Lifeline,
Part 4
Three
years and couple of brief affairs with a number of women later, I was on my way
home from Europe, where I had been at the local headquarter of the company I
worked for. With the fall of the iron curtain, activities in Europe were in
constant change and they needed even rookies like me to help out sometimes. I
had done well and my boss granted me a two days of paid vacation extra which I
planned to spend in New York.
I
had never been to Big Apple before and I wanted to know what it was all about.
I took a room at the Norfolk Hotel in Manhattan, not far from Times Square.
After a difficult night because of the jet lag, hunger drove me out of the
hotel bed. I tried to find an open diner, first on the street behind the hotel,
but the only one open looked so shabby that I turned around and walked down the
block towards Time Square. At every corner an Afro stood rattling a cup with
some coins in it. I dropped some change in each, as some of them looked quite
able to use force if I ignored them. Maybe New Yorkers knew how to deal with
them, but I, having lived most of my life in smaller towns that were
comparatively "clean", preferred to give in. It's the cowards that
survive, as my grandpa used to say.
In
front of Sbarro's, wich wouldn't open for another hour, I saw a woman in a
cheap gray coat and disheveled and dirty hair. She swayed lightly and the
moment I dropped my half smoked cigarette as it didn't taste well in the damp
fumes of the morning air, she launched in a jump or more like a fall my way and
collected the stub before I was able to crush it under my heel. I felt ashamed
and even thou I thought that a cigarette was about the last thing that the poor
soul needed, I reached into my pocket to take out the pack of cigarettes and
give it to her. As she dragged on that stub like it contained the last drop of
oxygen of a diving suit one hundred feet under the sea, something in her struck
me as familiar. She blew out a huge cloud of smoke and even thou a wet cough
shook her, she took another direct inhale which against reason seemed to calm
down her cough.
I
took the pack of cigarettes, which was almost full and extended it for her to
take it. She raised her head and looked at me. We were both struck by instant
recognition. All she could whisper was "Georgieee" before she
collapsed into my arms. She was light like a feather. Would she have been a
stranger, her smell would have filled me with repulsion and I would have
probably laid her down on the sidewalk and called emergency. But it was Celine
and she had sunken deeper than I would have thought it possible. Luckily she
recovered a little and I thought that the best thing would be to smuggle her up
in my hotel room. An old friend of my father's worked in a hospital in
Manhattan, so I called him up on my cell phone. I was lucky. He was off duty
and would be there in half an hour. I took Celine by the waist and step by step
we managed to reach the side entrance of the Norfolk. A larger bill into the
hands of the porter solved the problem how to get past the receptionist. We
took the service elevator and reached my room without further incidents.
Dr.
Lukas, my father's friend, came over. He looked at Celine and then said I
should get her a Coke. Among other things she certainly was dehydrated, but Dr.
Lukas, who insisted we call him Paul, thought that a Coke or two would
stabilize her enough so she could take a bath. He did not fear an immediate
collapse for her. He asked when the last time when she had eaten something had
been, but he couldn't get a coherent answer from her. All she did was repeating
"Georgiee, Georgieee" all over again. I got the Cokes. In tone with
the general dilapidated state of the hotel, the cooling of the machine was
broken so the Cokes I got weren't chilled. She drank both bottles and it seemed
to do her good. The first words she spoke apart from my name were the plea for
a cigarette. I looked at Paul, but he shrugged.
'Without
some blood tests I can't say much, but I doubt Nicotine is her biggest problem.
Her heart sounds reasonably good. How old is she?'
'Same
as me, twenty-four.'
'Good
Lord. She looks like forty! But that's what the street does to a woman. OK,
let's get her into the tub.'
While
she passively dangled her cigarette, finishing it off in less then three
minutes, we managed to free her from the horrible rags under her coat. I had
found a laundry sack and we dumped the rags in it and then tied it up as good
as we could, to lock in the stench they emanated.
