The steely gray figure loomed before me. Four of them in fact, all demanding my offering with stoic silence as all gods do. I chose one and approached the agape cavernous mouth with its green conveyor tongue, and sheepishly deposited my treats one at a time. Silently they were whisked away into a place unknown, where I could hear the faint crushing of each shell that once held a bubbling soul. One after another, my tidbits were placed on the belt that led to the monster's relentless appetite as it took each morsel without a hesitation. My bin emptied, it would have to be satisfied for now I prayed as I hesitated to tell it I was finished; my offering done. Without a bit of godly fire or smoke, it simply belched out a receipt for forty-four cents to use at my local WalMart.

Since the early 70's my family taught me the value of recycling. My Orange Crush bottles were many along with the green glass of 7-Up and old canning jars. We recycled newspaper and tin cans, too. We always had a compost pile somewhere in the yard, even when we came to be more of the city type of folk, though keeping the dogs from rolling in the aromatic rot was always a challenge.

The papers have said that New York City is discontinuing its recycle pick-up, touting this would save the budget for the city, and that disheartens me. I'm sure there are thousands of cities that don't have a recycle program in place, but for one of our largest cities to give one up seems a step backwards. This means a lot of wasted material will clog our landfills or float down the intercostal waterways on barges where no port will accept it, destined to roam endlessly along our coast, leaking who knows what along the way.

People typically, with few exceptions, won't make efforts to recycle unless it's easy, convenient, or profitable. This is where Coca-Cola has stepped in to save the planet, or at least a few corners of it. After all, they had the perfect harmony theory going a long time ago with the "I'd like to teach the world to sing..." ad campaign of the 60's. Now they have teamed up with local retailers to create an instant unmanned recycling center where you redeem your cans and plastic drink bottles for cash inside the store, in my case, our WalMart.

At first, I thought it was a temporary facility for a weekend drive. After all, we here in Melbourne still have our rather extensive recycling program in place. Steadily, as it became known, I've seen a huge increase in its use, much to my delight. On some days people stand in line to unload huge garbage bags bulging with "cans for cash". Folks feed the hungry monsters with unflattened drink containers and receive a ticket totaling a penny per piece that's good for merchandise or cash inside the sponsoring retailer. Mind you, Coke and WalMart are making the real pennies, as cans are going for 4-5 cents each if you take them to a regular recycling station. Though this makes the clean up of our neighborhoods and roadways slightly more selective, at least it's a start. A great incentive for kids to recycle and earn their own pocket money.

Now I am truly giving my age away and sounding like my mother: A hard economy makes it appealing and hopefully it will become a good habit when times are less lean.

Gail Boysen-Preset went to the Golden Arches thinking it was a store for orthotics. The burgers, she found, kept coming out the tops of her new shoes.

FROM OUR FORTIFIED FEATURES VAULT:

A stiff companion earns his keep 8/01

A Century of Flight 4/01

Spring Break In the Island Continent - 11/00

Back down to earth in otherworldly Homer, Alaska. 8/00

Traveling the Dark Side to the Sydney Olympics. 4/00