MAY I SEE YOUR I.D.?

[Thomas]

Once, in Albany, NY, I went into a convenience store intending to pick up a couple of bottles of those 6 percent wines that are legal in grocery stores in NY (just for experimental purposes).

Anyway, I was nearing fifty at the time. The owner asked for i.d. I laughed. He said he was serious. I said forget it mister, and put the wine back.

He said he was stung the night before by the police and he could take no chances. I informed him that the police succeeded in terrorizing him, and that he should not let them do that to him, but I could see him shaking in his shoes.