Ritz Crackers and Canned Laughter

My pal Rachel told me she's baking Woonsocket French-Canadian meat pies with a special ingredient; Ritz Crackers. This reminded me of how much I loved Ritz Crackers when I was a kid. I'd always take three at a time out of the waxy paper tube and shove them in my mouth all at once, chewing madly. Then I'd stick out my tongue while looking in the heavy glass mirrored light-switch plate, on the white tile wall of our kitchen. This was also the age when my sister and I would tune into I Love Lucy on the black and white television set that was often hidden but occasionally wheeled out of my parents bedroom closet. TV was considered a bad thing in our household so, wanting to be a good girl, I tried not to pay full attention to it. I would stare in another direction while my sister watched with rapt attention. But not wanting to be fully left out either, whenever I'd hear the audience laugh, I would force a laugh, chiming in with the canned laughter.