Most of you have "met" the Marlboro Man through me at some point, and know that he is one of my ultimate heroes. He is the one who gave me direction in my life, when I really had none and was quite clueless. If we could pick our own relatives, I'd pick him more than once!
Nick (the Marlboro
Man) is a striking force of nature. He's one of those men that you hope will
live until they are a hundred and twenty just so you can listen to their advice
and learn from them,
He is the Shi Fu of
cowboys, all things cowboy, and represents his life lived here on earth as a
cowboy. For those who have never met a real cowboy, think John Wayne, direct,
right as rain, and comfortable in his own skin.
There are four of us. Marlboro
Man, me, Wade and his brother Jesse. We are in Tombstone, playing cards. It's 2
a.m. and no one has won the pot yet. Marlboro Man lays those piercing blue eyes
on me, and with perfect clarity, let's me know I am the target of something he
is about to say. He glances at his cards for a second and pulls one from his
hand, as he lays it face down on the table and says
"You look distant,
Cupcake, what's the skinny?" He winks at Wade. Wade smiles and Jesse
chuckles into his arm. Marlboro Man shoots them a glare and they immediately
settle into a hush. I watch the smoke from his cigarette nub rise and engulf
his face, his eyes never leave me. He's waiting for an answer.
"I've been
thinking about what I wanna be when I 'grow' up. If I feel like growing up that
is." Wade chuckles. It seems as if he knows what's coming next.
"Who says you
gotta do anything at all?" The old cowboy asks.
"Unwritten societal expectation." I say, as if I know
something.
He lays his card hand face down on the
table, snubs out the cigarette, draws another from the pack in shirt pocket,
lights it, sits back in his chair. Wade fills the shot glass in front of MM
with Jack Daniels. They all look at me and then Marlboro Man leans in, puts his
elbows on the table, slams the shot and says
"Opinions are
like Assholes and drunk relatives, everyone has one. You don't need anyone's
approval to do or be anything, Cupcake." He pauses, sits back in the chair,
changes his mind, and then leans in again. “If you listen to what everyone else
wants, you'll find yourself always chasing your tail and gettin' nothin' done;
Or worse trying to make everyone else happy. That's not your job. You got one
life, one job, yours. What makes you happy? What
things do you wanna do, be, or have? At the end of this life, the only ones you
gotta answer to is yourself and God." He winks at me, and then flips over
his hand to reveal a full house of Aces over kings.
Copyright 2015 - Noelle Sangster/Sangster Entertainment LLC - All rights reserved
Noelle Sangster on Amazon
Noelle Sangster on Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment