Thursday, August 30, 2007

Syd Sneaks a Smoke

Upon arriving at his sister and brother-in-law’s farm, Syd finds that they will not allow him to smoke. Being highly conservative evangelical Christians they also required him to attend church two times a week (but that’s another story).

Now in the city Syd nursed a pack-a-day habit, which he supported with a variety of odd jobs (being lazy and shiftless, he never held down a real job). On occasion Syd would even stoop to begging on the street with a sign that said “WILL WERK FOR FOOD”. Although Syd was dyslexic and couldn’t spell, the sign was basically true, as long as he didn’t have to work too hard or long.

Once at the farm, he set about to find a safe place to sneak a smoke. Ah yes, the neighbor’s wine cellar! The location was perfect!

He couldn’t think of a convincing excuse for his prolonged absences from the farm (not above lying on occasion, he was never-the-less lousy at it, and invariably was found out), so he had to cut down on the habit. With only about 10 cigarettes a day, he was usually in a lousy mood. And his sister’s constant preaching at him didn’t help very much either.

—Illustration and story by Robert McLaughlin

1 comment:

Lorene Huffman said...

H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!!! You missed your calling...story-teller...well, at least you are getting practice for sitting on the porch with your grandchildren one day...spinning yarns! LOL