Ben - Chapter Thirteen

Relieved to be continuing his journey, Ben sat down and pulled his reward from his pocket - a wrap of crumpled tobacco. Carefully preparing and separating it, he pulled it apart with a feverish anticipation, dumping the shredded contents into his silver contraption tanned by a habit spanning almost a half a century.

Striking a match from a passing caterpillar, the dancing flame was raised carefully, shielded from the wind, and made to dance up and down as Ben pulled hard on the fresh tobacco to turn it into cinders.

Tossing the match aside callously, he took three large drags from the pipe, exhaling with a customary cough and blast of grey smoke from tarnished and numbed nostrils. Emptying the contents beside the match, Ben rose slowly with cracking joints and ligaments to continue the journey. The discarded matchstick and burned tobacco ash would not feature in a story anymore, at least not this one.