Ashes To Ashes

The first time I saw Vera... I saw: A scrawny, wrinkled, little thing with sallow wrinkled skin, a head of fine white hair that looked like a dandelion gone to seed and a pair of faded blue eyes that still managed to twinkle. A REAL BEAUTY WHEN SHE WAS YOUNG, they told me. There she sat in an old Lazy Boy Recliner beneath a halo of floating blue smoke, lips stuck to the tail end of a Camel butt as ashes fell onto her already pockmarked terrycloth bathrobe. With a toothless grin, she smiled at me, then coughed up what sounded like gravel as she thumped her chest with a balled up fist until the coughing finally ceased; whereupon she made another halo that rose high into the air and fell apart. So this was what an EARTHBOUND AGNEL looked like. Not at all what I expected. From all accounts told to me, Vera had spent most of her life doing without so she could give to others less fortunate then herself, with the one exception: The money she spent on her camels. Oh! How she loved them. She loved the feel of them, the smell of them and the sense of reward they gave her in exchange for all her good deeds. Everyone including me, tried to tell her the relationship she had with them was unhealthy, but she refused to listen claiming she had been kissin their butts for over 50 years and it gave her great pleasure, thank you very much! All this, she sputtered as I swept up their droppings from the floor. For two more years I swept up their droppings as Vera advanced from a Lazy Boy Recliner to a wheelchair. Still the Camels remained. They were her loyal companions. Day in and day out they were always by her side, especially on those lonely nights when there was no one else to keep her company. Many, many times over those two years, I tried to convince her to let them go ,but she was addicted to that toxic relationship in mind, body and soul. Still, I prayed she would come to her senses, but all in vain. ~~~ It was a rainy morning in September when the charred remains of this once earthbound angel were found in the smoldering ashes after she had finally let go of her last Camel while falling asleep. Written: September 15, 2014 Author: Elaine Cecelia George of Canada Author’s Note: Every year in the USA, over 1000 smokers and non- smokers die in home fires caused by smoking.