Everybody Wants Something, Part 1

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Everybody wants something
by Asiansmoke
Part 1

   (We begin this story with a scene in a restaurant, where Bill Cheng is
having lunch with his secretary, Jasmine.)

   "I tell you Jasmine, I HAVE tried everything. I don't know what else to
do. Nothing works. I've been trying for years. She is NOT going to do it.
Ever." Bill said to his secretary Jasmine. He just had to get out of the
office today and tell Jasmine about his wife, one last time. They went to a
posh restaurant, somewhere in New Rochelle.

   "Bill. Did you try..." Jasmine tried to add in. But Bill Cheng just shook
his head back and forth.

   "I've given up Jasmine. I've given up. I don't know what else to do." Bill
said and bowed his head down over the dinner table. He put his hands over his
face.

   "I can try of think of something. I really will try!" Jasmine said. She'd
worked for Bill Cheng for over six years now, for as long as Bill has been
married to his wife, Grace Cheng. Jasmine was a devoted employee who also
became in time, a friend of the Cheng's and has been to their place on the
odd occasion. 

   "Thanks Jasmine, but I think I've tried every option. She just won't do
it. She just isn't going to try smoking." Bill said in a dejected and quiet
tone.

    Bill had been married to Grace for five years. They had dated for two
years prior to that. Over that time, Bill has tried everything to get his
wife Grace to try smoking, but to no avail. That's the only thing he wanted
in life, to get his wife to smoke for him. Oh! Not to become an addicted
smoker who made the house stink, but just to smoke for him when he wanted her
to. And Bill was used to getting what he wanted. He was class president in
high school. He graduated near the top of his class in college. He had his
own firm. He earned over three hundred thousand a year. He owned two houses,
a yacht in Cape Cod which he used often. He had seventy people working for
him. He had a lovely wife too, and they'd been trying to have kids, but
haven't been successful at that yet. However, he wasn't altogether too
concerned. He was still young, at twenty-nine, and he had a very bright
future ahead of him. The truth was that he'd give up most of that just to be
able to see his wife smoke.

   "Did you ever try and get her so drunk that she could not control
herself?" Jasmine asked

   "I've done that. Don't you you I have tried that? Shit! I've tried to get
her drunk, on many occasions. She will not smoke. I've tried everything. I
tried begging her on our honeymoon. I tried buying her packs of cigarettes
and pleaded her to try and smoke a cigarette. I hid packs of cigarettes in
her purses, handbags, a pair of jeans...everywhere! I'd hoped when she saw a
pack, something inside of her would understand what I had been telling her,
to try it, just once or twice. She just scolds me and tells me she won't have
sex with me for two weeks each time I try something even related to get her
to smoke."

  "Oh, Bill."..Jasmine said.
      
   "I have pretended on occasions to have the worst day in my wife. I pretend
to cry by squirting lemon juice into my eyes after parking my car in the
driveway. I walk in the door and tell her I have nothing to live for. Even
when she comforts me and says she'd do anything to cheer me up, when I ask
her to smoke, she just walks away and tells me to get lost. One time when we,
you know, have weird sex and tie each other up, I even brought a pack of
cigarettes with me so that after I tie her up, she has to smoke! But she just
starts kicking me and tells me if I try and get her to smoke, she'd cut off
my penis during the night when I sleep. I can't win. I even tried reasoning
with her, telling her it would be only a one time thing. She continues to
repeat the same words to me over and over 'Fuck off Bill!'. I...can't get her
to smoke. I can't. I...can't."

   "Wow, I didn't know you were that desperate, Bill." Jasmine responded to
Bill who just poured his heart out at the table. Then Bill began to smile and
laugh a little.

    "You know...It's funny Jasmine. I've always been able to get anything I
want, every time. I have a great job, beautiful house. I can retire in about
five years from now and live a good life!" Bill said and sighed. "But I can't
get Grace to smoke. Fuck!" 

