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Gumball Rally

An accident with a Coke truck, brings back childhood memories of a gumball machine mishap.

I love reading the sports pages, but something I hate is all the predictable stories. Do I need to continuously read about Eli Manning, and how his brother is Peyton and his dad is Archie? We know this already.

That's why I'm usually able to read the sports section so quickly. After I read that story the first time a few days ago, I don't read it again when it appears days later.

I heard comedian Jim Gaffigan say that when a newspaper has a story, and it says "continued on page 3" he says "Not for me. I'm done with it now."

I can't say I blame him. The stories don't usually hold your interest. And, I hate to admit, that the shorter stories are usually more interesting.

There's one this morning about a Coke truck flipping in Carlsbad, and ruining rush hour traffic on the I-5.

All I kept thinking as I read the 4 paragraph story, is how Coke could've turned a negative into a positive, and done some clever Super Bowl commercial. Maybe show Pepsi truck drivers pulling over, to grab some of the Coke rolling around on the side of the road.

I remember as a kid growing up in Mira Mesa, one day a neighborhood friend ran over telling me about a huge truck accident on Parkdale. I didn't think much of it, until he said "All of the gumball machines in the back flew out, and there's candy and gum all over the place."

I ran out the door without even putting my shoes on.

About three kids were already collecting candy off the ground and eating it. Which I thought, even at age 11, was gross.

As they gobbled it all up, I still had fun looking at all the different colors that sprinkled the sidewalk and street. There was broken glass I was careful not to step in.

Then, in the hedges, I saw something shiny and red. I leaned in to take a closer look. It was the bottom half of two gumball machines. And as I pulled them out, about 40 quarters fell onto the ground.

I screamed with excitement, and the other kids threw down their dirty candy and ran over.

The friend that told me about the gumball machines said, "You should give me a quarter. I'm the one that told you about this."

Why he asked for only one quarter I'll never know. But I gave it to him.

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I love reading the sports pages, but something I hate is all the predictable stories. Do I need to continuously read about Eli Manning, and how his brother is Peyton and his dad is Archie? We know this already.

That's why I'm usually able to read the sports section so quickly. After I read that story the first time a few days ago, I don't read it again when it appears days later.

I heard comedian Jim Gaffigan say that when a newspaper has a story, and it says "continued on page 3" he says "Not for me. I'm done with it now."

I can't say I blame him. The stories don't usually hold your interest. And, I hate to admit, that the shorter stories are usually more interesting.

There's one this morning about a Coke truck flipping in Carlsbad, and ruining rush hour traffic on the I-5.

All I kept thinking as I read the 4 paragraph story, is how Coke could've turned a negative into a positive, and done some clever Super Bowl commercial. Maybe show Pepsi truck drivers pulling over, to grab some of the Coke rolling around on the side of the road.

I remember as a kid growing up in Mira Mesa, one day a neighborhood friend ran over telling me about a huge truck accident on Parkdale. I didn't think much of it, until he said "All of the gumball machines in the back flew out, and there's candy and gum all over the place."

I ran out the door without even putting my shoes on.

About three kids were already collecting candy off the ground and eating it. Which I thought, even at age 11, was gross.

As they gobbled it all up, I still had fun looking at all the different colors that sprinkled the sidewalk and street. There was broken glass I was careful not to step in.

Then, in the hedges, I saw something shiny and red. I leaned in to take a closer look. It was the bottom half of two gumball machines. And as I pulled them out, about 40 quarters fell onto the ground.

I screamed with excitement, and the other kids threw down their dirty candy and ran over.

The friend that told me about the gumball machines said, "You should give me a quarter. I'm the one that told you about this."

Why he asked for only one quarter I'll never know. But I gave it to him.

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