So it was a Thursday night. I’d just come home after spending some time with my friend, Clem. I came into my room and switched on my computer monitor. Then for some reason my dad calls my name and knocks on my door. It wasn’t locked so he let himself in. I was sitting at my computer as he walked up to me and asked me what I was doing. I said nothing much, just checking email.
So he looked at the screen for awhile then he asks me, “Can I have a cigarette?” I’m a bit stunned. We’re talking about my father who totally detests people who smoke. In his day, if he saw anyone he knew smoking; he’d grab the cigarette and throw it away including any pack he sees laying around. But he’s mellowed since and that’s part of the reason I don’t hide the fact that I smoke. My carton of cigarettes that I bought for $10 in Cambodia is in open sight, my lighters are all over the house and empty cigarette boxes are all over my room (partly because I don’t have a rubbish bin or never really got around to cleaning up). But out of respect to my father, I don’t smoke or carry cigarettes in front of him.
And so here we are. In a situation where he’s asking me for a cig. I take out my pack (which I dumped right in front of my monitor) and I gave him a stick. He looks at my packet and says, “A new one again?” I’m like huh? “How much do you smoke?” he asks as he turns his back to me on his way out. And I suddenly realize the reason why my cigarettes have been slowly disappearing. He’s been taking my sticks. So out of curiosity and disbelief that my father would have started smoking, I asked him why on earth would he need a cigarette for.
Turns out he’s just offering it to the spirits that guard my house. That’s normal practice but the fact that he bummed a stick off me is something quite remarkable. I never thought anything like that would ever happen. There’s a first time for everything.
Filed under: Thoughtless Rambles
