| While almost all the older kids smoked while at Feller it wasn't
always easy to get your supply. Upon return from vacation everyone was
flush with butts and life was easy. However within a few weeks the stash
dwindled and some were reduced to smoking only 1/2 a cigarette at a time
to stretch out what they had.
Enter the entrepreneurs! My roommate, Doug Moore had a very large trunk, sort of what one would call a steamer trunk. Metal construction and above all with a very sturdy lock. We reasoned that if we could acquire a constant source of cigarettes we could resell them to our fellow students at a large enough profit so as to ensure that we could smoke for free. No dot com millionaires here, just trying to make a living. After much hesitation and vows of secrecy we managed to convince Mrs. Lacombe, she of the general store, that both Doug and I were to be trusted and that we would be buying sufficient quantity so as to make it worth her risk. In retrospect, I guess that the profit margin in that little store from the sale of penny candy and the like was not too great, so any chance to increase ones sales should be jumped at. So buy we did and proceeded to set up the Feller Smoke Store on 4th wing. All the goodies were in the aforementioned trunk and the key was guarded with our lives. Sales were brisk and we smoked free from then on. I'm not positive on this bit, but I seem to recall Doug being asked once to open the trunk by a teacher. As I recall it, he looked the teacher in the eye and masterfully lied through his teeth by saying that the key had been lost and he would be getting the spare key upon his next trip home. Case closed and the store opens at 12:30. |