Maddy Wagner

Brett Beach

Creative Writing

2-19-20

OCWE #3

` I used to love hearing people chew gum. I’m not sure why I did, but maybe it was the

sound of a person almost clicking their mouth when they chew used to comfort me, even put

me in a deep sleep. The sound of people clicking their mouth when they chew their gum

reminded me of a clock whose second hand ticked every time it moved. I guess that was just

one of my quirks at the time.

One of my best traits is supporting people, so what I would do is that I would go to all

the conferences that were in favor for people that liked to chew gum with their mouth open,

hold a sign high above my head with bright-yellow letters that seemed to scream, “I LOVE

WHAT YOU DO, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!” I would also carry what seemed like 1200 packs of

gum at a time in my purse, and I would also run around and scream, “HEY, I LOVE THIS

CONFERENCE!”. The people who attended the conference didn’t mind; in fact, I don’t think they

could even hear me due to the sound of 12,000 people clicking their mouths when they chew

their gum at once.

 That was a long time ago…

Nowadays, I’m not really sure what has gotten into me. I can’t stand that sound

anymore. Being 54 years of age, I have been around a LOT of people who don’t seem to care

that they chew gum with their mouth open. I LOVE seeing my two daughters when they come

home from school, I do, but they also tend to chew gum with their mouth open and it drives me

insane.

I’m a pretty smart person, I got on the Deans List every semester of college. That’s

where I met my lovely hubby. He knew that I loved making bubbles with my gum when I was in

college. In fact, that is how we started to date. He would say to me these weird pickup lines

about gum. One of them would be, “Please don’t burst my bubble, but would you like to go on

a date with me tonight?” I would never get the joke and I would never laugh to it because I

never get pickup lines, but I did say yes. The rest is history.

But even my husband nowadays realizes that I’m sick of hearing people chew gum. He

still uses the same pickup line to try to cheer me up whenever I get annoyed by my daughters

chewing gum with their mouths open and I’m thankful for that, but Mother Nature takes no

prisoners when she visits. Whenever he says that to me when she visits, I snap at my hubby and

shout, “KENNETH, YOU KNOW THOSE DAYS OF ME HEARING PEOPLE CHEW GUM ARE OVER!

GET OVER IT!!” My daughters know that it’s just a regular day at the Wagner household when

they hear me sound like an enraged bull, but they also know that they shouldn’t be around me

when I go off.