Given the choice, I must say that I prefer drinks over food. I've always been this way. As a child I could not stop drinking grape soda. I brought a plastic blue cup with me nearly everywhere I went and asked anyone nearby if any grape soda could be made available. A soft pretzel now and again? Yes. Mother's cauliflower casserole? OK, you got me. All went down the hatch with a cup of grape soda. As I write, my throat is drying from lack of grape soda. I have sworn off the stuff for more than a decade, but thinking of a refreshing sip after a handful of saltines sends me to a peaceful space in my head where I have lost desire for anything else. Crackers and grape soda, I'm now finding, are my personal stepping stones to nirvana.

To heck with this, I'm off to the corner store. Nehi!

Enough!

Your weekly reduction!

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