Chain Smoking

Sallie Benson and I were cousins, neighbors and best friends.

We were not cousins by blood which freed us to do whatever we wished in her bedroom.

"Want to come up to my house and play with the Ouija Board?" she offered one June morning when school was out.

Sally knew I was one of the few teenage boys who could be trusted sitting on her be with her.


My hands went on only a heart- shaped oracle with an eye and a needle poked down through the plastic magnifier.

The magic was real with Sallie. She had mystical powers, that is for sure. The messages hidden in those letters on the Ouija Board came true.

"Who will I marry?" I asked it over and over again.

The oracle spun in confusion, knowing, as Sallie and I both did, that I would never marry a woman.

We grew bored with reading into the future and wanted to do something bad.

"Let’s go visit Grace Hershey and steal a cigarette from her," I tempted.

"You’ll never get away with it," Sallie challenged. "I hear she's a witch."

"I visit her every night when I deliver her newspaper. She keeps them in a little leather pouch on an end table next to her lamp near the door."

"Sure, let’s do it. I have some gum we can chew to chase away the smell," she giggled while putting on a bra right in front of me.

We walked out the dirt lane to Grace’s pink trailer, nestled under a canopy of oak trees.

"Hi Grace! How are you today?"

"Hanging in there, Charlie! I’m still waiting to meet and marry a rich man. Hi Sallie! What are you two up to today?" She inquired with her hands on her polyester slacks which matched her bright red lipstick.

"Oh nothing, we’re just bored and decided to stop by and say hello."

Sallie gave the game away. She was as nervous as a pot head seeking weed on vacation.

Grace grabbed a Parliament and a pack of matches while looking me in the eye.

"You want one of these?" Grace asked while lighting-up.

"Oh I already have a pocket full," Sallie giggled in relief that she didn’t get caught stealing.

Grace looked at us like a mind reader and said "You should have just asked, I would have given you one. I am an old woman. I don’t get that many visitors."