Just when I thought that $4.00-a-gallon gas and $8.00-a-jar tomato sauce had reached the top rung of the outrage ladder, the ladder grew a few more rungs.

I picked up a grandson from school yesterday and took him…and a game board to a beverage establishment for hot chocolate and a game of checkers to take the edge off a tough day in third grade. The lure that sealed the deal was the promise of s’mores that said establishment also purveyed. I ordered two hot chocolates and a s’more for the young man. The tally was nearly $16.00.

Recovering a good 10% of my composure, I inquired if we had been magically transported to Biarritz. No, we were still stateside I was assured. Was I expected to buy a round of s’mores for everyone in the vicinity? No sir, but an order of s’mores is for two folks or more. The privilege will set you back $7.95.

Well, it did come with a flourish…a large round wooden tray with two cutouts for a dozen marshmallows, two cutouts for eight enormous flat chocolate cookies and one slot for a bar of Hershey’s chocolate. In the middle of the array was a Sterno stove and skewers. Put two squares of chocolate on a cookie, heat a marshmallow to melting, put it on top of the chocolate squares and sandwich all that with another cookie. Diabetes, anyone?

Please direct all correspondence for me to the local s’mores reduction facility (gym), where I’ll be residing for the next five or six weeks.