Correcting the Record

On the medical portal appeared the notation "former smoker," but she could not remember smoking. 

Except of course during that ten-year interlude sandwiched between sobrieties during which she partook (that quaint word) of spirits (another morsel of bygone verbiage). 

For a period of months that turned out years, she allowed this injustice to go. 

Then in a veritable burst of intention, she decided to confront the doctor with what she told herself were the facts.

Like many medical professionals, her physician had no more idea how the portal worked, or of any way to edit this marvel of technology (loosely termed) than fly.

After unsuccessful several attempts to correct the record, the patient determined simply to fix the truth, purchasing a carton of American Spirit cigarettes, telling herself that the brand, thought to be bereft of the usual chemicals, might be closest to not smoking at all.