Gary Franks was simply amazed. Fully aware of the smoking policies for the building he worked in he, couldn't help but be amazed at the timeless endurance of what he called The Smoking Club. They weren't a real club that Gary knew of, more a collection of individuals that, rain or shine, hot or cold, calm or windy, would congregate along a single portion of the building to smoke.
That part wasn't what really amazed him, he'd been witnessing that for years in buildings all around town. What amazed Gary was the way this same group of people seemed to gather at this one precise time of day at this exact place, everyday. During the months Gary worked at the building he made it his own personal cause to observe this social phenomenon and determine what was it that made each of these people crave a cigarette at the exact time every day.
So at precisely ten minutes before ten o'clock am, Gary would wander down the hall, step into one of the six elevators and ride down to the first floor. He'd listen to his rubber soled shoes squeak across the well waxed tile floor and then step into the revolving door that rolled him out onto a covered porch attached to a concrete covered walkway. From his vantage point at the covered porch he watched the group of fifteen to twenty people suddenly appear from all corners of the campus.
Oddly, on some days the group would seem a bit glum. Glum, but talkative, they would look out across the company's campus talking amongst themselves. But on other times they would seem much happier, but on those days they seemed satisfied to all look off in the same direction and silently smoke their cigarettes. Gary could never really figure out a pattern to when they would talk and simply gaze about and when they all seemed to concentrate intently on simply smoking.
Gary quietly observed The Smoking Club over the summer and into the fall before he finally saw some type of pattern in their smoking activity. It finally dawned on him that when a certain black Mercedes was parked in one of the Vice President's spaces the smoking group would all face in one direction and silently smoke. When the car wasn't there, their attention was focused elsewhere.