Considering the celebratory association of his cigar ritual, it came as a massive shock when he was told by his doctor he was in the late stages of lung cancer.
Upon leaving the doctor’s office he aimlessly wandered the streets, dazed and terrified. Without thinking, he stepped off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic. He looked up only when he heard the car horn and the squealing of breaks. The man behind the wheel was the owner of the smoke shop where Russ bought his cigars. Russ, recognizing the man who’d sold him his habit for years, waved apologetically and stepped back onto the sidewalk. As the car passed, his heart dropped to see on the back bumper a Bernie 2020 sticker.
Russ tilted his head toward the skies and cursed the Liberal agenda with a tortured scream.