When I was nine years old, my mother and sisters ran the Grill on Sunset Beach Pier. Each morning, my younger brother, Tony, and I would go to work with them, and when the Grill closed that night, we would return home.
During the course of our days on the Beach, Tony and I met a lot of interesting (and not-so-interesting) people. One particular day, he and were walking on the pier, occasionally stopping and talking to people we really didn’t know, when we met this older gentleman eating what I suspected to be bird seed.
“You’re eating BIRD SEED!”, I exclaimed, much to his amusement. He replied, “I’m not eating bird seed, I’m eating Sunflower Seed”. Knowing bird seed when I saw it, I replied, “Yes it is bird seed, my Granddaddy feeds it to the chickens”. The man just laughed.
“Here, try one”, he prompted. “You might like them”.
Suspecting him of trying to get one over on me, I was having no part of it. “Uh uh! I ain’t eating no bird seed”, I exclaimed.
After a few minutes of conversation, discussing everything from fishing and seagulls to how fast I can run if I move my arms real fast, he finally gave it another try.
“Here, try one of these Sunflower Seed. I promise they won’t hurt you” He proceeded to show me how to put them between my teeth, holding them sideways, and cracking them open, allowing the small edible portion of the seed to fall out.
Being the sceptic that I was, and being the eigth of nine children and knowing what a prank was, I cautiously put one in my mouth – sideways of course – and cracked it open. Tasting the salty roasted nut which had been hiding in the middle, I realized they WERE pretty tasty.
“Wow!” I exclaimed. “Those ARE good!”.
“Here”, he offered, “Take a handful”.
I did, and thanked him for them, and went on about my merry little way.
Over the next several years, I didn’t have many opportunities to eat any Sunflower Seed, but one day I saw a pack of shelled Sunflower nuts in a grocery store.
Thinking back on how good they were, I almost bought them, but as I picked up the bag, I couldn’t help wondering, “Who on earth shelled these things, and in whose mouth have they been?”
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