The Yet To Be Man First Profession Poem by Alexandre Nodopaka

Early on, way before he showed much interest in the opposite sex he had a preference for riches. It was a prepubescent interest he developed in parallel with his burgeoning interest in girls. There was first this need to fill the tank of his motor scooter. A personal horse of aspiring independence during his teenage years.

He'd hop on and wind blowing his hair straight up behind him he'd zip the city streets unencumbered by any helmet that in those times was unknown. Of course, a few riders wore world war II pilot leather jackets with appropriate skull caps tightly zipped under the chin with round goggles strapped ear to ear, but that was strictly for show.

To support such expensive needs he began wheeling and dealing in cigarettes. Himself would have 2 to 4 per day and amongst his companions in arms they'd brag about such large numbers. Nah! Gauloise were too lethal and too local and English cigarettes were too ninnie smooth tasting.

It had to be American cigarettes. Pall Mall and Camel were the preferred brands. The red packaging of the former had definitely connotations with power and the Sahara humpback camel was a given. Of course the length of the cigarette had an important role. It was a very macho effect dangling from the corner of the mouth, Bogie style.

How to get a deep discount was the trick and the Casablanca harbor was a must destination where American soldiers debarked on a regular basis. That's when the man learned his first words with a Humphrey Bogie accent. With time these sideline preoccupations were not sufficient to pay for movie tickets and ice creams for his growing and admiring feminine stable.

That's when he discovered counterfeiting bus pass tickets was much more rewarding. With extreme care he'd lift license stamps from matching past years months and glue them in new passbooks taking care to fill the missing portions due to overstamping with pen and ink and loupe and much night work.

A side benefit was he learned the art of marketing by increasing his business through word of mouth advertising. His problem suddenly was to satisfy supply and demand when the price of old passbooks kept rising as their holding sources learned of his dexterous needs. That's also when he learned how to keep his craft a secret.

Fear of getting caught was a strong motivator.