She
looked almost like the horrible live skeletons I had seen in a���� documentary of the liberation of a
concentration camp after the war in Europe. Her skin, like her face, was
covered with dirt and wounds. We helped her into the tub and denied her another
cigarette as she coughed constantly now. Except for a sad look she accepted
this. The warm water in the tub seemed to do her good and with a cloth I
started to clean her up. My heart was heavy as I compared the florid if
depraved Celine from our last unfortunate encounter with the ruin she was now.
She didn't even twitch when I softly tried to clean all the little wounds that covered
all her members. Paul insisted on taking care of her more intimate parts, both
as a doctor and an old man, even thou I had told him we had once been lovers.
Finally, after half an hour, not to stress her circulatory system too much, we
helped her clad into the bathing robe of the hotel and into bed. After debating
with Paul what to do next, I ordered what seemed to be the best suited diet for
someone who hadn't eaten regularly for a long time. The room service at least
was better than one could expect from the otherwise run down appearance of the
hotel. They delivered some chicken broth with a bit of bread. Slowly Celine's
cheeks recovered a bit of their once rosy complexion. She seemed quite able to
talk now and of course she wanted to smoke again. Like before Paul shrugged and
I gave her what she wanted. She smoked slower now, still double pumping, but
with breaks to breath clean air in-between.
'You
have no idea how I craved to be able to smoke one entire cigarette again. I
have lived on dirty stubs for month.' she whispered. Her voice was hoarse and
week.
'Now
what?' I asked Paul.
'Let
me see if I can find a vein in her arm. I think she is not in immediate danger
for the moment. Tomorrow I'll be back and we shall see. You can always call an
ambulance if the going gets tough.'
He
left us alone.
I
spent the day with her, getting her more to eat and drink, helping her to the
toilet when she needed it and I tried to keep her from smoking overly much, but
she smoked up two packs anyway. A painful memory rose, of the time more than
four years ago, when she came to me fleeing from that unfortunate marriage.
Like than I went and bought her two cartons of her Reds. Even thou her eyes
still lacked their one time sparkling and the sadness in them would never fully
go away, she seemed to recover by the minute. Till the evening she had
recovered her appetite.
The
room had two kingsize beds but she asked me to stay with her over night. I held
her in a chaste embrace and she fell into a deep sleep. The relapse came when I
had just drifted off myself. She began to shiver and then she also coughed
uncontrollably and fought for air. Then she cramped, her whole body contorted
by spasms. After a while, when I was on the point to call nine eleven, she
seemed to recover a bit but then it started all over again. After half on hour
whatever it was seemed to fade away and her breath steadied. She asked for a
cigarette and even thou I had my doubts, I lit two of them and gave her one.
This actually seemed to help her and she almost burnt the matress when she
drifted into sleep again, dropping her arm with the still burning stub. I
removed it from her hand and crushed it in the ashtray together with my half smoked
cigarette. The next crisis came two hours later and this time my intuition told
me to try help her smoke while she was in the middle of it. To my surprise it
did help.
Paul
found us in the morning, both tired but composed. Her fits didn't return in daylight
and even thou it sounded totally weird it seemed that her constant smoking kept
them away.
'Naughty
girl!' Paul said with a more forced joy, the kind doctors use to raise the
spirits of badly ill patients. 'After all you've been thru, you run for a
cancer too.'
Celine
seemed not listen to him. She was too preoccupied to get as much Nicotine as
she could from her cigarette. Even thou the extorting sufferings from the last
night had left their mark on her face she already looked ten years younger then
the day before.
'Now
my pidgoens,' he went on with his doctors humor. 'I have good news and bad
news. The bad one is that you, Young lady, you sure haven't left out much of
what the illegal market has to offer in hard stuff. The good knew is you seem
to have been clean for a while. Now all depends on whether your young friend
here is willing and able to help you. We could of course turn you over to some
state facility, but I doubt it would do you much good. Personally, I'm not
comfortable with the kind of chemicals they use there and anyway only one out
of ten really stays clean after they leave.'
