Cigarette

Yesterday when I walked the streets near Broadway School, the biggest secondary school in Aston with about 1,300 pupils, I was asked for a cigarette by one of the students. He just stepped out of the group he was in and put his question to me: do you have a cigarette? I had never seen him before and the other way around is likely true as well. So, I assume that he made his request to a complete stranger.

I wondered a lot about this happening. Was there some intimidation going on? After all, he was not alone and meeting groups of boys in the street can be threatening. On the other hand, it did not seem to be a group decision to ask for a cigarette, just this one boy who wanted something from me. He did not glance around to see whether the others were listening and when he found them attentive put his question to me.

I happen not to smoke and that was my immediate answer trying to say it in a friendly way accompanied by a smile. I don’t think the others even heard my reply, they just walked on. It was only he who got my answer and he accepted it with a nod and that was all.

What was his real purpose? Was he truly after a cigarette or was it something else that he wanted? Was the phrase about the cigarette a kind of code for weed or other drugs? To be honest I have no idea and no way of finding out either. Whatever the purpose behind the little incident, I feel that friendliness should be the answer to any question, even to those that seem strange and out of place.

Ton