His wife steadfastly refused and concentrated on her driving. He watched how her lips pressed tightly together, how her hands gripped the steering wheel. Betty had quit, all right—hook, line, and sinker. New Evidence Shows Cigarettes May Cause Cancer the newspapers and newsreels screamed. Too bad nobody had told him that a couple of years ago—Ray didn’t have much to lose anymore. He took a long drag of smoke, but did not enjoy it.Wind whipped around the windshield of their brand-new convertible, a baby blue 1954 Buick Century. They had bought the car just a few months before, back when Ray had his whole life ahead of him, back when everything was fine and normal. The wind seemed to sting Betty’s eyes and they brimmed with tears as she drove. Christ, she was going to have one of her sobbing fits again! He wished she’d stop being so selfish.Ray leaned back against the passenger side door, cramped and aching from the long drive. His joints hurt most of the time now, and he had long ago stopped trying to “keep a stiff upper lip”
