Cigarettes

When I was growing up, many of the adults smoked. Dad preferred cigars or pipe but would smoke the occasional cigarette. So, by the time I was ten and in the fifth grade, I thought I was old enough to try smoking, too. Several of us boys would sneak overtown at lunch time and for a quarter would purchase one pack of cigarettes, which would be then smoked in the ravine behind the school. We must have smelled delightful when we got back in the class for the afternoon session. Later I graduated to the occasional cigar but ultimately preferred pipes. To this day I enjoy the smell of cigars or pipe tobacco. Somehow, I never quite got the trick of inhaling down, and so by the time I was twenty five, I was ready to give up the habit. Perhaps the one thing that stands out most to me was my favorite uncle's special way of holding his cigarette. Most people had many ashtrays around to hold the cigarette when not in use, and my grandmother had a fun one that looked like a man's head. You put the lit cigarette in his mouth, and the smoke would come out his nose. Fun to watch for us kids. But my uncle beat that hands down. He was born with four fingers and two thumbs on one of his hands. This is a true statement! The second thumb grew out of his wrist, and (are you ready for this?) he held his lighted cigarette there between puffs. Fascinating! I almost entitled this section, Four Plus Two Makes A Hand, but felt that would be confusing to you the reader. Which title do you prefer?