Note to self: Do not
go to the packy on a Sunday afternoon after a Saturday night during college
holiday break and within hours of a Patriots football game, and do not do this
especially if returning empties.
I am expecting grown children to stop by today, and, even if
they don't, it's nice to have cold beers in the fridge just in case. You know, just in case one of my few friends
should stop by; just in case a thirsty neighbor should drop over; just in case I
suddenly crave an ice-cold brewski as I watch the cold rain wash away the snow
I just shoveled two days ago.
I decide to return the Christmas season empties, which
amounts to less than a dozen bottles. As
I enter the store, I see a line. No, not
the long line I saw at the registers the day before Christmas Eve. This line is at the return counter. It's four people deep -- three men with bags
full of empties and little old me with my one bag of eleven bottles. The line moves briskly because the guys in
front of me are well-prepped: They've already counted the bottles, simply hand
the bags-full over, receive their tickets, and get out of my way. I, on the other hand, put the bottles up on
the Formica, counting as I go like the amateur I am.
Everyone in the liquor store is going for pre-game alcohol
except one guy. He is buying two bottles
of expensive champagne. I don't know
whether this is for Tuesday night or if somehow Sunday evenings are big
occasions in his house, but he seems out of place with the rest of us sports
junkies. I stand behind him in line,
balancing the 12-pack of beer bottles so I don't knock myself over while he
double-fists the delicate black bottles of bubbly.
I briefly wonder if I should get some champagne for New
Year's, since I will probably be home and inside safely away from drunk
drivers. It's not because I don't want
to go out. But you see, there's a Bruins
game on, and I kind of want to watch it, so …
My wonder lasts only a millisecond. I don't need the bubbly tonight because I'll
be back at the packy before Tuesday evening.
After all, there will be empties to return. Cue up, folks, the line forms behind me.
