this morning #1078.

this morning, the smooth scent of spent menthol cigarettes soothed me through & through. the smell was wafting down the hall, probably from the apartment of the bitter old lady at the end. burnt mint gliding right past my door. brought me right back to grandma’s kitchen, filled with persistent smoke. hazy days around a card table trying to take in an array of auntie gossip. sipping flat soda through a straw, everything i saw filtered through the lens of childhood innocence. ignorance? no matter. it took me time to grasp what was what but i eventually got on their level. they’re all dead now but, at that time, they screamed life. i wonder how much life the old lady at the end of the hall has left in her.