Licked.in

I was out shopping in a mall in my neighborhood, and the shopping took a long time because my wife had a rather long list of groceries to buy. Being a Sunday, the store was full and like a typical husband, I was bored and frustrated at being stuck in a shopping chore and that too, on a Sunday. Being a chronic smoker didn’t help the situation one bit, and I was desperate to finish this boring chore, go outside and light up a good one.

My wife, typically, was oblivious to my desperation and was busy filling up her shopping bag with all things that were not needed, at all, according to me. (She has a different opinion from me about shopping as well as life, itself). Not wanting to reconcile to my hopeless situation, I decided to shop for a few of my favorite things, as well. I spotted a pack of my usual cigarettes, bought a pack and wanting to go out and smoke one, I went to the counter to pay for the smokes. While I was waiting for the counter guy to print me the bill, I casually took out a cigarette from the pack and placed it in my mouth. My intention was not to light up, then and there, as I knew smoking inside the mall was not allowed. I just wanted to smell the nicotine, tobacco and cigarette paper to lift my senses momentarily. Just as soon as I placed the cigarette on my mouth, the counter guy looked up at me with a sense of alarm on his face and reminded me that smoking inside wasn’t allowed.

Not wanting to accept anything without banter and just to chit-chat my boredom away, I asked this guy “If you can sell cigarettes inside the shop, why can’t you allow people to smoke them inside?” The guy studied my face for a moment and pointed to a glass counter on the left side of where I was standing. In that counter, there were 4-5 rows of condom packs all varieties, sizes and makes neatly stacked one against the other. I was just about wondering if the guy had lost his senses by pointing to the condoms instead of coming up with an answer to my intellectual teaser when he replied “Sir, we sell condoms here, too!” Licked in, I was!