During the Summer of 1985, a radio station here hosted a blood drive. The DJ promoting it one afternoon said, "Come get yourself a free orange soda!" with such conviction that for a moment, I thought, "Maybe I should give a pint of blood. Granted, I'm not of driving age yet, the station is nowhere near home, and it would be impractical to walk across town even if I knew how to get there. But still, a free orange soda..."
Instead, I walked to a grocery store and spent 20-something cents on a generic can of root beer. Sometimes, you just have to put the allure of free food or drink out of your mind and splurge on a product that's within your neighborhood.
