My freezer currently contains several boxes of Girl Scout cookies, though probably not as many as in past years. This year’s batch came primarily from granddaughters, not the traditional cookie sales in public places.

In years past, between having daughters, granddaughters, Fitch Middle School students, and kids at church, I have always had a ready source of those expensive but delicious treats. This time of year almost all supermarkets and some other stores hosted cookie stands from various troops at the store’s entrance.

A purchase at one such stand may have given the troop leader some grey hair. Navy folks and retirees who have used the base facilities will recall when the Exchange and Commissary were in the same building, with different entrances.

One Saturday morning when I was going to the Exchange, a troop of Cadettes had a booth in front of the Commissary. One of the Girl Scouts left the booth and hurried across the parking lot to intercept me. She gave me a hug and then took me by the hand and led me over to her troop’s cookie display.

I can almost imagine what was going through the troop leader’s head when she watched this and what she was going to say to her charge. “Child, we don’t accost strange men in the parking lot just to sell a box of cookies!”

However, I noticed the leader’s sigh of relief when the youngster looked at her and said, “This is Mr. Welt. He was my teacher last year!”

Needless to say, I bought several boxes.

Robert F. Welt of Mystic is a retired longtime Groton Public Schools teacher.