Ain’t No Cure for the Milk Carton Blues

Apparently there are a lot of levels in Hell and the worse you were here on Earth, the farther down you go, closer to the fire.

I hope, and in my prayers tonight I will recommend, that the person who invented the “gable-top” milk carton spends eternity hopping around on the hot coals he or she deserves because this little carton is truly evil.

I wrestled with another one today as I sat at my table in a sub shop and if it hadn’t been for the prominent sign over the door which read, “No Screaming Allowed”, I would have let loose.

A person needs the hands and fingers of a brain surgeon to open these stupid outfits and unfortunately, my paws are almost as big and delicate as a bear’s mitts.

I know there is a way to open these awful things as I have been shown all the tricks many times by someone several decades younger than me. But he has always demonstrated it so quickly I could never quite get it, like a magician reluctant to show you his whole method.

So, there I sat today, ripping and tearing at this horrible little box like the aforementioned bear might have had he been in the sub shop at the time. (Had he wandered in and saw the look on my face, I think he would have run away, maybe even screaming, in violation of the sub shop code.)

By the time my milk was accessible, it was sitting in a pathetically mangled container and being chocolate milk, it was then I realized it needed to be shaken up. So I tried to close the wreck and give it a shake.

Milk spewed everywhere. When I finally did get it open again and put it to my lips, the milk dribbled down my face and onto my jeans.

You know, I hope I do go to Hell so I can hop around next to the idiot who invented this abomination and spend my eternity screaming in his ear, official policy be damned.

I really do.

©2013 Jim Hagarty

Author: Jim Hagarty

I am a 72-year-old retired journalist, busy recovering from a lifelong career as an unretired journalist. This year marks a half century of my scratching out little fables about life. My interests include genealogy, humour and music. I live in a little blue shack in Canada and spend most of my time trying to stay out of trouble. I am not that good at it. I also spent years teaching journalism. Poor state of journalism today: My fault. I have a family I don't deserve, a dog that adores me, and two cars the junk yard refuses to accept. My prized possessions include my old guitar and a razor my Dad gave me when I was 14 and which I still use when I bother to shave. Oh, and my great-great-grandfather's blackthorn stick he brought from Ireland in the 1850s. I have only one opinion but it is a good one: People take too many showers.