Sherri, Part 2

Sherri's 50th - Part 2

I had decided what kind of cigarette I'd want to try, but I didn't know what 
they were called.  About a year before I'd been at a hospital visiting a 
friend.  Outside there had been 3 nurses smoking. I didn't really pay any 
attention to them, but as I was walking by them, digging for my keys I had 
accidently let a twenty dollar bill fall out of the purse.
  "Excuse me, ma'am," said one of the nurses, "I think you dropped this."

   She was tall, with light features and short brown hair.  Dangling from her 
full lips was a long, thin brown cigar- or what I had first thought was a 
cigar- that she had just lit. She must have noticed that I was staring at it, 
because just as I'd finished thanking her she cheerfully said, "No, it's not 
a cigar. It's just a cigarette that happens to be brown."
    Embarassed that she'd noticed my staring, I said, "Well it's very elegant 
looking."
    She reached for the pack in he pocket and said, now with the cigarette 
cliched in her teeth, "Would you like to try one?"
    I sort of laughed, "Oh heavens no. I don't smoke. I'm a preachers wife, 
and that would definately be frowned upon."
   I thanked her again, and didn't really think much about her or her 
cigarette until I'd come up with my little plan. Since then, however, I knew 
that was the cigarette for me.
    I had also decided that if I was going to do this, I wasn't going to 
hide. I'd buy the cigarettes at a store I normally went to. In this case it 
was a drive-thru dairy. I pulled in and noticed that Cathy, the 30 something 
owner of the dairy, recognized the car, but not he driver.
   "Hi Cath." I chirped.
    "Sherri...?" she stammered.
    "Who else. I'm trying a new look. Do you like?"
     "It's great," she finally smiled, "What can I get for you?"
    "Well, I'm not sure. I'm looking for these long, thin brown cigarettes, 
but I'm not sure what they're called."
    As soon as she heard the word cigarette her dazed look reappeared.

pt 3 coming tomorrow

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