Stash

Hershey’s

In the refrigerator meat drawer, way in the back under the cheese and lunch meat, I found my mother’s stash of Hershey chocolate bars. Three of them. I was probably ten years old, innocently looking for a snack. I gasped. Chocolate—a rare treat in our house. Sometimes we had cookies – chocolate chip or Oreos, and my mother liked to bake cakes– but never solid chocolate in a bar. I couldn’t remember ever getting a chocolate bar except for on Halloween.

Our secret foods

Potato chips are my husband’s biggest weakness, like chocolate is mine. Occasionally I find a small empty, flattened bag of Lays Chips stuffed in the side of the family room chair. He doesn’t want me to know. I toss the crumpled bag out, but keep his secret. I believe we should satisfy our occasional cravings lest we go mad.

After all, I often buy an “Everything Chocolate Chip Cookie” for myself. Soft and thick, with chunky chocolate chips, chocolate candies, broken pretzels and nuts, it’s exceptionally good and so hard to resist. I eat half and hide the rest. Such guilty pleasure. I’ve also been known to pick up an occasional Nestles Crunch at the store and eat it before I even get home. No one will ever know.

Turns out at least half of us hide our favorite treats from the rest of the family, for different reasons. According to one study, 46% of those who had hidden snacks said they simply “don’t want to share,” while 53% said the people they live with would “eat them all” if they knew where to look. If you hide snacks, you’re not alone, so don’t feel badly.

Until someone finds it

 “Hey, what’s this?” I asked my mother as I stood in front of the open fridge, staring at those Hershey bars. I knew well enough not to take a piece of chocolate and risk her wrath. Yet, I sensed deliberate trickery on her part, and doubted she would say say no to sharing.

My instincts were right. She acted nonchalant and handed me a bar. But I never found chocolate there again.

I imagine lots of parents hide treats from their children, who might indiscriminately gobble all the goodies. Apparently two-thirds of American moms admit they have a secret stash.

When I was a girl I snuck an entire bag of unopened chocolate chip cookies into the TV room, intending to eat just a few before my mother could stop me. I ended up eating more than half the bag. Each one seemed to taste better than the last one. Then I felt guilty; I couldn’t exactly hide what I’d done. I confessed. Astonished, she only said “Oh, you shouldn’t do that,” and put the bag away.

So I guess it’s not surprising Mom hid the Hershey’s from me.

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Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist.
Learn more about her award winning novel, In the Context of Love.
Learn more about her picture book, Gordy and the Ghost Crab.
Learn more about her poetry chapbook, Security