'By
the way, did she have any withdrawal symptoms last night?' he asked looking at
me
'I'm
afraid yes and ugly ones too. I almost called emergency twice.'
'After
I read these results, I figured as much. This will take a lot of time and
care.'
'But
will she recover?' I asked not without a selfish hind thought. She was still
young enough, maybe... But I called myself to order. She was in deep trouble
and needed someone to help.
'Well,
it's on knifes edge, if you ask me. I'm not really an expert on drugs, but I
had dealt with cases a bit similar to this one before. Of course she needs
round the clock care and surveillance, as much as I regret to say that. If she
gets hold of some hard stuff again, she probably won't survive.' he took the
gear out if his doctor�s case, to give her shot of something.
'What's
that?' I asked somewhat alarmed.
'Oh,
really!' he laughed. 'These are vitamins and some tonic. It will do her good
and help her liver. Let's hope it will recover completely. As long as stays
away from alcohol...'
She
didn't wince when he injected her the content of two little vials. The pinch of
a needle sure wasn't new to her, I thought with bitterness. There was something
else I wanted to ask him.
'I
have made an interesting observation last night. I know it sounds stupid but
she kept asking to smoke and it's almost like it actually helped her.'
Paul
gave me a pensive look and started into quite an explanation.
'Well,
I can't say I'm very surprised. You know, even thou personally I am totally
against smoking, in this case I'm afraid I can't deny there's a sort of benefic
effect of Nicotine on her system.'
He
laughed as he saw my puzzled expression.
'I
just remembered that my grandpa, who was a doctor too, used to recommend
pregnant women to take up smoking because back then it was a common belief that
smoking helped to loose weight. And he sure turned my grandma into a compulsive
smoker, a habit she had kept till she died at eighty-nine. Imagine she smoked
thirty cigarettes a day as a pregnant and not these light weight ones. In the
twenties filter cigarettes hadn�t been invented. She even smoked an after
dinner cigar with my grandpa too, once she had taken it up in earnest. Can you
imagine the picture of a woman in delivery puffing a huge cigar? And my dad
sure was one healthy baby same as his younger sisters. I still have an old
black and white photo of my grandma breastfeeding my dad and smoking a
cigarette while at it. Well, sorry I got carried away.'
He
now had Celime's attention too and we both kind of stared at him with open
mouths.
'All
right. Now only Celine really knows what she was on.'
Celine
broke her silence and with her hoarse voice, proof of the abuse she had done to
her body, said;
'Doctor,
I'm afraid I don't know much myself any more. Somewhere on the road down every
thing blurred. I don't actually remember having taken shots, at least not
regularly, but it may well be I had one or two. I just don't remember. I know
that I preferred to inhale or swallow stuff. It must have been a ton of weed
but I'm afraid crack was involved also and God knows what else.' she was quite
breathless after such a long speech, as she had hardly uttered a complete
sentence before.
'Well,
it really doesn't matter that much. You sure were lucky this young man here
found you and took it on him to save you. You wouldn't have last another month.
OK, back to the Nicotine stuff. You see some of the psychoactive drugs do act
on the same receptors like Nicotine. Also the hormonal storm a Nicotine hit
triggers is related to what some drugs do to your system. So, as unhealthy as
smoking is, it can help you deal a bit better with the withdrawal symptoms. But
I warn you, even thou Nicotine is in a way a milder drug, it can be extremely
addictive too, so you just sort of trade in one for the other.'
'I
don't mind that, Doctor. I have started smoking on my fourteenth birthday and
long before I got into all this I was a heavy smoker and never regretted it. So
I really have nothing to loose. Even if I had been happily married with George
here and never had gotten in trouble, I would still be smoking a lot.'
'All
right then. Actually you're in good company.'
