two old men walked into a kitchen
Got any gum chum?
Thats what the kids in England used to say to the american troops based there during the war. My father told me they used to run along the side of the road next to the trucks and yell that out and the american soldiers would throw them out chewing gum.
They used to throw the girls nylon stockings as well, but they didn't have to run behind a truck to get them.
It was one of the stories he told me when I was a kid. Then many many years later I heard it again. It was at Kimbas christening and I overheard my father in law telling someone the same story. And when I heard him say - got any gum chum, I thought - what a small world it is. These two old men, who had never met before, were kids during the war in England, grew up and left home, left their countries and travelled to the other side of the world. And here they were, sitting in my kitchen with the same memories. One just has to say that line and the other knows exactly what it means. One sentence brings back a whole childhood experience.
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