by Bruce McDaniel

Created on: May 18, 2009

Thinking back to 1965 when I was seven years old and had a paper route. It was an apartment building two miles from my parents house.

There was a vending area there with soda machines, candy machines, the laundry area, and of course a cigarette machine. Back then they were 25 cents a pack. Temptation, curiosity, or was it the challenge of doing something that my parents would not know about. I would sell four or maybe five newspapers to passersby. Forty or fifty cents for the vending machines. Yea! Papers were ten cents then, and I always had extras to sell. I bought a pack every other day and would hide them about 1/4 mile from home.

One of my cousins would help me pass the papers everyday. This was cool because now I had someone to smoke with. We both liked the Marlboro brand so that is what we smoked. It did not take us long to figure out that they tasted better if we swallowed the smoke(inhaling). I never got caught until I was about 13 years old(by my Mom. I had gotten braver and was taking them home with me and hiding them in my room. She found them and all heck broke loose.

She sat me down at the dining room table and made me eat the whole pack, one cig right after another. But did that stop me from smoking, no, I rebelled even more and was more careful to hide it better. It was hard for them to smell it as my dad was a smoker.

I used to take a couple of packs out of his carton and carefully open the bottom with a razor and take out 2-3 and seal the bottom back up. He never did notice. When I got my first job at 16 years old they let me start smoking around the house. I was paying them rent and therefore was given privileges.

She did not like it but would rather I did it in front of them than sneak around their backs. I was addicted and not only wnated them but my body started craving them. Besides I liked the taste, and the fact my parents let me smoke. Other guys would hang around me cause they knew they could smoke in my yard or my room and nothing would be said.

I went into the Army at 18 and had to quit smoking for a week. That was rough! After the first week of basic they would let us smoke again. But when the Sargent's were not around we would sneak and smoke anyway.

I could go on and on..but yes I am addicted! I am 51 years old and been smoking Marlboros since 1965. I wish I had never had that paper route, I cannot quit smoking as it is too much a part of my life.

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