1336. A puff of smoke

Cedric lit a cigarette. It was his ninety-seventh birthday. He’d smoked a packet of cigarettes every day since his fourteenth birthday when his father had given him a packet of cigarettes.

“You should give up smoking,” Cedric’s doctor had said. “You’ll get cancer and heart disease. It will rot your teeth and give you all sorts of ill things. You’ll die earlier than you should.”

Well, today was important day – apart from being his ninety-seventh birthday. Cedric was dressed up to attend a funeral. His doctor had died suddenly, aged fifty-three.

1211. The sun had gone over the yardarm

Abernathy had a few serious New Year resolutions to make. And he made them. He needed to give up the drink – alcohol that is. Every evening he drank too much. That would have to stop.

Then there was smoking. He had to give that up too. It was for the sake of his health and for the sake of his pocket.

What he needed to do was to have new and varied interests. That should take his mind off things. Perhaps he should take up pottery, or herb growing and drying, or fruit tree grafting? Perhaps he could go to night school and study Middle Eastern cooking, or learn how to paint with water colours, or master all the ins and outs of the computer programs he used?

It was five o’clock on New Year’s Day; the sun had gone over the yardarm. Abernathy poured himself a drink and lit a cigarette. Decisions! Decisions! So many options to mull over!

1130. The route home

Elvyn liked to vary his route home after buying cigarettes; one way home yesterday, another way home today.

Which is how he came to run over the little girl.

855. No smokin’

Hammond Dryden had promised his girlfriend he’d give up smoking. He’d left her at home. He was off to war.

Johnny Turkson was at the airport seeing off his wife. He ducked outside for a quick cigarette. Outside was Hammond Dryden, having his final smoke.

“You want my smokes and lighter?” asked Hammond Dryden of Johnny Turkman. “I’m off to war, and I promised my girlfriend I’d give up smoking. This is my final smoke.”

“Thanks,” said Johnny Turkman. “I’ll take them.”

A couple of months later Hammond Dryden got his head blown off. His girlfriend was probably really pleased he’d given up the dirty habit.

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