"we're always open" = euphemism for "i love you"

the other day i was walking up market street on the side that jason (the itinerant individual who used to live on the front porch of our former abode) had told me was the "safe side" on my way to what i hoped was an open 7-11 convenience store so i could conveniently purchase my smokes and be on my merry way. unfortunately i encountered something i have never seen before: a closed 7-11. used to be those suckers were always open, and proclaimed as much on their backlit readerboards. i guess the economy really is in the shitter, huh? i mean what does it say about this country when there's no longer a niche market for fritos and gatorade at all hours of the day and night?

sad. but not the point.

the point is that as i walked (dejectedly, inconvenienced) back towards the BART station i passed a long line of gentlement in lawn chairs, wrapped up in blankets and playing cards. they looked prepared to stay the duration. i wanted to know what they were doing but i didn't want to ask them - people with such determined expressions are usually not up for small talk. fortunately for me a tweaker in laceless nikes reeled along up near them and was all, "man what you guys sitting here for?" a man put down his plastic travel mug of coffee and said solemnly, "shoes."

the tweaker and i had a good laugh about that one, let me tell you. him probably for more interesting reasons than me. now what i want to know is: do they release new styles of shoes at midnight, like with harry potter books? is this a different strain of the same consumer madness? or were these dudes prepared to sit there until the SHEIKH store opened at ten o'clock the next morning?

and with that 7-11 closed, they'd be shit out of luck for snacks.