A Smoke and A Show

I watched as the two men argued. Hands waving wildly as they dictated their points to the other non-listening party.
It was quite a sight, as I was there from the beginning and the irony of two homeless men arguing about one of the most philosophical questions left me with more than a few chuckles.
I was homeless too, yet I wasn't as decrepit as them, I hadn't reached the point that after a few puffs at multiple cigarette sticks, the next thing would be to let off my rags and don on the robes of Socrates and Plato to argue about philosophy, theology and every other subject they wouldn't know splat of if they were sober.
I looked at the cigarette in my fingers thoughtfully, then took a long drag.
I hadn't reached that point. Not yet..

"I tell you that the soul comes first." Jeff says, calming down as he took another drag off his cigarette.
He was the smarter of the duo, it showed in everything he did, even down to how he smoked. Even more so, his arguments made a lot more sense, in a mad and nicotine filled kind of way.
"I just can't understand how the soul is first and the body is formed around it." Jay replied back.
"Surely the body was made first, and the soul put into the body." He insisted while Jeff just shook his head.
Jay was the second of the duo, he was always seen around Jeff and not the other way around.
A good lad with a big heart but a bit short on brains, at least when sober.
When high, he's able to partake in such profound arguments as this.
He ends up losing, but he's part of the conversation which is as good as anyone can ever expect.
The topic of which comes first, "the soul or the body?" was one which I'd never expect can come after the discussion of who's better between zebra and horses.
Yet that's why I watch them every Sunday afternoon, I can never tell what would happen next.

"The problem Jay is that you're looking at the soul as though it has no substance of its own." Jeff begins, with a bit of smoke coming off his nose.
"The soul is your very essence. It's something not of this world. The body builds itself around it to fit around the soul, the soul doesn't fit in the body." Jay and admittedly I silently thought about that.
"That's why we have different body types and stuff." He added with an air of triumph, knowing he had won the argument.
I didn't know the answer, but I had to believe Jay was correct, even though he most likely wasn't.

Their cigarettes were finished though and with a hiss of annoyance they threw the butts away and walked away to the nearest stall to beg for alms so they could get more.
It was a funny sight, how quickly such an air of nicotine induced brilliance vanished.

The argument was about body and soul, yet their heart and soul had already been sold to cigarettes.
But not me. I'm not as bad as them.. Not me.. Not yet.
I sat at my spot with a different stick of cigarette in my hand, leisurely smoking and hoping they'd be lucky enough to get some more money, buy some more cigarettes and come back to start another argument.
No better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than a smoke and a show.