| My Mother was a Saint; she must have | | | | store. His Dad smoked an old pipe that |
| been to have put up with me and my | | | | he usually filled with crushed cigars |
| smoking. Yeah, I was a hard core smoker | | | | that had grown stale enough to be given |
| when I was around 11-12 years old. | | | | to an employee or thrown away. |
| Cigarettes? Oh no, could not afford | | | | Edward would borrow, without his Dad's |
| them, but there was other good smoking | | | | knowledge, a box of those cigars and |
| materials just laying around for the | | | | hide it under a large rock on the hill |
| taking. | | | | behind his house. We would manfully |
| Dry cedar bark crushed and rolled up in | | | | light up and puff away, not inhaling of |
| a cigar shape in a piece of newspaper or | | | | course, but we never acknowledge that |
| printed circular worked just fine. | | | | fact. I don't think we ever finished |
| However, there was one teeny little | | | | smoking one, three or four puffs served |
| problem that was a dead give away. | | | | to show how tough we were. |
| Take a puff and the cedar bark and | | | | Back in the 1930's almost everyone |
| newspaper wrapping flared up; usually | | | | smoked. I doubt the tobacco was as bad |
| slightly singeing my eye brows. | | | | for our bodies as is that of today where |
| When Mother saw my burned eye brows, she | | | | so many chemicals are used. Doesn't |
| would kindly ask if I had been smoking. | | | | matter of course, smoking is a bad |
| Of course I said "no", and then the fire | | | | thing. |
| works began. First she wanted to know | | | | I quit smoking, cold turkey, in 1973; it |
| why I had told her a fib. About the same | | | | seemed I grew tired of coughing up that |
| time she also delivered a powerful slap | | | | yellow stuff in the morning. Or, perhaps |
| on my rear end with her hand, leaving me | | | | I just decided enough was more than too |
| wondering how she knew I lied. (Years | | | | much in the case of tobacco. A letter my |
| later I figured out the eye brow | | | | son in junior high wrote was primarily |
| singeing bit). | | | | responsible for my decision to stop |
| Dried grape vines were also a source of | | | | smoking. |
| smokes. Just break off a small piece of | | | | In late 2005, I found myself with a good |
| vine about 6 inches long and light up | | | | case of lung cancer as a direct result |
| for a strange experience. The core of | | | | of my excessive smoking. After two |
| the vine was hollow which allowed the | | | | thirds of my right lung was removed, |
| heated smoke to enter your mouth. | | | | followed by chemo, I find myself in |
| Grape vines would also flare up at | | | | remission for these past two and a half |
| times, giving Mother another shot at my | | | | years. |
| behind. (She later told me how much | | | | But as a teen ager, I really, really |
| spanking me hurt her hand because many | | | | thought I was hot stuff with that |
| times there was some type of hard object | | | | cigarette dangling from my lips. Too bad |
| in a rear pocket.) | | | | it takes us so long to get over that |
| Then there was my friend Edward whose | | | | thinking! |
| Dad worked at the Piggly Wiggly grocery | | | | |