"Let's cross the river at the old stone bridge, yeah?" said Mogey as the pals walked down the wagon track toward town.
"The old stone bridge?" Smush queried. "It'll take twice as long! The Barnabas Bridge is the fastest route."
"I know," Mogey replied, "but I don't want to run into Hippie Steve."
"He does enjoy hanging out on the Barnabas Bridge," Smush acknowledged, "but he's not so bad... just walk right past him."
So Mogey and Smush made their way to the newer, more wooden bridge named for Bill "American Fudge" Barnabas. Sure enough, sitting cross-legged in the center of the span was a man with a long reddish-gray beard and long grayish-red hair. His locks - they were red and gray, primarily - were held back by a flowery headband, and he was draped in loose clothing that consisted of either frayed robes, burlap sacks, or a designer sweatsuit.
Mogey and Smush did their best to keep their eyes straight ahead, but as they passed on either side of Hippie Steve, he spoke up:
"Taste the rainbow... if you know what I mean." The statement was accompanied by much waggling of eyebrows.
"Just ignore him, Mogey," Smush said. But Mogey couldn't resist.
"No, Steve, what do you mean?"
"You never... tasted the rainbow, brother?"
"What are you talking about?" Mogey asked.
"Check it out, man," said Hippie Steve. His eyes darted in either direction to check the coast was clear, and then he pulled from the folds of his clothing a king size bag of skittles candy.
"What do they have, like, hallucinogens on them or something?" Smush asked.
"No way, dude! A very mellow fellow from the Wrigley Corporation offered me 20 bucks and all the skittles I can eat if I tell everyone who crosses this bridge to 'taste the rainbow.'"
"Hippie Steve is part of the corporate machine?" Mogey exclaimed.
"Don't judge, man," said the cross-legged man. His eyebrows began to waggle again. "Hippie Steve needs cash for... y'know... hippie stuff."
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