She was pleased with the products she was hawking. "This even has caffeine in it," she offered. Giddily, as I remember. It was as if she had come upon the formula herself. Caffeine indeed. In a small tube for the eyes. $42 dollars, no less. I wonder if it all could be simpler if we were still a people capable of a good night sleep. Unworried about yesterday, unscared for tomorrow. Instead we seemed more and more unhappy. More and more unhealthy. And our eyes needed caffeine.
I sampled it, of course. She was after all wearing a lab coat. Not just another sales girl in the big department store in the big city. She must have been educated in biochemistry, I suspect. Why else the lab coat? The fundamentals had changed. No longer was I shopping for lotion. I needed rejuvinator. Rejuvinator for the day. Rejuvinator for the night. She didn't have rejuvinator for the soul. I asked. She stared blankly.
I was left wandering down the same lonely road, or in my case, the same lonely path. Trampled less by the sandals of thousands than by the hubris of one. One solitary figure. Seeking truth and knowledge and passion and understanding. Searching in vain for connections. Connections with my brothers. Connections with my sisters. With my mothers and my fathers. With the
universe as a whole. Maybe I needed a lab coat. Perhaps one of many colors. Maybe I needed to step off the path and get back on the highway. Maybe I just needed a rest stop. One where I could apply my rejuvinator with caffeine for the eyes and lay in the grass and gaze at the heavens pondering the enormity of it all without distraction.
Instead, I bought cosmetica. Instant moisture gel. Multi-action face cleanser - no soap, no fragrance. It didn't seem likely that I would discover my connections standing there with the girl at the cosmetica counter. So why not rejuvinate my skin. The soul would have to wait. Besides, not enough money in the world to buy what I wanted, what I needed. So may as well accumulate the products targeted for the masses.
And there I was back on the highway. Madison Avenue would be thrilled. Short rest stop indeed.
Copywrite 2007 Robert Green
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