He
saw our puzzled expressions.
'You
see, even if it's not widely known, a lot of people who successfully undergo a
treatment for alcoholism take up smoking to compensate the cravings for
alcohol. Some institutes actually encourage this, even thou no one would openly
admit it. Of course if an alcoholic relapses and had learned to smoke as a
means to help him fight his problem, he then has two addictions and they even
complement each other. But life is tough anyway, so, forget all this stupid
babbling of an old man. Just one last advice, young lady. If I were you, I
would try to smoke as little as possible during normal periods and try and save
your bodie�s capacity to deal with Nicotine for the times you really need it.
You may then even increase the Nicotine dose by smoking some stronger brand or
such. I wish I could get you some pure Nicotine base, but apart from gums and
patches I know of no other source for Nicotine except tobacco and those gums
and patches are way too week to help in your condition. All right then, I'll
leave you youngsters alone.'
The
idea was born that moment. I would have to make some phone calls but before I
started I needed Paul's opinion.
'Doctor?
I mean Paul, how soon do you think Celine can travel?'
Paul
guessed immediately what was on my mind. After all he knew both my parents
since their childhood in our little hometown in Maine.
'If
she doesn't feel worse after another night, she could cope with a longer car
ride, provided you limit the driving hours. It will mean you need several days
if I am right as to what destination you have in mind. I wouldn�t' advise a
flight thou.'
Celine,
who seemed much more vivid now, looked at me with big eyes. She hadn't dare
hope I would go further with my help. Little did she know me. I was set on
saving her. I knew of only one person who, apart from myself with my own
special motivation, had the right state of mind for such a heavy task. My mom.
I would have to ask her but I had no doubt of her answer. I wasn't sure of my
dad thou. For all I knew, their income from the capital left after he had sold
the store and paid for my college, wasn't that big so an additional expense
wasn't exactly welcome. Even if Celine wouldn't need any medication, the
cigarettes she would consume alone meant a strain on their income. But the same
luck that had solved my dilemma after Celine had left for college, giving my
father the chance to retire and me to go to college, sparing me the dreary
existence and possible failure as a small store owner, once again helped.
Although, it would be wrong to call it luck. It was just my father's instinct
that even now, when all he had to do was guarding his money, turned him into a
much wealthier man than I had thought him to be. And that also solved another
problem, one I had avoided till then.
When
I called him up and explained him and mom what my problem was, he laughed till
he choked about my sorrow I would impose a too high financial burden upon them.
'What
a joke, son. You should have called more often. You see, I had two stupid ideas
when I suddenly wound up with a heap of money to invest and assure your mom and
me a reasonable income. The first one was a deliberate misunderstanding. My
agent told me to invest in fruit copanies as they had a small but stable
revenue. OK, I thought, I love apples.'
It
was my turn to laugh. Of course! He had bought shares of Apple, the computer
company. Hopefully he had also sold them again in time, I thought.
'Well,
when I smelled that apples weren't on the rise any more I looked for some
smaller companies that were promising. And a company with micro in their name
sure sounded little. If the other part of the name is soft, I thought of that
male part. Given the right conditions, what is small and soft can turn big and
hard.'
Again
I shook with laughter. My good old dad.
'So
you see, I can afford a lot more than just a little young lady that needs help.
Just bring her over here.'
Now
I had to address the second problem I had.
'There's
on other problem I have. You see, I would need an unpaid leave to make the trip
and I doubt my boss would be very happy.'
My
father knew me well enough to read between the lines.
'Why
don't I hear any regret in your voice? I didn't want to interfere but I had my
doubts if that kind of job would offer you the carrier you dreamt of. Tell you
what. Why don't you dump those Texans altogether and stay with us till we find
an occupation that really makes you happy. Forget about the money. I'm your dad
and for whom did I make all that money in the first place?'
'Thanks
dad. You saved our lives. I'll keep you current when we are under way.'
