The sign changed. The store didn't.

Fitting in. Stress. Boredom. Focus. A reward at the end of a long day. Then no reason at all, just the hour arriving and your hand moving. Recognize the lineup? Each season handed you a fresh excuse. Your life kept changing shape. The habit underneath never missed a beat.

Check which part moved. The reasons rotated. The habit stayed put. The reason you started stopped mattering, and it kept going. The stressful stretch ended, and it kept going. It's the corner store with a new banner every month. Grand Opening. Under New Management. Everything Must Go. Same shelf, same stuff, same price.

A mind does this with anything automatic. It watches you act, then writes a reason underneath, fast enough that the reason feels like it came first. The reason shows up after the hand moves. That's standard equipment, not stupidity. The cigarette never had to argue its own case. It borrowed your hard seasons and wore them as excuses.

You can see the machinery now. The next reason that walks in gets checked at the door. A real cause has a history. This one's five seconds old, cut to fit today. Hold it up to the light with God beside you, and watch it shrink. Then ask it the one question no excuse survives. Where were you last month?