185 Smoking Kills

Most of the other passengers are locals. Our next door neighbors, Renee and James are from Holland. He’s a welder, she just retired from Frito-Lay as a customer rep. They are spending 6 weeks here, backpacking.

He jokes and laughs a lot, she’s quiet. He always stops and chats on his way to the space between our car and the baggage car. He stands in the jerking, jolting space to roll and smoke his cigarettes.

Doing our bit for humanity and because we were growing quite fond of him I suggested that smoking was bad for his health. James held his tobacco pouch up and lo, it says, “Smoking Kills” in bold lettering.

He laughed his hearty laugh then said, “Sure smoke can kill but do you know how much it cost to live 10 years longer?” That really brought his humor and laughter out. Loud enough that it was easy to hear above the roar of the train in the lurching space.