Ann Flavored Kisses

Despite all the hype, my first kiss was forgettable; but I never forgot Ann. After our date, Ann ascended the stairs to her home. On the second or third step she stopped, then turned around, our height disparity erased. Ann's receptive manner secured my confidence. Then I kissed her. A kiss I soon forgot, like kissing cardboard.

My analytical self mused out loud, "You're the first girl I ever kissed."

"Why'd you say that?" was her surprised response. Then Ann regained her composure. "Lick your lips" Ann demonstrated and I copied. Then Ann waited for me to kiss her again. Moisture conducts electricity, that much I knew from science, but the psychological effect? I'd never imagined.

It's funny where the mind goes when it gets lost. Like buried treasure my mind unlocked a hidden childhood memory. In the best of all possible worlds, it was the girl next door who had shown me how to pick a vine flower, nip off the tip of a sprout at the back, then sip out the nectar. It tasted sweet, like diluted honey, but without the bee spit. That was my brain's closest approximation to my second kiss, and in hindsight it proves that nobody can make you happy. Although, in my mind, Ann indirectly benefited from my past pleasant memories, she was directly involved only in our shared experiences, and they were great.

Ann and I swapped warm, sweet, nectar flavored, saliva. Together, we repeated this twilight ritual on several occasions, with reproducible results. Either Ann told me or I'd imagined two revelations. First: Binaca breath drops was the secret ingredient in Ann flavored kisses. Second: girls gather in restrooms to share Ann's secret.

A recent Internet search uncovered three flavors of Binaca: Peppermint, Spearmint, and Wintergreen - not a hint of Ann among them. In the best of all possible worlds two wishes come true. First: Binaca reintroduces the secret ingredient in Ann flavored kisses, or if it never existed they invent it. Second: when girls gather in restrooms they share the secret of Ann flavored kisses, or if they never did they do from now on.