Kids in Jeopardy

  As I was leaving the house yesterday to get some groceries, I asked the 3 visiting grandchildren if they wanted anything. One said last time I had gotten them gum, so I picked up three of those extended packs in the grocery aisle, recognizing only Juicy Fruit, one of the brands from the old days.  I can remember there being maybe 6 or 7 different kinds of gum sold then, and always in the pack of 5 sticks, except for Chiclets which came  in a box.  Now there are dozens of different types of gum, and I don't think any are in sticks any more , but packaged individually like capsules in  little blister packs.
     When I got home, I put the 3 multi-packages of gum on the counter, and invited the boys to help themselves.  Now, as then, it is not unusual for a chewer to pop all the gum in the pack  into their mouths, ever seeking to refresh the flavor.  That's fine with me; let them savor chewing gum before the orthodontist nixes it. Most of the gum was chewed in short order.
   Today when I returned home from an errand, Dave said he found a piece of nicotine gum on the living room floor.  I thought he was mistaken at first, seeing regular chewing gum packaged in the small rectangular form.  But when I examined the piece he handed me, I saw it was clearly marked "Nicotine Gum."  A chill went through me: had I inadvertently provided my grandchildren with nicotine gum?  The same kids who may well have chewed an entire pack of a regulated substance?  But wait a second, nicotine gum wouldn't just be on the shelf with other chewing gum, would it?  Unless by mistake?  So I scrabbled through the torn-open packages of the gum and, in addition to the Juicy Fruit,  I had bought Eclipse Sugarless Gum and Dentyne Ice, all of the gum packaged in little cubes, the same as the piece of Nicotine Gum found on my living room floor.  Some things have no apparent explanation.