Well, I hadn't heard THAT one before, but, intrigued by such a proposition, agreed to go down with her to the corner liquor store where we ususally bought our candy to watch her redeem it. Sauntering into the store, Jan picked up a new Tootsie Roll Pop from the rack and went to the cashier. Before the lady could ring her up, she placed the Indian wrapper on the counter in front of her. "I have a wrapper with the Indian Chief on it." Jan said proudly, 'So that means I can get a free one, right?"
Well, that Chinese lady behind the counter squinted her eyes in a puzzled way and said (in the way only an old Chinese lady could), "EHHH?!"
Hmmm. This wasn't what Jan was expecting. "They said that if the wrapper has an Indian Chief, I can get a free Tootsie Roll Pop?" Jan began again.
The lady slowly but firmly started shaking her head, and pushed the wrapper back to her. Needless to say, we walked out of that store without any free candy THAT Day!
Walking back to the house, I actually felt kind of bad seeing as how bummed out Jan was, but her disappointment wouldn't last long- the very next week I was over at her house, she exclaimed, You gotta see what I got!" She ran into the house and came out with a ziplock bag containing a withered weed or something in it. "Look!" she said proudly- "A Four-Leaf Clover I found in the yard yesterday!" And indeed, upon closer inspection, it WAS! AHAHAHA, That girl was always a true-believer in the wonderment of childhood!
*PS* Growing Up, I'd always wondered just WHERE Jan got it in her head that she could get a free pop with an Indian Chief Wrapper, but going online, I was to find that this was a widely held belief among kids since, like, forever! An early Urban Legend, just for us kids!
And completely false, to boot!
