cigarettes: this is the power of suggestion, he said, the psychosomatic silver bullet.  cigarettes aren’t really addictive.  he said this leaning close over the table at the truck stop, them reeking on his breath.  it’s an advertising gimmick.  get you to believe that you can’t stop smoking.  but really there’s no reason, no chemical reason, really. I know because I’ve been smoking 20 years, and I know I’m not addicted.  listen, the only thing is, you want to be consuming something, drawing in something to your chest that is part of society, made by someone else.  we need that, every moment some kind of mother’s teat oral sucking on whatever society can provide, even death.  it connects us, keeps us from feeling alone.  so we buy things, as often as we can, to use them, chew them, wear them, smoke them, as often as we can. that’s addictive, my friend.  his truckload of cigarettes was waiting outside.