Today when you go to the liquor store, a teenager will approach you at the entrance and he'll ask you if you can pick up a six-pack for him and his friends.
"We're all underage," he'll say. "But we wanna get drunk and have the time of our lives."
Say, "Well, you will need alcohol you're right about that."
"Is it as awesome as they say?" the kid will ask.
"I've been drinking 42 years now," tell him. "It just keeps getting better every single sip. Sometimes, when I get drunk enough, the world looks so beautiful I have to shut my eyes to keep from crying."
"Wow," the kid will say. "Please mister, help me see what you see."
Tell him, "I want to kid, but how do I know you won't sell me up the river?"
"Pardon?" he'll ask.
"I know how you kids work," tell him. "If you get caught doing something bad, like drinking beer or cheating on a test, you grab the nearest adult and you accuse him of trying to bang you. All of a sudden you're the victim and you get accepted early admission to college while I go to jail on a kiddie raper beef."
"But mister I wouldn't..."
"Now you wouldn't," tell him. "But what about when your parents and the police and your faggot guidance counselor is all hovering over you telling you that it's gonna go on your permanent record? What's to keep you from telling 'em all that you didn't even ask for it, but some pervert outside the market offered it to you if you'd show him your pecker? My momma didn't raise no fool, kid. Well, 'cept for my brother."
"Was your brother falsely accused of child molestation?" the kid will ask.
"Nah, he fucked those kids," say. "But I ain't him! And I ain't gonna fall for it."
"Mister," the kid will say. "If you buy me this six-pack, if you introduce me to the beautiful world contained within those six aluminum cans, it would be impossible for me to betray you. How could I betray the man who opened my eyes to such wonderful sights?"
The kid will have a point.
"You ain't gonna tell nobody that I tried to fuck ya's?" ask him once more. "You swear it?"
"I swear," he'll say. And you'll believe him. Not because you'll think him honest, but because you know the truth found in a sip of alcohol. That truth is bigger than you, than that kid, it's bigger than all your worries and all your cynicism. It's big enough to hold a little faith.
"What kind you want?"
"I heard Busch Lite's real good," the kid will say.
"You heard right," you'll tell the kid. Then you'll go inside and buy him his very first glimpse of the perfect endless sky.
Happy Buy Some Beer For A Teen Day!
