Smokers

Almost everyday during the week, you can find me at a particular restaurant. The meals are great, the staff is awesome and after a while, you become part of the regular crowd that hangs out there. We are now to the point, that the waitress has our drinks set out on the table before we even sit down if she sees us walk in the door. Its pretty cool to walk over to our regular table and find that everything is waiting for you. It gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

I am a people watcher and the crowd there is an interesting mix, but there is one group that I am totally enthralled by; the smokers. They sit just outside a window, at an area just for them to enjoy what they enjoy the most. Now I'm not critical of them at all, because I used to be one of them.

Smoking was a real pleasure to me. Nothing like a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning and a Marlborough for desert. I used to love the act of lighting one up and taking that first long drag, then a sip of my favorite brew. Black of course! Nothing added to cut the taste and flavor. I was a purist! There was a certain ritual that I followed every morning and since I have quit, there is a emptiness, a void so to speak. My days just don't start out the same any more.

One fellow wears a cowboy hat and drives an old Mustang convertible. There is another guy that looks at a newspaper through his entire lunch and rarely looks up except to light another one. A particularly standout individual is a fellow that looks as if he is a high school coach, maybe football, but the ones that tweak my curiosity the most, are these two lovely ladies, that drive up in a short wheel based pick up truck. Both have silver hair and they look quite a bit alike. I would guess that they are sisters.

One is usually just a step ahead of the other, and the first one to light one up. The second one is carrying the first ones oxygen tank. I have never seen such dedication to a sport, than these two women. They are hardcore fans of the art of smoking! They have taken it to a new level. When you can sit there in front of fellow smokers, while wearing an oxygen tube around your neck, and light one up without the first sign of trepidation, then you are all right by me.

I am however concerned for their safety. I am pretty sure that one day, one of them will spontaneously burst into flames and turn into a small pile of ash in the blink of an eye, and I do not feel that anyone sitting even remotely close to her will be able to extinguish the flames in time to save her. There may even be some collateral damage, and the fact that none of the others seem concerned about it, makes this lady and her sister, in my opinion, the coolest chicks that I have ever encountered!