Youth

I say youth, but of course the subject of my little tale is an age only 5 or 6 years removed from my own. This evening I was at the local depot to purchase malted hops and barley for home consumption and witnessed an exchange that brought back my own tanglewood days. In front of me in line were two young men (younger than, say, the legal drining age) buying two 30-packs of Keystone Light and the finest in middle-shelf liquors: Smirnoff vodka, Captain Morgan, all the greatest hits. They whipped out the IDs and I could see from behind that one was laminated. Ohhh, bad move. You see, once, when I was but a freshman at the prestigious University of Arizona I was the proud owner of a driver's license appearing to be issued by the great state of New Jersey that was itself laminated. But you see in the far off days of 1999 it was still reasonably possible that a 22-year-old (which age I was not yet privileged to have, but my alternate, New Jersey, personna had) would have a laminated ID. That is no longer the case. It appeared to be out of state. I must say that six years ago in the less reputable parts of Tucson, Arizona it was still hit or miss obtaining strong spirits and liquors with my laminated, out of state ID. These two young men were met with skepticism from the woman at the counter (who appeared to be my current and true age) and she referred them to the large barrel chested man of about 30 that was also there. I am not a man given to fighting when I'm in my cups but he's the sort at the bar that you know not to begin with because your hardest hit will only make him mad, though buffer men may fall. The young man who owned the dubious laminate asked, all innocence and contrivance: "Is there something wrong?" The barrel chested man looked at me, making sure that I was not bothered or in a snitching move, I was not. He smilled a big shit eating grin and looked at the two young men with it still applied generously across his face and said, while chuckling: "Alright guys, but don't ever come back." As they left, I thought back to the Yavapai Hall on South Campus Drive in Tucson and shed a wee tear for my lost youth and illicit purchases. I was struck, though, to think that there is such a difference in appearance for some between 18 and 24, which given a real life situation was only too obvious. The two looked young even before the showed their "IDs". But then I may have been biased by the situation.
I belive I shall have a Negra Modelo.