Member-only story
They Gave Cancer for Christmas
I wish I made this up.
I started smoking before it became unhealthy. The coughing, choking, and gagging when I inhaled that first cigarette is a memory that I’ll never forget. Fifty years later, my doctor asked me if I had ever thought about quitting cigarettes. I said, “Sure I do! I think about it every day!” In fact, I’m an expert at stopping. It’s that part when you have to do it all the time that gives me problems.
Christmas is the time for giving.
My husband and his friends thought it would be a great idea to give cigarettes to homeless people at the shelters. One day, I came home from work to find our kitchen table turned into an assembly line. The guy at the beginning of the line rolled cigarettes with loose tobacco. The next guy counted them and placed them in groups. The other guys drank coffee and put the rolled cigarettes into plastic sandwich bags. They had it going on.
The Christmas spirit oozing from the group was hard to ignore. Bing Crosby music blasted through the Bose speakers in the living room. There was no chance of seeing snow on the ground in Florida. But it felt like snow could happen at any minute!
I put my bags down and asked them what they were up to. My husband proudly said, “We’re giving cigarettes to homeless people at the shelters today and tomorrow.”
It was too easy. I said, “Oh? So…you’re giving cancer for Christmas?”
