One Piece of Candy

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one piece of candy

“Want some candy?” José held out a brown piece of candy to his friend Pedro as they rode home from school together on the city bus.

“Sure,” Pedro said. He reached out to take the candy and popped it into his mouth.

José picked out a yellow candy from the small bag. The boys were quiet as the bus rumbled along. Their city in Argentina was large. They had a long bus ride each day to get to school. José’s mamá always gave him money to buy a little bag of candy to help pass the time.

“Want some more?” José held out a handful of brown candies.

“Yeah, thanks!” Pedro said. “Why don’t you like them? They’re really good.”

José paused for a moment to think and licked his lips. “I guess because they are coffee flavored.”

“Why don’t you like coffee flavor? It’s so good.”

“Well, I’m a Mormon, and we don’t drink coffee, so I guess I’m not used to the flavor.”

Pedro looked confused. “What’s a Mormon? And why don’t you drink coffee?”

“A Mormon is someone who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We believe that God wants us to take care of our bodies, so we don’t drink coffee, tea, or alcohol. And we don’t smoke.”

“But this is just candy,” Pedro said. “It’s not real coffee.”

“I know,” said José. “But I still don’t want to eat it.”

Pedro nodded. “Well, you can give me all the brown ones. What else does your Church teach you?”

“Every Sunday we go to church and learn about Jesus and Heavenly Father. We also learn lots of fun songs. Actually, all of the kids are going to sing and talk in our Church meeting this Sunday. Why don’t you ask your mom if you can come to church with me? You can meet the missionaries too.”

“OK,” Pedro said. “Do they have any coffee-flavored candy they want to get rid of too?”

José laughed. “No, but they have something even better to share!”