During my teenage years, I thought like most adolescent males: I was no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. During those turbulent years, my boyhood best friend and mentor Jaybird taught me many life lessons the hard way: through experience.
Once, after he lit up a Camel cigarette while we were fishing, I reached over and took the cigarette case from his shirt pocket. The old black man didn’t say a word when I boasted that I was a man and could smoke if I wanted to. Shrugging, he passed me the lighter. I lit up, inhaled deeply, and picked up my fishing pole.
After several puffs, wooziness set in, and I saw three bobbers instead of one. Soon the sardines, onions, crackers, and RC Colas we enjoyed for lunch revolted. I leaned over the boat’s edge, vomited, and flicked the cigarette into the water. Amid Jaybird’s chuckles, I vowed never to smoke again.