The way to write a best seller.

I sat ready to write a best seller
But the words were impotent not forth coming,
The pint glass looked at me half empty
And spoke to my pallet for just on more gulp.
Dutch courage was not what I needed
But a muse an idea a starting point.
I drank the golden liquid anyway
And its taste made me think of company.

I reached for my tobacco
And peeled the package like a Terries orange
Probed about into the damp weed
And platted some onto the ready laid paper.
The ritual was familiar. A sure…
Process to start a spark.
Carefully, I rolled the paper between
My thumb and forefinger
Like my mate Gary would roll
His comfort blanket blue tack
When he was nervous or contemplating
How to spend his remaining hours.
I made my master piece right there and then.

Took the flame, ignited the pinched end and drew breath and watched the end glow.
The combination of alcohol and tobacco really mellowed me out.
I exhaled with a loving passion and watched the smoke swirl and dance
To the music playing on classic FM…
The pungent aromatic smell of the tobacco
Reminded me of wood cabins
By a roaring fire in the Alps with the girl
I loved.

The music carried my thoughts to wonderland.
I sat there watching the curser
On my laptop flicker like a metronome
Counting out the time.
Would I do anything today except to sit and stare like a Cobay cow in a foreign field,
With the occasional flutter of eye lashes
To passers by amused at my indolence?

I drank with haste the rest of the beer
And waltzed to the fridge to get
The can of Guinness I was saving for me and my other half the next day.
My secret indulgent, my illicit affair was uncovered as I poured the
Tarry liquid into the glass and watch it rise
And cloud like the thoughts in my mind.
Then all was calm, the head settled and I raised the glass in honor of my girl and the moment she missed. Blissful, I Kissed the neck and paused.
Thought of hills and valleys, sky,clouds and company in long lost days
In beer tavern gardens in Bavarian.

I felt young again as nostalgia has that way of setting the scene.
And settling your thoughts….
Moments like this are as common place
As sheep on hillsides...for me anyway...ha ha ha.
And as I began to drift into the moment
I remember that a best seller can be created by beer, tobacco and song.
And slowly, I began to write the sequel to the one I wrote the night before.