“: CHRISTMAS: BLEND —

JOEL MEGGS

Daryl started off his morning of last exams the way-he . - always started his mornings, with two bags. of M&Ms and

three cups of Folgers Dark Roast. His exam had been at 9:00 a.m., same as mine.. We — Daryl, Mike, and I — all hooked up at noon in the campus centre for a post-semester get together.

Daryl showed up looking pretty — I asked him how his

exam went.

“There’s never endugh time. Three hours goes by like a half hour in those exams.”

“Did you finish all the questions?” I sine

“Oh yeah. Though it was tight toward the end there. Luckily Dr. Warren gave me a few minutes to finish up.”

We wound our way through the line-up to the Burger King kiosk. Most of the time when we ate at the campus cen- tre we ate light. Today we all king-sized our orders. Seats were scarce, as this was most students’ last day of exams, and a steady progression of the exam-fatigued staggered in weary eyed and took seats wherever they could find them.

“Shit, I forgot I had these with me,” Daryl said, draw- ing a bottle of Vivarin out of his knapsack. “I could have used one this morning.”

Mike was pretty astounded that Daryl would actually

-take stimulants. He examined the bottle up close, reading the

label:

Vivarin: Do It All. Do It Right. Directions: | Adults — and Children 12 years of age and older: take one tablet (200 mg.) not more often than every three to four hours. Active Ingredient: (200 mg.)

Warning: The commnnniel dose of this product contains about as much-caffeine as two cups of coffee. Too much caf- feine can nervousness, irri- tability, sleeplessness, and occasionally, rapid heartbeat.

Caffeine

The warnings went on intiny font down the label.

“Twelve years of age!” Mike exclaimed. “What twelve year old is going to take this stuff? I can’t believe they think this is safe for twelve year olds! I can’t believe you wee this stuff, Daryl!”

_Mike was new, relatively’ spankings He was from out’ west, and lived in the dorms here. Daryl and-I had gone - through high school together. We’ve known each other a long time, and it certainly doesn’t surprise me that he’d take those pills, especially not during exams. Dary] is the very definition of driven. Most of high school he was a goof, but in our final year he just turned it on — all nighters, cram sessions, study- ing on Saturdays. It was the most remarkable turn-around I’d ever seen, and it’s what got him into the Biology program. Now, of course, he has his eye on Med school.

I notice that Daryl’s foot is fidgeting rapidly beneath our table. He takes a huge bite of his Whopper with cheese and immediately washes it down with Coke.

“Believe me,” Daryl muttered, his mouth still full. “Those things have made a five percent difference in my average. At least! You don’t know. You guys are in Humanities. Science students have to memorize entire text- books’ worth of knowledge. You guys just have to get the gist of it. In order to stay in the upper eighties, you have to sacri- fice sleep; it’s that simple. They expect you to.”

“They expect you to jeopardize your health?” Mike asked.

Daryl took a minute to choke down more of his Whopper, cramming fries in directly after it. After a large and loud gulp, he spoke through the remnants in his mouth,

“What jeopardize? It’s safe. It’s FDA “sieiciioray You drink coffee don’t yer

“No, as a.

Daryl spies a5 over him, “Well it’s just the same as drinking a cup of coffee, except all the time I would waste on brewing the coffee or running out to buy it, I save by swal-

lowing these with water! They’re great. In fact, } think Pll

take a few right now.” Daryl emptied a few, I didn’t really see how many, and washed them down with a big gulp of his coke. Daryl never counted them either; he just did it to get a