The next day, he found out his grandpa was dead.

Actually, the man had died the night before Steven had found the pipe. But he felt guilty nonetheless, as if blowing hard had knocked the wind out of his grandpa. At the funeral, Steven carried the pipe solemnly up to the casket, and placed it bowl-up on the man's forever-still chest. Then he sat down on a pew and fell asleep. Steven's mother found the pipe, thinking it was actually her father's, and decided to give it to her son. Poor boy- she'd probably kept hiim up all night with her racket- baking and mixing and cleaning for the- what do you call it when folks bring casseroles over after a funeral?

When Steven was eight his cousin Lisa got married, and he wore his same suit, though it was a little short in the arms and more of his ankle was exposed than he liked. Bored, listening to the pastor drone on about the roundness of rings, Steven played with the hymn books, kicked the pew in front of him, and found the old pipe in his pocket. At first he didn't know what it was. Then he realized that the ghost of his grandfather must have returned it to him. Did he die of cancer? Lung disease? Smoking wasn't allowed in restaurants anymore- maybe there was no smoking in heaven, either. He examined the pipe again, more closely this time, because there was little else to do. The grain was dense, with darker lines swimming through lighter spots. Near the lip of the bowl was an angry black scar, almost shiny, and quite deep. The bowl itself had that lovely gouged texture- Steven rubbed his finger in it, tickling slightly the pad under his nail. The finger came out black- he wiped it absently on his shirt.

At the age of twelve Steven received a brand new suit. Christmas was to be celebrated with his father's mother, a devoutly religious woman who would insist everyone attend Christmas services. Steven's old suit was given to a cousin, but before it left his closet he made sure to retrieve that pipe. Georgie was only six, and he'd probably choke on the darned thing. Steven put the pipe on his dresser, next to his soccer trophies and his model cars. But as they left for the five hour drive to grandma's he grabbed the pipe on a whim and tossed it into his suitcase.

Steven was old enough by now to suspect that his grandma's religious devotion was more for the sake of show than for faith. She was quite adamant about everyone looking their absolute best. It was necessary that Steven shine his shoes until they were sparkling. His collar was ironed stiff enough to cure scoliosis, and his pant crease was as straight as a string. When he marched into the foyer clutching the pipe, his grandma quickly plucked it from his grasp and placed it on the coat bench. Steven didn't mind- after all, she'd given him an NFL team jacket with the 49ers blazoned on the back. He waited until she fussed with her mother's necklace, and put the pipe in his pocket.

At church, his grandmother sang louder than anyone else. Between hymns, Steven sneeked a peak at his pipe. Where did it come from? Maybe a little girl his age had saved up her allowance to buy for her father on father's day. She'd be much older than Steven now, but then, she would have walked with her father on cool autumn Sundays down to the tobacco shop to buy vanilla leaf, or cherry leaf on occasion. He'd puff away as they wandered back home, telling her why the leaves changed color, why the sky was bluer in the fall, why he'd married her mother. When she was old enough to go out on dates, he'd hold the warm pipe as he shook the nervous boys' hands, then smoke it languidly as he quizzed them on the evenings' agendas. He'd be smoking that pipe when the phone rang to announce the birth of his first grandchild, and he'd hold it and laugh as he handed the phone to his wife to hear the good news. A black haired, blue-eyed boy named Steven.

After the service his grandma pointedly introduced her immaculate family to the pastor, and Steven dutifully put the pipe away to shake the pastor's hand. He wanted to ask him if there were pipes in heavan, but he didn't get a chance to.

One day when he was fifteen, Steven got into a fight at school. It was more of a shoving match than a fight, but the other boy had gotten a loud slap in before the teacher showed up, stopping Steven's retaliation. He ran home early, skipping his last two classes, and let himself into the house with the key around his neck. He threw hinmself on his bed and cried, not from pain or humiliation but simple frustation. The floor of his room was scattered with discarded clothes and tennis shoes and magazines and pencils. As he lay with his head to the side, he saw the pipe under a shoe and an empty box of vanilla wafers. He got out of bed and picked it up, sitting cross-legged and leaning against the sidebaord. He sniffed under his now stopped tears, and ran his fingers along the gauge of the pipe's side. He imagined the pipe had been dropped once, maybe while its owner was reading the paper. Unbelievable news. And the pipe drops out of his mouth, still smoking. He accidentally steps on it as he gets up to show his wife the news- a boy at the junior highschool has just beat up all of the bullies and the teachers have given him an award for it. About time. When he comes back to his chair he finds the pipe on the floor, cracked. He decides to toss it out.

A garbage man finds it, wonders what smoking a pipe is like. The heat from his few tries widens the scar. He doesn't realize it's the tobacco he's using, not the pipe, that tastes so bad. He tosses it out the window of his car in the middle of the night.

A highschool kid on his way to football practise kicks it for a few hundred feet, until it scoots under some bushes.

A dog discoveres it, sniffs at it, paws at it, it's not a bone so he ignores it.

A a few months of rain, mud, sun, and dust, a little boy picks it up walking home from school. Itr reminds him of his granpa, so he keeps it for a few years.

Steven's father found him curled up on his bedroom floor. He knew what had happened at school that afternoon, but decided to let it go. He woke Steven up, told him dinner was ready. Steven stood up, stretched his neck a little- he put the pipe on his dresser, then followed his dad downstairs.