Chocolate, Chocolate Everywhere!

I love chocolate! Many people love cars! Many people love coffee! Many people love money! I love love love chocolate. It is just the best. I could eat it always, or at least that is how I feel when I am near chocolate. Do you eat it?

Hello! I am Anahí and this story started a long long long long long time ago. Well, I think it was last Friday. It was the best day ever! At Maya’s birthday party, I had a massive grin on my face and I was giggling to myself all the time. It was amazing!

There was a huge pink princess piñata that had a mixture of many sorts of sweets. Maya’s parents had also filled hundreds of balloons with water and had put them all in large rectangular plastic containers for the children to use in their water balloon fight. Her parents had rented a huge yellow bus and had taken all the children with their families to a farm with tons of space. I do not think my parents would do something like that. Wow!

Before this party, chocolate had been something my dad had bought once in a while and he seldom shared with me. Now, this was different. My dad was not in control of the chocolate, and I could eat as much as I could. I ate, ate, and ate all the sweets in my bag while hiding myself among the groups of children. Most of them were older than me since I am still only three. Some children were three times as old. That is super old!

The sugar felt so good, made me happy, and gave me energy beyond anything I had experienced before with food. I love love love chocolate! I decided, with the sure feeling only a small child like myself can have, that this happy, yummy, chocolate feeling needed to happen always. I needed chocolate. Life was better with chocolate. Chocolate for all the children in the world! I love love love chocolate!

My Secret Stash

At first, I just took little bits. I did not eat too much. Trust me. I took tiny chocolate kisses from the grocery store checkout and the workers did not suspect me. I also only took one each day and nobody individually counts all the small pieces of chocolate. At least, I do not think so. As I am writing this with my dad, I think he might have seen me because he was there a lot. He sees almost everything around him!

Then, I wanted more and more and more. My tummy just wanted that sugar all the time. Soon, I was taking more. Other kids at the park near our house would give me some, and I found it around my house as well as in other places. My little hands were fast, and my smile was so cute.

Then, the whispers started. I heard my mom talking on the phone about "missing candies." Dad started looking at the food in our kitchen funny. He even asked Mom, "Fernanda, where did all the cookies go? And my special dark chocolate?" He was very suspicious, and he was investigating.

Dad’s Serious Talk

One very hot afternoon, when the air felt thick and sleepy, I came home from preschool. I did not say "Hello!" like I usually do. I just felt… quiet. Dad was waiting at the door. His face looked worried, like when I accidentally broke Mom's favorite flower pot. He kneeled down, and his big hands held my small, sticky ones.

"Anahí, my love," he said, really soft, but I knew his serious voice. “The school principal called me today."

My tummy did a funny flip-flop, like a fish. I didn't like this feeling.

"She said... she said the other kids are very sad. That... that you are taking their candies at school. Not just once. Many, many times. And," he got even quieter, "parents have called her too. They said things are missing from their houses when you visit."

My bottom lip started shaking. "But... but it's chocolate," I whispered, looking at my dirty sandals. "It makes me happy. I love love love chocolate!"

He sighed a long, slow sigh. "Yes, chocolate is good, my love. It's a nice treat. But we can't take things that are not ours. That makes people sad. And Anahí, too much chocolate, too much candy... It's not good for your body. Your teeth will get holes, and your tummy will hurt."

He looked even more serious then. "And sometimes, Anahí," he said, very slowly, like he was thinking hard, "eating too much junk food can make your head feel fuzzy. It can make you feel sleepy when you should be playing. It can even make your body feel weak instead of strong. And it can make it hard to think clearly. We need good food to grow big and strong, not just sugar, sugar, sugar. Not just chocolate."

My head hurt from all his words. I did not understand. Chocolate was the best! It did make me strong! It made me happy! I love love love chocolate! I yanked my hands away from his. My face felt hot and mad. I stomped to my room and slammed my door as hard as I could. BAM!

My Chocolate Kingdom

I crawled under my thin blanket in my bed after my dad finished speaking. Tears fell down my face, but then I remembered my secret. I pushed my pillow and grabbed it! It was a big, squishy chocolate bar from the store!

The wrapper made a loud, happy sound. I ripped it open and bit the chocolate so hard! It tasted amazing! It was the best chocolate bar ever! I ate the whole bar. Then, I grabbed another one from my secret box under the bed. I ate and ate and ate until my tummy felt like it would burst, but I just couldn't stop. It was like the sadness and anger made me hungrier for more. I wanted all the chocolate in the world!

The sugar rushed all around inside me. My heart went thump-thump-thump really fast. The window in my room, where I usually saw the green mango tree, started to wobble and blur. The light outside looked funny. I lay on my bed with all the crinkly wrappers around me. A funny feeling started. The flowers on my blanket started to move and turn brown, like melted chocolate. The floorboards, usually bumpy wood, turned smooth and dark, like a giant chocolate bar.

