Hey Pretzel King! Don't forget your other
younger apprentice brother!
I am still healing up from the psychological scars from "Scabby",
"Scum-tooth" and the abusive insults hurled at us by waiting
motorists we pandered to.
I was just a mere young lad of 9 years when I was sold to the Pretzel
Merchant Jr by our poor emigrant parents. Every Saturday morning
I was abducted from my warm bed and loaded into the back of Scabby's
truck along with my one or two of my other siblings.
I would be stuffed in the back of this truck cramped between pretzel
baskets without the comfort of seats or the security of safety restraints.
Myself, along with other siblings would then be hurled about in
the back of this truck while the madman pretzel bender recklessly
drove us through the streets of Newark to our destinations.
We would then be unceremoniously dumped at various barren and hostile
outposts with a large woven basket, a card board box and a stack
of empty bags. With a few dollars in change in our pockets and without
benefit of food, water or weapons - we would be left to fend for
ourselves for up to 8 hours.
I recall marching up and down the street hawking stale pretzels
and pandering for quarters in often bitter conditions while sniffing
foul smells and exhaust fumes. At the end of a long and arduous
day - I would often come-up "short" after being robbed
by passing mobs of hoodlums or for want of purchasing some nourishment
for myself in the form of 'Devil Dogs and a Yahoo pop.
Often times at the end of our daily internments - we would have
to walk back home. With a few coins in our pockets - we would often
fall victim to profiteering hoodlums that would steal our hard earned
bounties.
If we were fortune to survive the perils of this journey - we would
go to Hoppers Drug Store and buy (20) 5 cent candy bars for $1.00!
Upon returning home - we would be shaken-down by my parents for
what coins I had remaining in my pockets. I would then sneek-off
in some corner or our house to take refuge from my other siblings
and secretly consume my Hershey Bar Profits!
I too was sold into bondage to the evil Pretzel Bender!
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