Wednesday, October 31, 2001
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Wednesday, October 31, 2001 |
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Jolt Cola and me By
MICHAEL BOYLAN
The plastic bottles seemed to be more shabbily made than the more commercial sodas, as did the red wrapper that embraced the bottle. The soda, which boasted twice the sugar and caffeine of regular sodas, even tasted a little cheaper despite having more of those two special ingredients. I loved Jolt Cola though, from the minute the carbonated bubbles zinged on my tongue and my muscles twitched due to the overdose of stimulants inside the magic brew. I first found Jolt Cola in a convenience store near my old house. It was separated from the other sodas, as if it wasn't good enough to be grouped with the others. The clerk had placed it near the flavored milks and sparkling waters. My friend had heard about it from his older brother, who was 16 and infinitely more worldly than us at the time. We decided to purchase some to enjoy that evening at a sleep-over. We did not sleep a wink that night. We each purchased a one-liter bottle of Jolt Cola and drank it during a viewing of "Short Circuit" and "Police Academy III." Our tiny preteen attention spans got even smaller as we neared the end of the soda. I seem to remember a lot of fast, herky-jerky movement, but much of the evening has become a blur. There was a lot of laughter and we may have even returned to the store that evening to purchase just one more bottle of the sweet elixir that was quickly becoming our new favorite beverage. As I said before, we did not sleep at that sleep-over. We watched bad television, talked about girls and sports and girls again. We did some night swimming in my pool and played hours of video games. The sun came up and we watched it. It was a glorious night, made all the more glorious, thanks to Jolt. That was not my final experience with the soda. Far from it. My friend and I, two counselors in training, decided to bring two two-liter bottles to the annual CIT sleep-over that summer. The other CITs purchased their own cans and bottles of the magical drink, along with pounds of junk food. This was a night away from home and disapproving eyes. A night of independence and indulgence. CITs are supposed to aid the counselors and start working their way up to becoming counselors themselves, but they are merely one year removed from being campers. The CIT sleep-over allows the CITs to let loose a little bit and return to camp games and such. At this particular sleep-over, which was supposed to include sleep as there would be hundreds of campers arriving in the morning, Jolt took over. My friend and I took down a whole bottle of the soda within the first hour and a half. We played dodge ball in the gym with more intensity than ever. Our thirst forced us to take down the second bottle right before lights out. The lights may have been out, but we were far from it. I remember only bits and pieces of the evening, as it was a long time ago and I was freaking out on caffeine and sugar. We took out the screen on the window in what was the boys' sleeping room and climbed outside. We then helped the girls open their screen window. There was running around on the campgrounds behind the main building. There was making out in the gym. Our counselors who were supervising the event were either asleep or fearing for their lives as these Tasmanian devil-like teens stormed around the complex, whooping it up. There was minimal whooping the next day. Because none of us had slept at the CIT sleep-over, the camp day, which was long to begin with, was extra long. Campers who wanted to play soccer or tag or charades with their CITs were met with sluggish, surly teens, who were desperately searching for shade to curl up in. There were reprimands at the end of the day from the camp director and many never touched Jolt Cola again. I recently spotted my old friend Jolt and gave a fleeting thought to purchasing a few cans and having a good, old time. I thought better of it as I thoroughly enjoy sleep now and choose to remember an entire boring evening than forget most of a night of caffeine induced hysteria.
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