-“So, I was stopped at a red light the other day when this guy crosses the street in front of me and he was all kinda scraggly and shit, just shuffling along, you know?  Long greasy hair and a ratty old coat, probably had holes in the bottom of his shoes, you know the kinda guy I’m talking about.”

+”Oh, yeah, for sure.”

-“Yeah, so he’s hunched over and shuffling along and in one hand he’s got this plastic bag, like one of those white convenience store bags, you know?  And you can tell he’s got only, like, one thing in the bag, ‘cos you can see the sharp outline of some little something or other sitting down in one corner.  And in his other hand he’s carrying a big plastic gallon jug of something, but it’s not milk or water or anything like that because whatever it is, it’s blue – like a dark, weird blue color.  You know?”

+”So, like grape juice?”

-“No, man.  Grape juice is purple, you expect to see purple juice.  This shit was blue, like slap-you-in-the-face ‘BLUE’.  There’s no fucking drink in nature this color blue.”

+”Huh.  You sure it wasn’t windshield washer fluid?”

-“No, not the right kinda blue.  And, besides, this dude, sure as shit, he didn’t own a fucking car.”

+”Huh.”

-“Well, fuck, the point is this – I keep picturing this guy at the store, standing there with a handful of loose coins and some crumpled up bills, or whatever, and what he should do is buy something useful, you know?  Like some granola bars or some vitamins, or something.  Shit, even a razor and some shaving cream might change the course of this guy’s life, get him looking human again, right?  But instead, all he craves is that fucking jug of blue shit.  A one item bag and a bottle of blue juice.”

+”What do you suppose is in the Blue Juice?”

-“If I had to guess?  High fructose corn syrup and blue food dye #2.”

+”I thought you were going to say ‘despair’.”

-“Sugar is always the main ingredient.  But it probably tastes like despair, right Mert?”

=”Huh?”