World Aids Day

Walking through the halls of a building at our local junior college, I was met by an enthusiastic group of socially-minded students sitting at a long table. The table was festooned with posters and paper scallops, and strewn with items I only gave a cursory glance at.

Upon passing the crew a second time, I allowed myself to make eye contact with one of the students, who then promptly asked if I wanted "a sample."

"A sample of..." I trailed off, waiting for him (or, one of them) to fill in the blank.

"It's World Aids Day," another chimed in. To which I replied "No, thank you. I don't need any Aids. I've gotten this far without it."

A couple of them laughed and said "No! It's samples of condoms!" thinking it may embarrass me, or catch me off guard.

"No thanks," I responded once more. "I haven't any need...it's been a long dry spell."

More laughter.

From somewhere in the back of the pack came the response "Never say 'never'."

"No," I shot back, "just never again."

The same faceless voice quickly retorted, "but they're flavored."

"With what?" I asked.

More laughter.

The first young man who offered me the initial greeting quickly recovered with an offer of candy - I turned that down, too.

Good for them, though, they had the right idea. Now they just need a better sales pitch.