The woman in question is 80 years old.
Fran Dalton, a retired artist, survives on about $600 a month, checks from Social Security, and the Veterans Affairs Administration. She lives in a small, subsidized apartment in Newburyport. The next-to-last time she bought a carton of Lucky Strikes, it cost something like 60 bucks, and that was in New Hampshire.
"Every cigarette I have, it's a joy," she says. "It calms me. It soothes me. But I couldn't afford them."
Someone told her about a cigarette company run by Native Americans in New York that was selling by mail at discount prices.
And in that last sentence is the burn (pun intended).
In April, she got a letter from the Dept. of Revenue saying she has to pay taxes on her cigarette purchase from the tribe. She, at least at the time the piece was written, is refusing to pay the $91.58.
Now that it was in the Globe that she bought cigs in New Hampshire, I'm sure the state will be right on that, too.
I love this last paragraph:
So, if anybody from the state is looking to pinch the dangerous, seditious, and defiant Fran Dalton, she'll be easy pickings any Wednesday, around noon, at the corner of Water and Fair streets. You can't miss her. She's the one smoking Senecas.
The corner of Water and Fair streets is where the Salvation Army is. They serve free lunches there.
5 comments:
Gillian, if you've not had the pleasure of meeting Fran yet, make sure you do. She's a wonderful egg and has a great story.
Years ago, one of the other incarnations of the Current had an interview with her focusing on her change from Frank to Fran.
Thanks, Tom - someone also emailed me about the transgender thing ... I wonder if the person who wrote the column for the Globe knew (not that it matters in that context)?
As I wrote to the other person, every story here has another story attached to it.
As a writer, I have to love it ...
Sad when we can offer 'Free Lunches" to some one who can afford to spend upwards of $5.00 bucks a pack for smokes!
Fran/ Frank is a Novel waiting for a writer. As like Newburyport her self, neither can stay the same for long!
Hi Gillian,
A "conservative tax watcher" (for lack of a better name) emailed this story to me when it broke. They thought it would be good to expose how the over reaching arms of the State effected an elderly person in Newburyport. Since, I am not a supporter of smoking, I couldn't find the energy to support her cause.
There are quite a few angles and twists to this story.
Larry Giunta
Larry (and I guess, Dan), I'm not sure I support her cause (and I'm a smoker). I just thought it was interesting and threw it out there for debate/comment/thought.
Dan, because she's poor she's not allowed to spend chump change on something of which you disapprove? What if she bought $5 worth of donuts instead? Would that be OK?
That's what poor people have to decide - what to give up and what to keep. I keep on smoking but I don't go out to eat as much as I used to and I buy chicken legs and thighs instead of white meat. Forget about sushi, which I used to enjoy at least once a week when I made a decent living.
Of course it helps that I actually prefer dark meat chicken ... wow, it was hard to write that without it being a double entendre ...
But with all that being said, I'd probably give up smoking before I got to the point I had to go somewhere for a free meal. Maybe; I don't know that for sure.
A lot of poor people smoke and a lot more of them eat junk food. Or both.
I used to volunteer at a place in Boston that provided breakfast and lunch to women in reduced circumstances. You'd be surprised at who showed up.
Anyway,I don't think it's "WE" who are giving the free lunches, unless WE contribute to the Salvation Army. Isn't it a Christian ministry thing?
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