TALES FROM THE BAYOU: Going Up In Smoke

My mother was a heavy smoker all during my childhood. I would even consider her a chain smoker because she would typically light her next cigarette with the end of her last one. I found out as I got older that she was probably smoking so much to dull hunger pangs because some days she barely had enough food on the table for her four children must less herself.

While I never had the urge to pick up that particular habit, I was fascinated with the smoke itself. I thought it was so cool to hang this little stick thing from your lips and watch puffs of smoke float up to the ceiling. In an otherwise dysfunctional house, it seemed pretty normal to smoke. I was about 10 years old when I became fascinated with Mother's smoking habits and wanted to see if I could do the same thing.

There wasn't extra money lying around our house but occasionally Mother would give us a nickel to spend on anything we wanted. I would usually go to Touchet's grocery store and load up on about 15 to 20 pieces of "penny" candy. It was a really big deal then that I chose only one pack of bubble gum cigarettes on one of my coveted candy trips.

I can remember going with my sister to the local park...one of the few places we were allowed to visit on our own...and sitting on the slides just waiting for someone to drive by. There was a road curving through the park and the slide was close enough for people to see how cool we were "smoking" our cigarettes...but far enough away to not realize they were fake. And if I timed it out just right, I could blow on one end of the cigarette and puff out some gum powder residue that kinda sorta looked like the real thing.

I'm pretty sure I wasn't fooling anybody but to a shy kid trying to find her way to some kind of normal, even mimicking a bad habit was better than nothing...