Joe would talk about the pains of his country and comparisons to Britain. Was it better there? He liked Scotch and Scotland. I don't think he'd been, but he knew the difference and liked the warmth and the taste of salt. Ardbeg was his latest. He couldn't believe how good it was - it was just so remarkable - and I smiled and agreed. Fifty years in a smoke shop, always impeccably turned out, little was new to Joe. He would ask me if America was on the right track, only ever motivated to hear my guess, never for the sake of conversation. He already knew.
Joe was a worldly man, much more than someone who stayed in one place might be. Always more than a master of tobacco for all this time. He cut my cigar and called me by my full name like my mother.
New Haven should lower its flags. Joe Lentine has left the Owl.
Jonathan
Sounds like a guy who I would have liked to drink and smoke with.
ReplyDeleteSorry you never did. He was a lovely man.
ReplyDelete