I
called up my boss and he wasn't exactly happy but he had seen it coming. I
promised to come and settle my affairs later on. The apartment I had rented in
Austin also had to be taken care of, but I had paid it three month in advance
so I could now concentrate fully on Celine.
It
showed that it would take a lot of care till she would even remotely resemble
her old self. I hoped that at least she had the will to become a normal human
again. She never sad it but I could see in her eyes she still wavered and often
enough would have reached for any kind of drug if it were available. As good as
I could I tried to limit her smoking during the times she felt good. Thinking
of Paul's words I tried different brands of strong cigarettes. Unfortunately I
had to rule out unfiltered ones that had appeared to be the sensible choice.
Alas, when she needed them most, she munched them up as they lacked the filter
that could withstand a wilder treatment. Reluctantly I went to a tobacconist.
It was awkward as I of course I couldn't explain to him what my purpose was.
After Celine threw up from a too strong black cigar during one of her fits, I
finally settled on a type of cheap machine made cigars that were flavored like
pipe tobacco. These seemed to really do Celine good, especially as they had a
plastic mouth piece and she could byte on them without fear ruining them. I hid
them during the day so she wouldn't overdo it. The only disadvantage of the
Black&Milds was that they had a rather unlucky resemblance with those blunt
type cigars she had started her drug career on. I allowed her no more than one
cigarette per hour, but as soon as I turned my back on her she would reach for
the pack and every time I had to leave the hotel room I found upon returning a
couple of butts in the ashtray. There were moments when I thought I talked to
the real Celine, my friend and lover from years ago, then again she was totally
lost in daydreams or locked in dark thoughts.
I
rented a car, a big old convertible, with a huge but quiet engine and with a
soft suspension that could make you seasick. We were lucky as the weather was
fair all thru our ride and Celine could smoke without choking us. After a
hearty breakfast we would ride a couple of miles, then make long breaks
wherever we could find a nice picnic area. When she felt in the mood we would
talk. When I saw she didn't feel well I sometimes gave her an extra cigar as a
treat. In fact I enjoyed the mild spicy smell of them and as Celine did recover
both physically and mentally, my compassion and care for her slowly allowed for
some more intense feelings, but I never allowed them to show. Still, one night
when I rocked her into her sleep like always, she turned around and kissed me.
I felt her breasts that had almost filed in again to their once wonderful pear
shape and I could not help but get aroused. She felt it and before I realized
what was going on we made love. It was awkward as I had to hold back and be as
gentle as I could. Most of the wounds on her body had healed, but even thou it
was she who wanted it, she was quite dry, but every time I wanted to withdraw
she squeezed me, asking me to go on. It ended in a rather joyless climax of
mine. She had not given any sign of getting really aroused and I felt guilty.
I
felt her by the shake of her shoulders she was crying.
'I'm
so sorry, my love.' she stammered between sobs. 'I really wanted it to work
out.
'You
shouldn't have done this. I need no reward'
Her
sobs intensified
'But
you don't understand. I wanted it for me, not for you. I hoped it would be like
in the old times. You were the only one who really could give me satisfaction'
I
don't know if she heard my sigh or she had remembered the same thing I did. Her
words of an hour-long drug induced orgasm with that Diego character still rang
in my ears.
'Oh
I know what you think, but believe me, I lied to you about what Diego had given
me. Yes, I had some outstanding sexual excesses with him but it was his drugs
mostly and it felt so shallow and empty in a way. In fact I used to masturbate
sometimes when I had smoked a bit too much of his weed and he wasn't there.
Those were the only times I had even remotely felt what you had made feel and
only when I thought of you while...' Her voice trailed off and even thou I
couldn't be sure if she had told me the truth, the fact alone that she tried to
make up for how she had hurt me drove away my bitterness and I hugged her
tight. I didn't hear no sobs from her but she still shook and for fear of a new
fit I reached for a cigar and gave it to her. She turned her back on me, not to
choke me with the strong smoke. Now that I had began to see a woman in her
again, her audible inhales and almost palpable pleasure and satisfaction she
gained from smoking, turned me on again.
