Blowing Smoke

(Flaws are awesome. Find out why on this week's Jared's Inkwell! -JMG)

Story Sent in by Christopher:

Cindy's profile, I'm almost positive, had her down as a non-smoker. So when we were out on our first date and she pulled out a cigarette and asked me if I had a light, I told her that I didn't smoke.

"Why not?" she asked, "They're not really bad. It's all a conspiracy. You know that, right? In the fifties, they were all about how healthy they were, but then suddenly they became bad for you with no reason."

"Science?" I suggested.

She took a long drag and said, "Don't buy that."

I said, "What about all those people with those larynx voice boxes and all the people who died from smoking?"

Again, she said, "Don't buy it. Do you believe everything they tell you in kids' cartoons, too? There have been university studies, hundreds of them, that prove no link."

"Which studies?" I asked, genuinely curious.

She pulled out a cigarette and held it out to me. "C'mon, kid. Live a little."

I thanked her but refused. She called me a "sheep" under her breath and that was our only date.