The Third Step: The Smoking Gun and The Coughing Nails

Paul does not die in jail, and upon release he becomes preoccupied with his last vestige of immorality, i.e., his cigarette habit. From outlandish surgeries to making Tampa a smoke free city, he lobbies for calendar recognition of Death Day, a smoker’s fondest wish. Actually, smokers like smoke that wafers upward and beyond. But  it is not only smoke that bothers Paul, it his fiance. Failing to reform her, he submits her to his life saving surgeon who does what he cannot, stop her drinking. It all ends mercifully on the day of his matrimony with mind exploding bang.

Mr. Lucas, the author, was born in New York and never got over the paranoia. Happily he has quit smoking thus extending his time here. Currently he is at a distance from all previous acquaintances, but has much hope for the world despite its reversals.