What do you do with this?” a young checker at Whole Foods asked the 20-something girl in front of me in line as he held up a small bottle while ringing it up.

The girl glanced at his multiple piercings, bracelets and necklaces and looked sort of smitten. “I use it as perfume,” she said, “but it’s a lavender essential oil so it also helps with my sinuses and balances my chakras.” She looked at him hopefully with a smile. He looked at her sideways, took her money, handed her the bottle and then looked at me as she walked away. I was quietly laughing.

“Well!” he blurted to me, “That’s her opinion on that!!” He rolled his eyes. “Ya know,” he went on, “I can hang with it when someone talks about healthy, pesticide free food being good for our bodies. But when they parlay into ‘the scent of vanilla will cure your tuberculosis’….No it won’t!! He rolled his eyes again. “If it did we would know that by now! Jus’ sayin’!” he said as they say often in Texas.

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