Starsky was almost bouncing up and down in his seat and Hutch was beginning to have sympathy with moms with toddlers in the car. Hutch parked.
“Calm down Starsk.” He snapped.
“Hey come on Hutch. This is the best candy store in the city. If we don’t find something for the Dobey’s tree here we won’t find it anywhere else.”
“They had already been to three other ‘best candy stores in the city’ that day and in each one Starsky had been disappointed. “It used to be bigger.” He said of the first. The second store elicited the response ‘The candy canes aren’t red enough.” And as for the third – it had become a Korean grocery store when Starsky’s back was turned and although he spent about ten minutes inspecting the goodies – he wasn’t going to find anything for the Dobey’s tree there. The he remembered the candy store near his Uncle Al’s place and he directed Hutch through the back streets and short cuts.

Hutch parked in front of the block of stores and stared at the candy store. It was like something out of an old movie. The window was full of big jars with all kinds of hard candy in them. There were lollipops the size of hubcaps and licorice strings and all kinds of things that Hutch had so often drooled over and been forbidden. “Those things are bad for your teeth Kenny.” “Nice little boys do not chew bubble gum.” “You’d only chocolate marks on the car seat now.” All his mother’s kill-joy blandishments echoed through his head. He followed Starsky into the store.

The woman behind the counter was straight out of the Wizard of Oz or some movie like it. She was tiny with gray hair pulled back in a tight knot. Her rosy cheeks seemed to glow and her smile could rival Starsky’s to light up the street as the night began to fall outside. Starsky tapped Hutch on the arm. “I can’t believe she’s still here. She must be nearly one hundred years old.” His surprise wasn’t over yet.
“David, how nice to see you again. Now that isn’t Harvey so I guess you must have made new friends.”
Starsky stopped in the middle of the store.
“Well no ma’am, this is Hutch, we’re partners – cops.”
“I knew you’d follow your father’s footsteps.”
Hutch whispered in Starsky’s ear. “I guess everyone knew why you came out here, right?”
Starsky’s eyelids fluttered; a sign that he had been thrown off-guard. “No, I don’t think she ever knew about dad.”

Starsky walked over to the counter. “I need your very special help ma’am.”
“Well now David, if I remember you were always keen on chocolate. I think I have some of your favorite right here.” She reached under the counter and produced a bar of the chocolate that Starsky had been raving about for the past few months. Even Hutch liked it. Both cops looked at one another; they didn’t need to speak…this particular chocolate bar had only been launched six months earlier.
Starsky didn’t miss a beat. “Thank you ma’am. But it isn’t for me. I’m looking for something really special to decorate a friend’s Christmas tree.”

“Well let me think. Little Rosie likes soft centers doesn’t she? And Cal likes peanut butter. Enid enjoys fruit flavors. And as for Harold…well he should watch his waistline but it is Christmas after all.”
Hutch shot a look at Starsky who was staring at the old lady behind the counter.
“As for young Kenneth here, I’m sure he would like something traditional, like fudge maybe…and as we know if it has chocolate, David will eat it.”

Fudge…it was one of the few sweet things Hutch had been allowed as a child. The housekeeper made it for his birthday every year and he still retained the memory of the way it melted in his mouth. But how did this old lady know about that?

Starsky smiled at her. “What do you recommend then ma’am?”

She pulled a big glass jar from a shelf behind her. “Now let me see. Yes I think eleven will be the right number. One for each day of Christmas except the twelfth day when the kings arrive bearing more gifts.”
She tipped the jar and started to count out eleven candies each one wrapped in a bright colored foil.
Starsky grinned. “Candy Kisses, of course.”