the pipe-smoker

The Pipe-Smoker.

The pipe-smoker is old. His beard and moustache is long and white. He sits before the television and subconsciously picks up his tobacco pipe.

He fills the pipe with his special mixture of tobacco, and presses it down with his thumb. He lights the pipe with a lighter and puffs away contentedly, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on the television screen. South Africa is playing India in the second test. It is the third day of the Boxing Day test. South Africa has just started batting in their second innings, and have a lead of eighty-eight runs.

The old man follows all the action on the television screen religiously, as he puffs away happily on his pipe. Occasionally he presses down the glowing coal of the tobacco in the pipe with his 'smokers-companion'. Then he puffs away again, taking great pleasure in the aroma and taste of the rich pipe tobacco. The images flicker on the screen as he smokes his pipe.

The tobacco drifts in thick swirls of smoke across the room, as the old pipe-smoker watches the cricket on the television. After he has had sufficient satisfaction from his pipe and tobacco, the old man lays it down on the couch beside him, next to his tobacco pouch. He will take it up again later.

Then his eyes wander back to the television screen, and he continues to watch the cricket.

The End.

Copyright ' JP Brown ' 28/12/2006.