Pieke sat on the low wall by the edge of the cobblestone street, watching the world go by; it was a warm, dry summer’s day and he and his dog were enjoying the respite from the previous cool, wet ones.
Pieke was well known in town for many reasons and he enjoyed his notoriety; but now he was looking for someone who didn’t know him, a foreigner, a tourist. He could generally tell tourists by their bags or cameras; locals carried string bags if they carried anything at all, and locals never looked like they were lost or overly interested in their surroundings.
After a while he noticed a tourist strolling towards him and pulled a box of “OldTimers” from his pocket and put it beside him. His dog perked up his ears at this action and knew a possible adventure was unfolding.
“A beautiful day, isn’t it” Pieke said in Dutch accented English, as the tourist approached. The tourist, a man in his 60’s smiled and said, “Yes it is; I hope it keeps up, I’m so tired of those wet days we just had.”
“I have it on good authority that the next few days will be beautiful.” he said as he winked and pointed to the sky. “From your English, I can tell you are not from Europe, are you Canadian?” Pieke continued.
“Your ear is very good,” said the tourist, “in fact I’m from Montreal, Quebec.”
Pieke brightened up and said, “My uncle visited some relatives there last summer and he said it was a great place. He really enjoyed the ‘Just for Laughs Festival’. We watch the ‘Just for Laughs Gags’ on TV all the time.”
“Yeah, Montreal has other fun festivals as well, like the Jazz Festival and the F1 Grand Prix. It is a great place to be in the summer.”
“I’d like to go someday myself…”
Pieke then picked up his box, opened it and took out a black, diamond shaped candy and put it in his mouth. He then extended the box to the tourist and said, “Can I offer you a typical Dutch candy?”
The tourist replied, “What is it? What flavour does it have?”
Pieke replied, “It’s a Dutch Drop, and it is a licorice flavoured.”
The tourist remembered the red licorice Twizzlers he loved to eat while watching movies and said, “Oh great, thanks.” He took one and put it into his mouth and began to chew.
In a second, his eyes closed and his face made a terrible grimace. He re-opened his eyes and looked for a place to spit it out… but there was no garbage can nearby… He grimaced some more struggling to hold that black piece of crap from just popping out, and then pulled out a napkin from one of his pockets and spit the candy into that.
“Whoa!”, exclaimed the tourist, “That’s the most foul thing I’ve ever tasted! Its so salty, and it tastes of something gross like ammonia.”
Pieke was still chewing on his candy and laughing hilariously; when he finally composed himself he said, “Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, these Dutch Drops are definitely an acquired taste.”
Author’s Note: The statue on Graanmarkt in Maastrict, is of a boy is named Pieke from a book by Ber Hollwijn. (Unfortunately, my Google search came up empty for more details). And yes, the Dutch Drop is flavoured with ammonium chloride and is definitely a taste only the Dutch seem to relish.