Peter

I grew up eating Frosted Flakes.   I can't even begin to tell you how many bowls I have eaten.   It is my favorite cereal.   But lately I have been eating Special K.   My favorite is the Special K with cinnamon and pecans.

A very close runner-up is the vanilla flavored with almonds.

There is a tremendous variety.

I was looking at the different types of cereals.   I remembered my struggles with the Rice Krispies.

Being a gourmand I like to fill my bowl with cereal.   This presents a problem when I pour the milk into the bowl because the rice krispies are so buoyant they float and start spilling over the sides of the bowl before I have put hardly any milk in.   As I pour in more milk, more rice krispies spill over the sides of the bowl.   I use my hand to gently push the rice krispies down into the milk and (you guessed it) even more rice krispies spill over the sides of the bowl.   Now there are rice krispies all over the table around my bowl.    I know, put less rice krispies into the bowl, but remember I am a gourmond and so I like my bowl full.   Then I spied a rice krispie cereal that I had not noticed before,   Rice Krispies Treats.

Oh boy, did that bring back memories.   When I worked at Disneyworld, the management gave Rice Krispie treats shaped like snowmen and Christmas trees to the employees during the Christmas season as a treat.   They were sealed in plastic and were sold in the gift shops.  Disney always seems to be giving unexpected treats to its employees which makes working there even more pleasant.   We had a small office where we would take our breaks.   I ate my Christmas tree shaped rice krispie treat with gusto.    It was good.   Over the next few days I noticed that there was a rice krispie treat sitting on top of our small refrigerator.   Someone had written something on it but it was smudged and I couldn't make out what was written.   After it had been there for almost a week I figured that nobody wanted it and so I ate it.    It was just as good as the first one that I had had.   A couple of days later a coworker named Peter came into the office and said "Who took my rice krispie treat."   I felt terrible and immediately told him that I had eaten it because I didn't think that anyone wanted it.  He said that he had written his name on it.   I told him that I had seen some writing but that I couldn't read it because it was smudged.  He seemed disappointed over not having his rice krispie treat.   Peter had been in the military during the Vietnam war.   He was an army ranger.   The best of the best but unfortunately he stepped on a land mine which took both of his legs off up to the hip.   Now he was in a wheelchair.   He handled this very well but my eating his rice krispie treat made me feel like Attila the Hun.   I ate Peter's rice krispie treat shaped like a Christmas tree!   Yes, to make matters worse I had done this at Christmas time.   I was "lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut" as they say.   I went to the nearest gift shop and bought a replacement and gave it to him.   I had to appease my conscience.   Atone for my error.    I apologized to him profusely and he laughed.   Peter really was a very nice person and an inspiration to everyone.   Never again did I ever eat anything that wasn't mine, even when it had been sitting around for a long time.   So here I am with the Christmas season upon me and the incident with Peter came to mind when I saw the rice krispie treats cereal.   Have a nice day and if you happen to feel bad, just get a soft serve ice cream cone (preferably the large size and waffle cone) and everything will seem better as you eat the ice cream.   It works for me!   Take care and enjoy yourself.      Lew