A Beer Story

Although I have never liked beer, I'm about the only one in my family who never drank it.  My father never cared much for hard liquor, but he did like his beer.  I can even remember my mother, after doing some Spring cleaning, sitting down and having a cold beer.  It was a rare treat for her, though.

Anyway, I have a personal beer story, even though I've never liked the stuff.

I was an eighth grader, and it was close to the end of the year.  We were on the last day of our yearly Achievement Tests (they don't call them that anymore, do they?).  Our homeroom teacher had told us to bring a cold drink each day from home if we wanted to, and each day after testing we'd go out to the ballfield to enjoy the nice weather we were having, until the end of the school day. (no soft drink machines in the schools, back then.)

I was a "Mello Yello" drinker at the time, and for two days in a row I had wrapped a can of Mello Yello in tin foil to keep it cold and had taken it with me to school.

I know, I know.  You can see where this is going.

Well on the last day of testing I was running late, and my mother, being helpful, got the can out of the refrigerator and wrapped it for me, and handed it to me on the way out the door. 

In school, after we'd finished our tests, my best friends and I went to our lockers to get our colas.  While I was waiting for one of these friends, I began to unwrap my can.  Suddenly I realized that I was seeing one word repeated over and over on the can -- Blatz!

I quickly re-wrapped the can and put it back in my locker.  I wouldn't tell my friends what had happened until we got outside.  I was so mortified!  My friends joked that I could probably sell it to certain ones of our class members, but I really was very embarrassed.  I was a very good girl who never, EVER got in trouble for anything, and all I could think of was that I'd actually brought a BEER to school!

When I got home my mother greeted me with her usual, "How was school?", as I set the tin-foil-wrapped can on the kitchen table.  She eyed it.  "Why didn't you drink your --" gasp!  "I didn't send a beer with you, did I?" 

My mom's a quick one, she is.

She said she'd been half asleep, hadn't turned on the light in the kitchen, but had relied on the refrigerator light, but even then, she can't imagine how she came to make the mistake.  We had a good laugh about it together.