Cass
April 6th, 1984
I remember this day so well.
I was walking home from school, just feeling like a noob over my math test score. Got a 90%, I tell you, but to Aunt Marie and Uncle Bernie, that would've meant failure. And you do not want a failure with Aunt Marie or Uncle Bernie.
So I was walking home, when I saw this guy with a green Mohawk. He was dressed up like Billy Idol and he was wearing black sunglasses, and his eyebrows had a slash through both of them. He had an earing on his right ear, and a nose piercing. This dude was carrying a box of cigarettes, and one was sticking out of his mouth, the smoke flowing out gracefully.
The minute I saw those cigs, an idea came into my head. If I knew what back then what everyone knows now about cigs, I probably wouldn't have even thought of doing this, but back then, smoking cigs was normal. You could go outside during recess and you'd have to try to find a teacher that wasn't smoking or rolling a beanie. Anyhow, kids, don't do this. Ever. If you someone smoking, do not ever do what I did.
Even if you hate your old bossy aunt and uncle who pressure you a lot and you want to piss them off real good.
I went up to that smoker, and took out some chicken and held out my hand.
"Can I have a cigarette from you?" I asked. The smoker looked at me in the eye.
"Sure, kid," he said, pulling a cigarette out of his box. "I'll light it for you," were his next words.
I watched him light up the cig and hand it to me.
"Put it in your mouth and take a puff. Then take it out and breathe." He showed me how to do it, he did. Put it in the mouth, take a puff, then take out it and breathe.
I put the cig in my mouth and puffed. Almost immediately, I felt this strange sensation. Can't really describe it. Can't really find the right words. It was a sort a tingling feeling up my spine. Quickly, I pulled that thing out of my mouth and coughed. Really hard, I did.
"It's normal, kid," the dude said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Get used to it."
He pulled out a box of cigarettes and handed it to me. I thanked him and walked home, just thinking of how it was all worth it.
If I'd known that I'd be smoking for twenty-six years, and what the risks were, I might not have done it. I know I sound like a hypocrite telling you not to smoke, but really, you shouldn't. I've been smoking for entire adult life, and it wasn't until around eight years ago that I began trying to quit.
If there is one thing I learned from this, it's that once you start smoking, it's hard to go back, but since I actually managed to quit, it is possible. Sooner you do it, easier it is.
Maybe those people who were shoving that whole anti-drug thing down our throats were on to something.
I remember when I was in Grade 9, one of my teachers said you could go outside and all the teachers would be smoking when he was a kid. I think said teacher was a kid in the late 80s/early 90s, so to learn that smoking was still that common surprised me a lot.