On Smoking, and Other Human Vices

“Please don’t stop breathing!” screamed my neighbor from downstairs, then came frantic cries. I grabbed my phone and dialed emergency services as I rushed down to her apartment. When I got there, the repairman lay motionless on the floor. He looked to be around 60, but it was hard to say, as people age too quickly in this part of the world, in the old neighborhoods of Tbilisi, Georgia. Paramedics arrived and tried to revive him, but to no avail.