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The Bookless Club: The beloved candy dish. Do you have fond memories?

As a kid, he was always eager to visit his father’s favourite aunt. There wasn’t a swing set, or a pony, or pool, or anything that upped the ante in this excursion. In fact, except for one small feature, this relative’s house was an entirely lacklustre destination. Each visit was identical — coffee in the living room followed by his father checking on a wonky door hinge or a weird sound coming from the washing machine.

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Interjected into his aunt’s running commentary about people he didn’t know were tedious questions about his progress at school or inquiries after his dog. Nevertheless, he would put on a good show for his parents and amicably accompanied them on their obligatory visits. It wasn’t that he was a particularly dutiful child. Nope, he says. “I was a completely mercenary lad, and this was an opportunity I couldn’t resist.”

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He gets giddy describing it even now. Apparently, the aunt’s house was festooned with candy dishes. There were humbugs, scotch mints and After Eight chocolates racked like playing cards in their dark-brown envelopes. There were crystal bowls of purple cellophane-wrapped chocolate eclair candies and pastel butter mints. He could depend upon a tumble of Liquorice Allsorts in a shallow dish. She always had a bowl of something delicious called “chicken........

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