The Grocery Store
The grocery store is one of the few places that everyone, in one way or another, has in common. Everyone has to eat, and while food does grow on trees not any of the trees grow in my neighborhood. The thing is, every time I go to the grocery store I literally have no idea what I’m going in for. I just show up with the goal of “FOOD”. Every time I step in that door it’s like a choose your own adventure novel from when we were kids. There are enumerable options, countless branches and splinters of my own possible Odyssean Epicurian Journey. I’ve taken the pleasure of writing a choose your own adventure novella of sorts. Enjoy and choose wisely. Not all of the choices lead to positive outcomes… Don’t fail.
You walk into the grocery store. You’ve been to this store a thousand times if you’ve been one, yet you never seem to feel at ease. This time is no different. The homeless man at the door asked you for money like he does every other time you come to this grocer. You wonder why he doesn’t have more gainful employment with such a strong verbal skill-set. He has no problem punching through your proposed reasoning for not giving him money every time you come. Today you told him you “don’t have any cash” as as walked in. He promptly reminded you that “you can get cash back at the register, you can hit me up on the way out.” You’re contemplating offering him a job instead of money when the hunger pang hits. You haven’t eaten lunch and you want to get in and out of this store so you can go home and eat.
You meander the aisles somewhat at a loss. There are countless options before You. The myriad of americanized-cultural experiments from curry concoctions to pan-thai to saeurkraut overwhelm. All you can think about is the guy out front waiting for you. You are feeling more and more anxious about it and finally you just decide.
Click To Choose Your Dinner…
Frozen Pizza and High Life
Caesar Salad
Tacos
Steak and Potatoes
Capn’ Crunch and Fried Chicken
Steamed Asparagus, Free Range Chicken Breast, Jasmine and a Spirulina Shake
//
Not even the meteor shower of ’96 could stop her.
By
Ben Cheney .
12.02.08 //
Tobacco
// Not even the meteor shower of ’96 could stop her.
By
Ben Cheney .
12.02.08 //
Tobacco
It’s 20 degrees outside. The wind is blowing like a banshee, making the shutters slam against the side of the house like a homeless man begging for shelter. The snow has been falling for the past 7 hours making deep drifts against the front porch. It’s winter in New Jersey, and Margaret steps outside to light up. As she raises her cigarette stained fingers to her lips, she shivers against the cold. Inhaling deeply, she closes her eyes, reveling in the suffocating ecstasy of the first puff.
For 24 years Margaret has braved rain, sleet, and snow for the sweet taste of her tightly rolled tobacco friend. Nothing has stood in her way. Not the blizzard of ’89. Not the hurricane of ’94. Not the windstorm of ’03. Nothing. When policemen, government officials, and teachers flee indoors for refuge from the storm, Margaret bravely opens the rickety door to her modest South Jersey home to have a smoke.
Shielded by nothing more than a bathrobe and a ratty, old pair of slippers, Margaret proves that she is one of the dedicated ones. It is not an innocent dedication, however. No, it is a dedication fueled by an uncontrollable desire for the sweet nectar of nicotine. But even though it’s a guilty addiction, it is precisely what makes the dedication so strong. It makes Margaret, and the millions of other people entangled in a love affair with tobacco sticks, the most dedicated humans on earth.
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