I
tried to draw back a little not to embarrass her. She had her own problems to
deal with. Yet, as she had felt it and without turning around, she reached for
my erect organ and wriggled her still skinny backside till she could direct my penis
into her. To my surprise I found her soaking wet. Her climax came fast and
high. On and on I felt the spasms of her inner muscles engulf my organ while
she struggled to drag on her cigar. It didn't take me very long and I joined
her on cloud nine. I held her that way for a while and between thirsty drags on
her cigar she relaxed slowly. Then she left it in the ashtray and exhaling a
residue of smoke, she turned around to me. Her slow and sweet kiss tasted
wonderfully spicy.
'What
was this?' she whispered. 'Will I need one of these every time I want to make
love?'
�'And if? I'd rather have you back like this,
then not at all'
'But
doesn't it disturb you that I need to smoke to be ready for you?'
I
had difficulties to clear my throat. I had often had erotic dreams of women
doing all sorts of smoking while making love to me or during foreplay. Could it
be that we had get to this point to wind up in the most gratifying experience I
could imagine? No other woman had ever given me such satisfaction as Celine. To
top this as she had just done was... I had no words for it. As I hadn't
answered at once, she mistook my silence for disapproval. A single tear made
its way down her cheek.
'Oh,
my dear little Celine. No I don't mind it at all. I wouldn't mind if you needed
it every time, if there will be a next time. If we were gifted with a couple of
years from now on, I could do with almost anything.'
'OK
then,' she sounded a bit unsure. 'I'll see I get rid of this as soon as I can,
but at least for now it helps.'
'Honey,
I guess I must tell you a bit more. You see it's not like I just tolerate that
you need a cigar to make love to me. To tell you the truth I loved it that way.
Somehow it has been better than anything I have ever felt.'
'No
kidding? Wow' She whirled her arms around m neck and covered my face with
little kisses.
'And
it doesn't make me smell bad?'
She
wanted to know, still doubtful.
'No,
really not. I love it.'
I
don't know if it had something to do with it, but that night for the first time
her fits didn�t return. Maybe we just anticipated their approach as she begged
two more times for a cigar and inevitably we wound up each time in a more
satisfying embrace.
The
following day we had left the little motel as fast as we could. We were both in
such good spirits, we decided to drive thru to reach my parents house sooner.
Celine was almost her old self again and laughed and chatted happily all the
way. Sometimes she would sleep with her head on my shoulder then again she
kissed me and caressed my crotch. She didn't even smoke very much, not the way
she had before.
My
parents had heard the car and seen the headlights. We embraced each other on
the porch and exchanged lots of kisses. We hadn't seen each other for quote a
while. My mom took Celine by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.
'My
God, George, you are a liar. You said you'll bring home one sick woman and look
at this. Celine looks as healthy as ever.'
'That's
because your son is the best nurse on earth.' Celine replied with a shy smile.
'So
then you two pidgeons will want to share a room. That sounds good. You both
deserve each other.' Celine gave me a doubtful glance, but to reassure her I
kissed her hard on her mouth.
Things
went fine for a while. I had to leave for a while to sort things out in Austin.
When I came back, I found Celine in a rather funny mood.
'Good
or bad first?' A game we had played in our childhood, even thou it was no game
now.
'Bad'
'I
had another fit last night. The cigar helped but I had hoped to need them only
for our pleasure. Maybe all I need is a combined therapy, but for that I need
you.' she grinned. So it hadn't been all that bad.
'But
I have a suspicion of what triggered it and that's the good news. I'm not even
sure if I haven't confused the cramps for something else.'
What
on earth was she talking about? What other reason for cramps...? Then I
realized it. The best sign she was really recovering, I hoped. I smiled happily
and she saw I had figured it out.
