12 APRIL 2016 LIQUID CANDY enemy or scapeg oat? He was about four, dressed in inappropriately thin clothing for the crisp early Monday morning weather…and barefooted. That was what initially drew my attention to him; that, and his evident nervousness. Something you rarely see in little children. His dark eyes were gobbling up the lollies placed strategically at face-level in the suburban dairy. I could almost see his brain ticking over, working out what he’d eat first and what he’d leave for the end. If I’d had to guess, it would have been the red licorice straps he fancied the most. He nearly smiled when he looked at them. In another part of the store, his mother was collecting up usual household supplies… bread, milk, jam, toilet paper. She grumbled as she walked, audibly adding up her bill like she was commentating a rugby game. I could feel her anxiety as she moved. At the counter, she expressed her frustration to the Pakistani shopkeeper. “Why is your bread $5 a loaf?” she asked harshly. The little boy scurried to the chilled drinks cabinet and held on desperately to the handle, waiting for instructions. He seemed pretty trained up in how the process worked. I waited for developments to unfold. Unexpectedly, Mum turned to the boy and instructed him to get three drinks from the cabinet. “No milk or fruit drink – they’re too f***ing expensive,” she said loudly. “You know the ones we usually get.” He obediently selected three large bottles of Coke and brought them over to be scanned, his little arms straining under the weight. All of a sudden, he noticed my presence for the first time and looked me up and down. As Mum instructed him to get in the car, he smiled at me and I’m ashamed to admit I gasped. Where his normal tiny white baby teeth should have been were rows of brown and black decaying dentures, rotting away in the mouth of a child. A baby, to be honest. S U G A R F E AT U R E Kathryn Calvert
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