colors I want, but I don't remember which I picked.
They're a marvel to look at, to shake. Not only a candy, but an amusement as well.
I take a bite. It's like flavorless styrofoam that melts into a pulpy mass in my mouth. Then the little sugary nonpareils mingle with it, giving it some taste. Fantastic!
These little UFOs (or, as they're known in more sophisticated circles, "Satellite Wafers"), are the type of candy that only kids eat. I mean, really, when's the last time you saw an adult with a bag of these? They're in the same category as wax bottles and candy cigarettes: a quintessential childhood/summer candy.
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