'Yes,
I have my cycle again. The first time in over two years. I even went to a
gynecologist this morning. He said I can have kids and he doesn't think there
are risks because of my drug record. I have even escaped AIDS by miracle.'
Then
a little cloud descended on her face. 'Of course if you can get aquainted with
the idea to marry an ex junkie.
I
hurried to squeeze her into my arms.
'Dear
wonderful Celine! Do you think I will ever let you go again? We can take the
next plane to Vegas and get married on the spot if that's what troubles you.'
My
mother interfered now.
'Hey,
hey, hey, easy now. There's no hurry. You can wait till next week. Father
Mulcahany will be glad to celebrate a wedding. He loves weddings but with all
the old folks around here doesn't get too many occasions.'
So
everything seemed to work out way better than any of us had hoped. I had one
little shock, when after a ride up town I found Celine smoking what looked
exactly like those drug stuffed blunts two years before. But as I approached
her I could tell it smelled just like fine tobacco. Relieved I kissed her right
on her juicy mouth and savored the rich taste of tar. It had been my father who
had given her the cigar, a real Cuban one he had gotten from the man who did our
lawn and occasionally sold smuggled Cuban cigars.
'Well?'
she said cocking her head 'How did you like the taste?'
'I
could get used to it.'
'I'll
talk to daddy to get more of these. Thank you so much, dearest.'
'Just
promise me not to overdo it'
'Yes
massa.'
We
laughed happily oblivious of the dark clouds that gathered in a distance.
I
sat on the marble bench beside the grave and wept a little. Why so soon? I kept
asking myself. If she could only have seen the baby! Finally I dried my tears
and took out a cigarette.
'You
really shouldn't smoke that much!' two warm motherly arms embraced me from
behind.
'Look
who's talking'
Celine,
who's belly showed quite well now as she was five month under way, jumped up my
lap and kissed me passionately.
'Yeah,
but you know how it is. I still need it and we talked it all out. It would have
harmed the baby too if the fits would have returned and you know what happened
the day I heard I'm pregnant and tried not to smoke all day.'
I
returned her kiss. We had talked it out and decided to take the chance. My
freelancing had finally taken momentum and I earned quite a lot without having
to leave home, so I could assist her in any way. The doctor, another old friend
of my father, had more or less confirmed Paul's words and he too believed it
was better for Celine to keep on smoking even if he advised her to keep it as
low as she could. The odds were very good the child would not suffer from it.
If not, well, we would take the risk.
'Yes
my love, I know. Kismet.'
I
saw the melancholy in her eyes. She sometimes felt guilty of what she had done,
but I kept telling her that maybe it had been a lesson she had to learn. What
if she had years ago decided to stay with me in the first place? She might have
kept regretting it, feeling she had swapped one prison for another. Admittedly,
I had a secret reason to be satisfied with the way things had developed. I had
realized it made no sense to deny my true feelings. Her smoking turned me on
like nothing else could. So as I knew no campaign against smoking could make
her quit now, what more could I hope for? I knew it was selfish of me, but it
was none of my fault.
'I
only wish mom could have been here.' she said with tears on her voice. I rocked
her a while, unable to speak as the pain gripped my throat. I was thankful that
my father had taken it so well. He had explained that for years they had both
known it will happen one day as my mom had suffered from an aneurysm, a week
blood vessel somewhere in her brain where it was impossible to operate. They
had accepted it and had tried to enjoy every day like it was their last one.
Now I understood better why they had been so close.
Celine
took out a pack of Reds and lit a cigarette. I joined in with my Lights.
'Still
not prepared to try the real ones?' she teased and gave me another juicy kiss.
I traced the residues of one of her little Cohibas I knew she smoked behind my
back.� I would have to tell her not to
hide her Cohibas any more as I knew it anyway and in bed...
The End������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ Home