BILL CADY Word Count: 149,227 - At My Friend's Place

Bill Cady, The Early Years … by Bill Cady 75
Richie had matches and away we went. There must‟ve been at least ten of us,
ready and willing to go on to that next step in life. We all took a cigarette and lit up. I
still remember my reaction. It tasted just like shit. Burned my mouth and throat, not to
mention my lungs. Even got in my eyes and made „em water badly. A couple of the
guys didn‟t make it. In only a minute or two, they were down on their knees, losing
whatever they‟d eaten for dinner.
Me? Hey, ain’t no way I‟m admitting I came within an inch of barfing up my
guts, just like those guys. Piss on that stuff! No way. I went back and got another one,
just to show how smart and “cool” I could be. Bill Cady ain‟t no damned sissy, ya know?
Now, forty-six years later, the pukers still don‟t smoke, but I‟m addicted to the
point my doctor says I‟m the most nicotine addicted patient of his career. Thanks, Russ.
That‟s an award I truly coveted. Not!
I kept smoking, since I didn‟t dare let the guys know I was faking it. Pretty soon,
I was no longer faking it. Instead of smoking only when one of them could see me, I
found I was smoking while all alone. If I hadn‟t “enjoyed it” so much and never started
smoking, a habit harder to kick than using heroin, I‟d own a much nicer house, and it‟d
be paid off. I guess it‟s not so bad, though, considering. I honestly wouldn‟t want to live
anywhere other than Oceanside, California, where I am today.
###
The new high schools built by the Lansing Diocese were called Gabriel‟s and
O‟Rafferty High Schools. Gabriel‟s was on the east side of Lansing. The one I went to,
O‟Rafferty‟s, was on the west. It was clean, neat, new, things I‟d never before seen in a
school, but it was nothing all that special.
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