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