Only In America, Again

SO I PULL UP to the intersection and wait at the red light. On the corner is a pharmacy, either JVC or Walgreen, our only choices. High above is an electronic message board, with rotating messages. On the screen it says: "your health is our concern". Then, the sign changes,and it says: "prescriptions filled for the entire family". All well and good. Then, the sign changes again, and the message is: "Budweiser, $12.99 12 pack".... It cycles through again, same sequence. Satisfied that I am not hallucinating, I chuckle, and I notice a man pulls up next to me on a Harley, a big bad one, all chrome and controlled power. He looks the part, black leather, black German World War Two helmet, tatoos, full beard, muscles all the way to his fingernails. His sound system is blaring, even above the sound of the engine. A voice sweetly intones: "it was a total eclipse of the har-aaart." Tough guy with a sweet smile, slowly nodding to the gentle rythm. In the back of my mind it occurs to me that I have a three days growth of beard, am wearing faded torn jeans, flannel shirt and straw hat, am driving a fifteen year old pick up truck with missing paint and dents, with a sticker on my rear bumper which says "Harvard Alum". Ah, the blessings of irony and incongruity! Only in America.