I was at some kind of outdoor Christmas event. It was more like a huge store, possibly connected to a shopping mall, that sold Christmas trees, decorations and the like. The whole place probably smelled like pine cones. There were reefs, stockings, figurines and so on; a shopper’s delight for anything Christmas themed; but all I was looking for was the eggnog.

I say “the” instead of “some” because I had the sense I’d been to this store before and remembered seeing, if not buying, it. I was going to ask a worker, preferably a manager, where it was but couldn’t find a free one amongst the crowd, which probably included a line of parents waiting for pictures of their kids sitting on the lap of a man dressed as Santa Claus.

When I finally found the eggnog area; they only sold TG Lee brand at $7 a carton; it was a bittersweet experience. The main display case; a round stand of sorts; was empty, so I walked over to the back where I thought I saw other varieties, including Chocolate and Cookie-flavored, but I soon realized they were some sort of eggnog candy; nothing to drink.

After scanning that section back and forth, seemingly trying to will a carton into existence, I actually saw one. It was a Cookie one and there was a man standing to my left; he was looking too; so I quickly grabbed it and eggnog spilled all over my fingers. The man gasped in surprise or perhaps disgust. It was an open carton that wasn’t even being refrigerated.

Now that it was obvious why there was apparently one carton of eggnog left in the whole place; it was facing backward when I grabbed it, which is why I couldn’t tell it had been opened; I quickly put it back. I, the nog junkie I am, did however put the chewing gum I’d been holding in that same hand in my mouth; odd as I rarely chew gum in real life; and savor the taste.

2024 October 11