The Lemon Reflex

Since four sour candy rolls were pinning that heavy gaming magazine against my chest anyway, pushing them off felt like an uncalculated display of manual labor. I noticed the wrapper on the nearest roll had a loose foil corner right by my cheek. Reasoning that free sugar required zero walking, I peeled the paper with my teeth and took a cautious lick. The explosion of concentrated artificial lemon acid instantly electrified my nervous system. An involuntary full-body flinch bucked the magazine and candy rolls cleanly into the aisle with a series of dull thuds. My reflexes handled the heavy lifting for me, leaving me sprawled flat on the bottom shelf with a thoroughly numb tongue.