I blinked and blinked. My eyes felt super heavy. The air in my room, usually just air, got thick and smelled so, so sweet. It was like a giant chocolate factory! I looked at my hands. They were... brown or chocolate. I felt a little bit scared, but then a super-duper wonderful feeling pushed the fear away. I sat up. My head felt floaty and light. The walls of my room were not blue anymore. They were like big, melty waves of dark chocolate, with white chocolate swirling all around like rivers. My little rug on the floor turned into a giant, perfect chocolate coin, a little bit nibbled on the sides.

I poked the wall. It felt smooth and cool, and my finger sank in a little bit. I touched my finger to my tongue. Mmm, chocolate! My eyes got so big! My little plastic chair was a big block of caramel chocolate. My storybooks were piles of different types of chocolate – milk, dark, and even white chocolate with sprinkles! I love love love chocolate! And now everything was chocolate!

I giggled! It was a happy, loud giggle that sounded funny in my new chocolate room. All my mad feelings were gone. Only happy, chocolate feelings were left. I slid off my bed. Plop! I landed on the giant chocolate coin. The air made a little crackly sound, like tiny bubbles of chocolate popping. My foot sank a little when I took a step. It felt so soft and squishy!

This was not my room anymore. This was... Chocolate Land! Everything, absolutely everything, was made of chocolate! I could lick the walls! I could bite my chair! I could even eat my favorite book. However, I did not do that, and I still have the book. I skipped through my chocolate room. I broke off a piece of the chocolate wall and put it in my mouth. It was the best chocolate ever!

My Chocolate Family

Suddenly, I saw a big shadow in front of me. I turned around. It was Dad!! He was all chocolate! A big, dark chocolate man! His eyes were two shiny white chocolate chips. His face looked a little bit worried like before.

"Anahí," he said. His voice sounded like a deep, melty chocolate rumble. "What have you done?"

I just stared. "Dad? You're... chocolate!"

He sighed. "Yes, my love. Everything is chocolate now because you ate too much. Too much chocolate!" Then Mom came! She was made of beautiful milk and white chocolate, with long, dark, curly chocolate hair. She looked worried too, but also a little bit funny.

I looked at my overwhelming chocolate room, then at my chocolate Mom and Dad. A tiny thought started in my head. Chocolate was great, but was this too much chocolate? If everything was chocolate, would it still be special? What if I wanted a mango? Or a juicy orange? Everything was just brown. Chocolate brown.

I looked at my chocolate hands again. They didn't feel so special now. Just... sticky and brown. I thought about playing with my toys, but they are all just chocolate now.. I thought about drawing, but my crayons would be chocolate, and the paper too! The vibrant colors of my real world, the bumpy things, the distinct smells – they were all gone.

My chocolate Dad kneeled down. His chocolate hand reached for me, warm and inviting. "Anahí," he said gently, his voice resonating with an unusual depth. "This is your Chocolate Dream. But dreams are not always real. And sometimes, what we think we want most, is not what we truly need. Not everything is chocolate."}

My chocolate Mama added, her white chocolate eyes soft and knowing. "Sometimes, the things we love most are special precisely because they are not everywhere. They are treats, small, precious joys that we cherish and appreciate because they are not constant. They are savored. Not everything is chocolate."

I looked at them. Then at all the chocolate around me. It was pretty, but it was too much. Too much chocolate. I missed the blue of my walls. The bumpy feel of my rug. The bright colors in my books. A little voice inside me, a clear one, whispered, "I don't want everything to be chocolate."

Waking Up

When I thought that, the chocolate walls started to wiggle. The brown turned blurry, and I saw blue underneath! The chocolate floor moved, and I saw my wooden floor again! The super-sweet smell started to go away. My chocolate Mom and Dad started to melt. "Time to wake up, Anahí," Dad said, getting quieter. “It was all just a dream."

I closed my eyes super tight. I wished for my real room. My real Mom and Dad, and the normal world, with a huge variety of things. The sweet smell was gone, and I smelled my room again. Slowly, slowly, I opened my eyes. My blue walls were there. My rug was there. My books were there. The only thing left from the chocolate world was all the empty wrappers on my bed.

I sat up. My heart was still going thump-thump. Was it just a dream? It felt so, so real. I looked at my hands. They were just my normal hands.

A big, happy feeling washed over me. Chocolate was good. So good! I still love love love chocolate! However, I learned something important. The world needed other things too. Colors, bumpy things, squishy things, and lots of different yummy foods. And the best part about treats was that they were special because they were not everywhere, all the time. Everything should not be chocolate.

I picked up all the wrappers carefully. I walked out of my room quietly. Mom and Dad were in the kitchen. I threw all the chocolate wrappers into the kitchen garbage bin. Then, I ran to Dad and hugged him tight.

He looked down at me, surprised. He smiled and messed up my hair. "Everything okay?"

I nodded, my face squished into his pants. "I am sorry,” I told him. “I want to eat lots of food and not only chocolate.