The name of this essay is: The Blue Store

This came from a post that was made by me on a local music messageboard. John Torn is a legendary member of that community and we were required to tell him what we had purchased that day.

My most recent purchase was 2 35 cent brownies from the blue store... I am trying to avoid the blue store because it is full of delicious crap for 35 cents; I feel that there can be no nutritional value in anything that costs 35 cents. Items costing that little can only be bad for your health, as well as the well being of your digestive system. They make amazingly delicious and cheap subs at the blue store. These subs cost 3$. They are full of mayo and oil, two addicting ingredients that are high in cholesterol and calories.

Sometimes I purchase these subs and then go into the basement of the Housing Authority building where my transitional library is located. In the basement is a break room. We don’t use the break room often because it is for Albany Housing employees. We were told it was ok to take our breaks in this room by the administration of the Albany Housing Authority. Some emlpoyees of the housing authority, give us, the library employees, the feeling that we are not welcome in their break room. We have gotten the point, and it is only when I have gotten a sub from the blue store do I go down to the break room. I think the oily mayo makes me feel rebellious.

In this break room they have a 100000000 inch flat panel TV, hooked up to digital cable. I assume this was paid for with federal tax dollars. So I feel like I have some ownership to this entertainment unit. I like to watch cable news, only because at that magnification, in HD, one can see the amount of makeup caked on the different host’s faces and hands. After I get the sub, make it to the basement and turn the tv to the right channel I have about 15 minutes to enjoy my sub and the new caster’s pancaked faces.

Please don’t assume that I do not like the employees of the Albany Housing Authority. Many of them have become regular library users, some of them I am on a very friendly basis with. I like them, and I assume they like me. I’m sure the others would like me too if they used the library, but they do not. I believe they feel as if I, and other staff members, are invading their territory. There are some primordial programs in our genetics we just can’t shake. I’m not being paranoid, my clerk even feels this way. Most people automatically like my clerk, so if they are giving her the “high school cafeteria” vibe, we both came up with that description, then it is really happening.

The blue store has a sign, so I assume it has a name which can be seen on this sign, but no one has bothered to look at it. For a while I didn't even know it was there, but one day when a bird flying at a rather low trajectory caught my eye I noticed the sign high above the entrance. I can't even remember what the sign said because I was stunned by the mere fact the store itself may have had an actual name. The signs existence is futile; calling the blue store anything but "the Blue Store" would confuse everyone. Maybe I imagined the sign.

The stores name is derived from its color, a bright blue faded by the sun and covered in layers of lingering gasoline particles that make up exhaust fumes. They have the worst coffee I have ever tasted. You know how in action adventure stories and war movies they talk about coffee tasting like diesel fuel or something just as manly, well this coffee really tastes that bad. I avoid the coffee but the heroes and cheap snacks keep me coming back.

Keyboards have a dollar sign, but not a cents sign.