Best Place to Smoke a Cigarette

Wait until the moment the sun sets before walking out onto the Main Street bridge over Union Station's rail yard. Turn west and face the pink sky. Take a breath and notice how the day's last rays paint the tops of the gritty brick buildings. Wait for a train to slide out from under the bridge, all creaky and splattered with graffiti. Then light up. You're alone now, just you and your little habit. To your right, people dine on the patio of Lidia's, dressed in their clean clothes. To the left, the hulking Union Station promises greatness never quite fulfilled. And in between is a rusty, rattling escape to parts unknown. It'd be so easy to jump down and ride a boxcar to New Mexico or within a mile or two of the Grand Canyon or, best of all, to the vast Pacific Ocean. There are seagulls and palm trees there. But you have friends here in Kansas City. Pets to feed. Bills to pay. Work to do. So when the hot ember scorches the cotton-filter cigarette, you'll know it's time to rejoin them, to return to whatever it was that got you smoking in the first place.