Something mysterious had stopped Irene and me to become a full loving couple that night. As a result I was very well rested and revived next morning as dawn woke me up. Our ship was quiet and didn't vibrate anymore, a clear sign that we already had reached our next target on Sicily's east coast, the city of Syrakrus. Irene was still in deep sleep, but a quick view onto her bed was rather amusing. She was sleeping on her side, had her duvet rolled between her legs and had wrapped both arms around it. It looked like holding a giant white dildo in her arms and between her thights.
I took my morning gown and sneaked quietly out of our cabin onto the deck. Light fog covered the Sicilian coastline, so I wasn't able to watch Mount Etna, the volcano north of the city. I had chosen the day expedition to Messina and onto Europe's most active volcano and was looking forward to this visit with real excitement, like a small, curious boy. Although working as a more boring lawyer and legal expert volcanoes, lava and fire had always been fascinating for me.
Because of the early morning hour I hadn't expected to find any company, but few minutes later one of the four gentlemen, who we had observed several evenings at the bar, came up and placed himself beside me at the rails. He smoked an early cigarillo, a light brown and very thin one, not larger than a cigarette.
"Do you enjoy such early morning smoke?" was my curious question.
"I am Michael Harz", introduced the approximately forty years old gentleman himself. "Oh yes. The secret is that you have to connect the right tobacco and the right size to the right time of the day." He showed me the slow burning cigarillo. "As you can see, this is very bright, light Virginia tobacco. Without any perfume or additions. It is like tea, were you have very nice light tasting leaves for early morning tea and heavier one for more refreshing afternoon teas. So I vary my tobacco over the day in a similar way, light in the morning and heavy and aromatic in the evening. Unfortunately the smoking restrictions under EU law, which are valid on board of this ship too, have restricted the pleasure of smoking in company almost entirely."
As an active sportsman and long-distance biker and walker I myself was a passionate non-smoker. But I had heard rather often that cigar- and cigarillo-smokers had a special passion for smoking pleasure. "I have heard several times that because of the legal pressure for open-air-smoking the areas in front of or behind pubs and restaurants have created a new type of social connectivity and communication. Is this true?"
Michael Harz smiled and laughed. A friendly, warm laugh, even his eyes and his entire face laughed honestly. "I think, you are right. As you can experience yourself now. We got company although you are even a non-smoker. Or can I offer you one of my cigarillos?" He put his hand into the side pocket of his morning gown, retrieved a brilliant looking, shiny silver case, opened it and offered me one of his cigarillos.
Spreading both hands in defence I smiled to him. "Very kind, thank you. But it is more than half of my life ago that I smoked anything."
