A faint breath breathed in through my nose. She barks. I love her, even if I hate her bark. I pull another slow drag off my cigarette. My lungs fill with regret as my ribs begin to ache. The slow exhale races against the inevitable cough It burns! The pain building at the base of my spine with each successive cough. I feel a tingle at the base of my torso. A sensation I detest with every inch of my ailing body. The tingle transforms as it always has in the past. Then comes the inevitable bolt of lightning shooting up from the base of my spine along the two sides of my vertebrae as liquid pours into my lungs from the microscopic tears these hard, loud coughs have forced open inside of me. The feeling, which I cannot describe any more painfully or vividly than excruciating pain behind my ribs, is definitely something I would wish upon my enemies during an attack against me, but otherwise, I can't imagine desiring such cruel punishment against anybody capable of feeling such p...