As I stared out over the fluorescent city, I remembered something a teacher had told my class in middle school long ago. She stood in front of the classroom, glaring at us with her pious eyes, and said that drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco were sinful choices along the path of evil. Sitting in my little student desk attached to a blue, plastic chair, I imagined walking down a road decorated with syringes, hanging there like Christmas tree lights and brimming to the touch with horrific, unspeakable drugs, and, as I passed through, the needles dripped and taunted me like low-hanging, forbidden fruit. I stopped dreaming of my past and took a sip of whiskey and lighted another cigarette.
-A tiny excerpt from my forthcoming novel: Isn’t It Pretty To Think So?
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