Cigar boxes and flying red horses and rainbows in puddles

Can you tell that I spent a lot of time at a gas station when I was a kid? My favorite cigars were White Owl, and I loved that box of wiper blades on wheels. My free treat from the iced vending chest was Tru-Ade. I still don't like carbonation. Who could resist jumping up and down on the hose that made a sound inside so that a service station could live up to its name? I still love pyramids of cans and stacks of tires (Leal's comes to mind). And one of my most firm beliefs is that the world would be a much better place and schoolkids would know much more about all sorts of things if the maps were still there and they were still free.