(i)sh.

one thing that’s funny (or sad) is how there are cartels for absolutely everything. really. did you read that story last month or last year — i don’t remember, i’m not good at time anymore — about how the ones in italy were selling contaminated olive oil. it was not only not extra virgin but had some copper sulfate in it which when dissolved in oil gives it a greenish tint, like the real thing. think about everyone buying it, using it and talking about the grassy taste of it and all the rest like they knew what they were saying, meanwhile the copper sulfate accumulated in their tissues, and to what end. enough of it is toxic, but as with all things the dose makes the poison. i think their attorneys said that during closing. anyway no one was harmed, which here means no one died but it’s the principle of the thing, they take that very seriously over there, except of course when they don’t. they say the easiest person to trick is the one who wants to believe, i myself have said as much, you know, the old i believe, help thou my unbelief. i also have said close enough, close enough. an old man once asked me do you know what ersatz means and i said no, to make him happy — i can tell when someone wants to teach me something, and who am i to deny them the pleasure. he said the word again drawing it out so that the final syllable was like a hiss or a curse through his teeth. it’s ground roasted acorns, that’s what they were drinking, toward the end, when you couldn’t get real coffee anymore. he sounded almost sad. how long can this go on, at least one of them, those ersatz drinkers, must have wondered, but by then perhaps no one was any good with time anymore. what people will pretend, to themselves — not to others but to themselves, do you understand what i’m telling you, now that’s what i find sad (or funny). but who am i, who am i to deny them the — i don’t want to say it but close enough — pleasure.