Have a Cigar (Open)

[Mark Lucas]

It had been a long day.

Mark sat in the park leaned back against a tree. He'd been here for about an hour and in that time he had done nothing. In fact, he'd been asleep for a majority of that time. That is until Luis decided to chew a hole in his pocket and climb up the man's torso and acquire his normal perch. This roused the sleeping man from his unplanned nap.

"Oh hey Luis.." Mark spoke sleepily. He turned to look at the chinchilla with half lidded eyes. He reached into his backpack and removed a peanut which he then gave to the rodent. He looked around the park. It was a nice day, which contributed to his nap. In fact, it was such a nice kind of day that Mark decided it was high time for a celebratory cigar. He grabbed this back pack that had been resting on the ground beside him and proceeded to rummage around looking for a cigar that he'd purchased months before. He figured it was finally time to light it up and enjoy the day.

After a few minutes of searching, he found it. "Ah yes!" He withdrew the stick of tobacco with a satisfied grin. He held the cigar up to his nose and gave it a good long smell. He sighed in contentment as he placed it in his mouth. It was at this point he searched for his lighter, and it was also at this point that he began to panic that he couldn't find it. "Dammit!" He swore loudly and sighed resigning himself to the fact that the lighter was lost. He replaced the cigar in its previous resting place and went to go find a light. So he moved through the park asking everyone he passed "Got a light?"

[Cole Kessler]

It had been over a month now since Cole had taken a day to just relax. The last time he'd gone to the lake, he'd met a girl and taken her home. Oh the day that had turned out to be. Going to the lake to forget about a girl and then meeting another. Cole sighed as he hopped into his truck and started the engine. His window rolled down and his arm went out of it before he backed out of the parking lot and spun his tires down the road.

He brought his arm back in and took hold of his smokes before pulling one free of the pack and clamping his lips around it. In one final, fluid motion he brought his lighter from his pocket to his arm and struck the flint in a trick that made him smile. He brought the flame to the end of the paper tube and took in a long, nicotine-filled breath. Exhaling, he took hold of the cigarette and rested his arm on the window frame. He turned up the radio and sped up. Open air, loud music, a cigarette; Cole was feeling perfectly at home. As he pulled up to the lake's nearby park, Cole killed his truck.

He stepped out and reached into the back of the truck and pulled free his fishing pole, an ice chest and a bucket of minnows. No better way to spend his day off than fishing and with a few beers by his side at that. Tennis shoes, cargo shorts and an unbuttoned hula shirt was all Cole had on. It seemed as if fishing wasn't the only thing he had on his mind.

He was passed by a man asking almost desperately for a lighter right before he reached the docks, "Yeah, man, I gotcha. Lemme rent a boat really quick and I'll get ya hooked up, bro." Cole said as he sat his stuff down at the rental building. After filling out a few papers, Cole grabbed his stuff and headed down the docks, "Follow me, man." Cole said as he started walking. When they reached the boat, Cole sat his stuff inside and pulled his lighter free, "Here ya go." He said, offering it to the man.

[Mark Lucas]

It took longer than expected for Mark to find a willing person to offer him a light for his precious cigar, but once he located the gentleman offering it he sang praises to whatever God there was and followed the man at his request. Once they had reached the boat he rented he took the offered lighter in one hand and stuck the cigar in his mouth with the other. He ignited the lighter and cupped his hand over the flame as he puffed on the cigar to get it going. Which the stick of tobacco lit he handed the lighter back to its owner and enjoyed the flow of the warm smoke as it passed through his lungs.

"Going fishing?" Mark questioned quite stupidly as it was obvious what the man was up to. "Thanks a bunch for the light, I have no idea where my matches went.."