When I was younger scratch that, subtext is funner.

One time I went shopping with my Mother, we were in the milk section. She wanted to buy some fruit for us because she thought we never ate enough.
I told her, I love grapes.
She asked me to go grab a pound. So I ditched her, went to the cheap toy section, broke a pair of plastic handcuffs (on accident) and made my way to the produce section. I zipped off the little plastic baggy with a snap, and began my quest.
So many grape choices — Wine grapes, green grapes, red grapes, purple grapes, seedless grapes, grapes with seeds…
So I opened up the tightly industrial-sealed plastic bag, and a half-hour later I went over for some seedless grapes. I wanted to try something new, but the seedless grape bins were only filled with stems.

A clerk who had been watering down the lettuce asked me if I needed some help, I shook my head. He then said, those grapes you’re getting are really good, they’re good priced too.
All I see are stems, I said.
Well that’s because the grapes haven’t been released yet, they will be shortly though. If you buy a stem now, you’re guaranteed to get a fair price for the rest of the grapes when you come back.
What’s the point of that? I want to get the grapes now.
Well, he looked around. See, they take all the grapes off the stems right, then they put them in the back. They put out the stems so people will buy them ahead of time with the promise of their favorite grapes. They take them home, and put them somewhere as a reminder until the store lets them know the grapes have been released. Then they come back and buy the grapes.
They know kids love these grapes, so they do their very best to advertise and build up anticipation for the release of the stems, so everyone rushes out to buy them, regardless of the price. That way, it’s almost guaranteed more people buying the grapes individually.

Huh? I was confused.

I know, it sounds a little crazy, but it works. And as long as they keep buying it this way, they’ll keep doing it. Why not get more money?
Do you get any of that money? I asked.
Hell no, I wish I did, he said.
Well when are the rest of the grapes released? I asked.
That depends. See sometimes we have competitor grapes such as those over there, he points to the green grapes. They come fully packaged, every single grape on the stem. They sell for cheaper, though they’re not as good if you ask me, they don’t come from the same farm as these, and they’re really old. Trust me.
How much are the grapes when they’re released?
Depends, usually it’s around five bucks. But that’s normally per-incremented grape release, we usually don’t release all of the grapes at once. Who cares though? You get your grapes and they’re really good.
That doesn’t make any sense.
He laughed, buy whatever you want, I’m sure it’s your parents money anyway. You better get used to this new way of buying grapes though, it’s great. Pretty soon you’ll have to pre-order the stems and the grapes. They got it all worked out, man they are really good grapes. They should of done this sooner if you ask me.
He walked off and continued spraying lettuce.

I stared at the stems for awhile then walked to the green grapes.

They were old, and brown. I remembered them being so tasty before. Stem and all.
Maybe I’ll just try them again later I thought.
I left the produce section and went back to my Mother.

Where are the grapes? my mother asked.
I shrugged. I don’t think I like grapes anymore, I said.
Well… maybe you’re old enough to enjoy Cantaloupe now.

Maybe.