Sometime before I made my first Holy Communion, it was
Easter and the excitement was palpable. We did not have an Easter egg hunt
or anything like that, but my mother bought each of us a chocolate egg.
These were held in the kitchen, high and out of reach but within view.
My parents went to Mass, as they still do, but at the time they would go separately. My mother in the early morning and my father in the early afternoon. I woke early. My mother had left for Mass. I was
not able to tell the time then. I went to the kitchen to watch TV. At
some point I was joined by my older sister.
I had a small smarties egg
with a tiny cut out puppet on the back of the box. I was eager to craft that
finger puppet, but first I had to empty out the contents. Coaxed on by my sister I
climbed the counter and retrieved my Easter egg from the high shelf. I opened the box and
pulled out the chocolate egg. There was no sign of any sweets and we
were sure there were some. The only possibility then was that they were
inside the egg.
I removed the egg from its wrapper, and with my thumbs
pressed a hole into the shell. The chocolate cracked and fell in. Sure enough, inside there was a little
transparent bag filled with multicoloured smarties. I shared out the
smarties. I was promised that I would in turn receive chocolate and
sweets from my sister@s egg. It didn't happen. We finished the sweets and started on the egg. We chipped, and chipped away at
the egg until there was none left. My mother returned from Mass and
found us on the floor beside an empty box and wrapper. You have eaten
all your egg!? She asked. I had. But it was ok, my sister said she would
share hers. But she didn't.
