As mentioned in a previous entry, I recently self-published my novel, Dr. Teen. Read the first section below and visit the book’s Amazon entry to learn more.

Part I. June

At the supermarket, Errol has discovered a trick that would lose the store manager his shirt if everyone knew about it. It involves raisins. 

There are “name brand” raisins: your Sunmaid, your Newman’s Own, a few gourmet brands with less market saturation. Then there are the generics: Cub Foods brand, ValuTime. These come in boxes and cylinders, which should tell you something right off the bat. With the name raisins you’re paying for the marketing and such, but even with these cheapo raisins you are still paying for the packaging they come in.

Eliminate both categories right off the top. Those raisins are strictly for suckers.

It is mid-morning on a weekday. Just housewives and Errol Gropp here in the supermarket.

Forget the boxed raisins and head over to the dry-goods section, where you can scoop your own couscous, nuts, granola, etc. Raisins here are $7.99 a pound. It seems steep, but that is markedly cheaper than boxed raisins, which go for over $10 per pound if you bother to do the math. 

Seems like a good deal. But hold on.