Gas station and market in Arkansas

A girl with spooky dark eyeshadow and bleached hair slams two bottles of orange GatorAde Xtreme on the counter next to the two pints of Five o’ Clock gin that the cashier has waiting for her. 

“Doing it again tonight, huh?”

“That’s right. You got to try it sometime – it’s so easy to drink and you get fucked up. Hell, I don’t even know how I made it home last night.”

“Take it easy.”

“And tonight’s going to be even better. This guy I’m with, he’s got a bottle of tequila. It’s going to be crazy, right? After this, I’m gonna lay off for awhile.”

“You’ll be back.”
“I know.”

* * * 

In some parts of the country, gas stations are de facto community centers: people come in for newspapers, lottery tickets, food, gossip, hunting supplies, coffee and beer. Kids hang out in the parking lot at night. In Nevada, they have slot machines. In Pennsylvania, I stayed in a motel inside of a gas station. 

You can tell a lot about a state by the way it handles its liquor. In Utah, only 3.2% beer is sold in store. Waitresses are prohibited from offering a wine list unless the customer asks for one, and food must be ordered. No alcohol is sold or served before 8pm. In Tennessee, wine is sold only in liquor stores – and these stores can only sell liquor. No corkscrews, no daiquiri mix, not even a bottle of water.

In Nevada, alcohol can be sold almost anywhere 24 hours a day and public intoxication is perfectly legal (in fact, there’s a state law preventing any town or county from making it an offense). Minors in Wisconsin can drink, as long as an adult is present. Absinthe is legal in Missouri.

Today is the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition.