The Stranger Also Smoked Cigarettes

I woke directly from a dream again this morning.  In this dream, I had started smoking cigarettes again.  I sat smoking them in a bar while drinking beer from a mug.   While smoking, I was chatting with the bartended (someone I seemed to know) and a stranger seated next to me.  The stranger also smoked cigarettes.

I told the stranger about someone I knew only a little who had lived his whole life through with no close friends and no meaningful relationships with women.  I sucked on my cigarette, exhaled, and then added: “He lived his life as if he were passing through the inside of a straw while surrounded by the rest of us.”

The stranger drew in on his cigarette.  The end of it glowed like lava.

That’s when I woke.

I lay in bed for a while thinking about that last thing I said in the dream.    

--Mitchell Hegman