The proprietor of the store may be meticulous in his habits, but his store, and the things he sells, are not maintained as if they mattered. The walls of his store are dirty, and the furniture is plain. The love potion itself is described as dirty. Alan Austen has come to the store seeking intimacy and the birth of new love, yet his notions of it seem untouched by experience; indeed, he barely knows the object of his affection. One would expect the store-bought solution to his problem would have the gleam of a new perfume bottle. The condition of the bottle may represent the reality of the older man’s experience of love. Love is not a gleaming thing that remains forever new, but something that collects wear and tear, and which requires ongoing maintenance. It may also represent an unfulfilled promise; the bottle is dirty on the outside because it the product inside is tarnished by a fundamental flaw.

There is a list of strong, evocative flavors to which the older man alludes when describing how to apply his potions. Tea, soup, orange juice; each of these evokes an unwitting response in the reader, because each has a distinct flavor and evokes the rituals of domesticity and attachment.