SMOKE-FREE October 1, 2017 A TRIBUTE TO THE WOMAN WHO SOLD ME SMOKES WHEN I WAS FOURTEEN

It has been  one month today since I smoked tobacco. I've struggled with that addiction off and on (mostly on) since I was14 yours old.
I had two connections: Melanie, who used cigarettes as payment for babysitting services and that one woman--with the large beehive-shaped blonde wig who worked at that one particular gas station in Preston. I knew she would just take my .99 cents, toss a pack of cigs in the car and send me on my way with a "Shhhhh....." and a finger to her scarlet painted lips. Indecently the, yellow stains on her fingers suggested that she too was a smoker. Curious.. .I wonder how she is today. Is she still alive or did she smoke up to the day she died? I wonder if I was just one of many teenagers to whom she sold tobacco. Did she ever regret doing so?