Outside My Office Window

OUTSIDE MY OFFICE WINDOW By: Robbie Pryor

Pryor, Priest & Harber

RAISED ON SUGAR

I’ve never been a cheater. But, I’m cheating. I didn’t want to, and it came as such a surprise. I’ve always been loyal to those I love, never wavering. But, then Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop opened on Market Square. Oh, my days.

I live within steps of Mast General Store, a beautiful store of cool clothes, shoes, games, etc. It is my favorite store in Knoxville. Within Mast is what I call “The Candy Store.” For the last three years I have found myself timing my walks to and from home based on Mast’s operating hours. I have a sugar addiction. I don’t deny it.

I was raised on sugar. However, I didn’t know how much sugar was flowing through my body or that my intake was out of the ordinary until one morning in fifth grade when I spent the night at a friends house. “Robbie, do you like Cream of Wheat?” asked my friend’s mother. “I love it!” I said. When she placed her “version” of the American breakfast staple, I was in shock. It was white. My Mom’s Cream of Wheat was yellow. I forced it down unbelieving of the bland taste of the porridge and promptly called my mother to come get me. The difference, I later discovered, was butter and sugar, lots of it, and the lesson stuck - Butter and sugar make everything better. When I put the first Sweetart in my mouth one Christmas morning in 1976, my life took a turn. The warm days of spring and summer were spent jumping on my bike along with my brother and neighborhood friends and flying down Heritage drive to the local White Store where a row of shelves stocked with Bottlecaps, baseball cards, Sweetarts, Jolly Ranchers, Fun Dip, Hubba Bubba Bubblegum, Pixie Sticks, Blow Pops, Gummy Bears, Ring Pops and Gobstoppers waited. We spent all the money given to us on candy and baseball cards.

Sugar didn’t come only by way of candy and the regular infusions into my daily meals - it came in liquid form. Mountain Dew, Coca Cola, Kool-Aide, and Sprite were my go-to’s. My mother would take us to Smoky Mountain Market on Chapman Highway and we would enter to the huge Coolers with stacks of shaved ice that exposed the tops of Fanta Grape and Orange Crush bottles. The colors of the liquid inside the bottle enhanced by the ice crystals illuminated the front of the market. I’d leave with a loaded chili dog, and Orange Crush and a watermelon Blow Pop. Heaven on Earth.

As an adult, my candy intake only increased, especially when I began making my own money. As the years passed I was always on the lookout for the old candy, the good stuff. When I discovered Mast, and in particular, the Candy Store, I was transported back. Near the back of the store are a great many of the old favorites and some of the more modern choices (let’s call it millennial candy), like sour straws, nerds and skittles (great developments no doubt). They have the largest selection I’ve ever seen. When the clerk is ringing up my order, I always draw a look of concern. “Santa needs some stocking stuffers,” I say. “It’s July,” is the response. “Just wrap it up, kid. I have places to be.” It is my store. I have my own basket I fill up as I peruse the delectables. So committed I have been that the staff knows my name, like Norm at Cheers. I want to be where everybody knows my name. I can hear them when I come in, gathering one another - “Here comes the Candy Man.” I noticed the shop near Tupelo Honey while I was walking through the Square. I wondered what good restaurant we might get downtown. I travel through Market Square on almost a daily basis. I noticed a different setup begin to develop inside and thought it might be a clothing shop. When I saw the announcement of the grand opening of Rocket Fizz, I became excited. It was the first day of stocking that convinced me something special was afoot. Then I saw the installation of coolers and the colors began to flow in. When I looked in the window and saw them stocking the shelves with candy I couldn’t sleep for two days. Then, the grand opening. On my first visit, Nancy and Rosie (the dog) waited outside. Five minutes in, I had to step back outside to catch my breath. Inside are two large coolers full of every sugary-flavored sodas on the planet. All the colors of the world, the very colors of liquified sugar light up the building. The rows of candy are an homage to the 1970’s and include every solidified sugar hard candy to the modern day. If there were a class called The History of Candy I would be the professor and hold classes in Rocket Fizz. I would list the candy choices here, but you get the idea, and I’m not allowed due to blood pressure concerns. I will say that the highlight of the store is a selection of almost every Haribo product ever made. In my will, I have instructed my personal representative to spread my ashes on the third row, near the basket of Blow pops.

A new year needs resolutions, and after a great deal of thought, mine is to return to Mast. There is room for both in my life. They do have Charms Balls and a better rock candy selection than Rocket Fizz, and they know my name. Bill, who works the counter almost saw me walking in Rocket Fizz the other day. I ducked in behind an umbrella at Tupelo. It was a close call. When I finally entered Rocket Fizz, Clara said, “Hey Robbie, we got that shipment of Haribo Roulettes in.”

I can’t live like this.