Short Story

Dr. Pepper. That's my topic, and apparently I'm here to write a short story about it. He was never really a doctor, but I didn't let that bother me. He made me feel better, and ultimately that's what doctors do. Fountains, bottles, cans...they follow me wherever I go, and I know that no matter how low I get, how lost I feel, there's a bubbly brown friend to pick me back up again. Like that one day back when I had the red Plymouth and I'd just finished college in North Carolina.

It was the spring of '79. Ugly cars, weird clothes, nasty music. The road to South Dakota seemed to get longer the more I drove it, and outside Blakesly, Iowa I called it quits and rolled into a mildly undangerous-looking motel. It felt pretty weird--out there in a random spot on the map, uprooted from my house in Charlottesville, on my way to what I hoped would become another home. I'd always been anchored to one spot, a house, or even a ship for awhile, and now I was enjoying this new free feeling, even as it left me feeling a bit lost.

So, what do you do in a new town? Once I was up in the morning I walked outside my room and squinted at the blank midwest summer sunshine. Bikes. I could really go for a bike ride right now. Hm. Rent one? Where? Buy one? With whose money? Alright, scratch that. I'll take a drive with the windows open, and see what's cookin'.

Heh. I'd like to tell you I met charming people and fell in love with the winsome locality, settling my roots in a new home, welcomed in by the good souls of meat 'n' potatoes America. Sorry. Go read some fiction if you want that :-) I drove around, blinking blankly at the boring buildings and finally deciding that if you weren't born here, you'd probably never know or care that it existed. So I stopped at a gas station and scoped out the shelves for the perfect snack to suit my fancy. Skittles...make me too thirsty. Candy bar? Ditto. Pop. Soda. Whatever they call it here, I could go for one. And what else, I mean honestly, besides the Doctor?

So, the only thing I took away from Blakesly Iowa was a 10-cent bottle of Dr.Pepper. That and a good night's sleep. And a new certainty that I wanted to live in a city :-) The road wasn't quite so long after that, and later that day I pulled in to Dave's house, more than happy to see a face I knew. South Dakota, here I am!

Here's to the Doctor, bubb'ly and cold,
Here's to the beverage in bottles of old.
Here's to the flavor that keeps us refreshed
Here's to the soda that we love the best!

--Anthony Lawyer