Tarnish walked through the aisles unobtrusively. He often thought of himself as a quiet injynn walking through-out the woods on a fall day, and, this was one of those times. He incessantly avoided any eye contact because he felt they wouldn’t understand the way he existed. So, he may have appeared shy, snooty, or disturbed those of earthly judgement.

In one of the check out lines, which he really despised, he felt excruciatingly alienated. As a student one of his premises was that civilization and capitalism (which he had nothing against) had turned people into mere consumers.

People, especially in cities, were at the mercy of producers, manufacturers and corporations.

Our identity as environmentally sound, self sustained human beings had diminished. This was only one of many of his dehumanization premises, but a strong one indeed.

Tarnish waited impatiently. He looked around for distractions. Finally he decided to look for methods of corporate advertisement within the store to keep his mind occupied. In front of him stood a cooler. A fairly large cooler, being stocked only with Pepsi products. Tarnish detested Pepsi products. When the representative finished stocking the coolerTarnish waited for him to leave, and, within seconds, used his black sketchers to shatter the glass of the coolers door.

A rush of happiness surged through his body. He felt proud. He didn’t hurt anyone. And, yet he symbolized his crowned thoughts. He wasn’t quite on the other side of the fence, but, he stood on top of the fence - in between sides. “Pepsi just happened to turn his stomach”,

Tarnish replied.

written 1/14/96

                                                    by:

         John Alan Conte, Jr.