I don't wanna be right

I kind of love the smell of cigarette smoke. But it's only one specific kind. I do NOT love cigarette smoke when it

is being expelled near me
gets into upholstery and ruins it forever
is on someone's breath
is anywhere near children, and I think that people who smoke in kids' breathing space should be slapped around and then forced to breath gasoline fumes until they kill off their three remaining brain cells--but that's neither here nor there

The kind of cigarette smoke that I like is the faint suggestion kind. When I was little I associated it with carnivals, which were pretty much my favorite. That was back when I could ride scary rides and be upside down without prayiing for death.

Now it makes me think of London and Paris and Rome and big European cities in the summertime. One whiff and I'm there, all happy. The other day I was at the Gateway Mall and it happened. Wonderful, wonderful.

My sister Jenny thinks I'm beyond insane, but I know I'm not. Amyjane gets it. Right after we got back from Rome in 2002 she stepped into an ATM vestibule where someone had been smoking. She stayed in there, breathing deeply with her eyes closed. That's what I'm talking about.

Posted in: travel