     Jasmine paused to think. "There was that other thing you couldn't get,
with Carl." Jasmine added.

    "That asshole!" I don't want to hear his name again. He almost stole all
my accounts, that no good jerk. I never want to see him again!" Bill
remarked. His partner for three years, Carl Lam, almost took away all of
Bill's business when he opened up his own company just fifteen months ago.
Bill wasn't able to get his old accounts back and that had been his only
failure to date, other than not getting his wife to smoke. He did try and
make things difficult for Carl, but he had vouched to never speak with Carl
as long as he lives.

   "Did Grace ever try smoking when she grew up in Hong Kong?" Jasmine asked.

   "Ha! You must be kidding. Grace? Smoking? She grew up in a country that
looks down on any female that smokes, but you know that, having been born
there too. She always told me she was a good girl who attended a good school.
None of the girls in her school ever smoked. Shit. Even if a teacher was
spotted by someone smoking in Hong Kong, they took a chance to lose their
job."

   "That's how it was when I grew up there too." Jasmine said, recalling her
experiences in Hong Kong. "But she must have met someone who smoked in her
life there?"

    "Grace told me years ago that her dad used to smoked a cigar sometimes,
but Grace and her mom always pestered him to quit. Whenever Grace walks by an
entrance to a subway station here in New York and sees someone smoke, she
puts her hand across her nose so she won't smell anything. She'd rather walk
across the street to another entrance to avoid the smell of it. When she sees
a typical New York business man walking on the sidewalk, smoking a big fat
cigar, she'll run into a nearby store to wait for that man to pass. She can't
stand it. When she interviews for a job, she even asks the interviewer how
many people smoke in the department and asks how far the smoking room is from
her department, but not because she wants to smoke, she just wants to know
whether she should accept the job or not. When she meets a lady and tries to
befriend her, she always asks her if she smokes. If she does, Grace will not
become her friend and that's god's honest truth. I think she'd rather handle
anthrax than smoke!" Bill said. He was getting angry and his voice was loud.

    "I see, I see." Jasmine replied. She asked the waiter for a second glass
of wine and asked to be excused so she could visit the ladies room. Bill sat
at the table and looked defeated. He had given up. He remembered how he met
Grace, at a church social in 1994. He was glad to find out Grace wasn't a
regular church attendee, she only went to 'the big ones' as she called it;
Easter and Christmas. She looked so beautiful back then and still looks great
today. He imagined he was the luckiest guy in the world, being able to spend
his whole life with Grace. He remembered the trips to Europe together, the
cruise to Alaska, the trip to Asia to meet her parents. Those were good
times, but he wasn't fulfilled. He still wanted something more. He had
envisioned Grace smoking even since their second date. He never brought the
topic up until they got engaged. Grace thought he was weird to want to see
her smoke. She actually told him she'd do it once, after they got married,
but ever since then he began to ask her over and over, Grace became irritated
and she changed her mind and said she'd never do it, ever.

    "Why the heck won't she just smoke one time for me..Why?" He repeated to
himself. He turned around and saw Jasmine on her way back to their table at
the restaurant. She was smiling. She sat down.

    "I have an idea on how you could get her to smoke. But, it's
kinda...weird." Jasmine said.

    "Tell me! Please tell me!" An interested Bill said to Jasmine.

    "You did say you'd do anything to get her to smoke, right? Anything?"
Jasmine smiled.

    "Yes, anything..Anything!!!" Bill repeated.

    "OK Bill. I want to make a suggestion, but of you don't like it, please
don't fire me. Please. It's difficult for an oriental woman to find a great
job in the city." Jasmine said.

   "Fire you? But why would I?" Bill was confused.

   "Just tell me you won't..."

   "I won't, I won't." Bill was intrigued and was anxious to hear Jasmine's
suggestion. "Just tell me, for heaven's sake!" Jasmine looked around and
moved closer to Bill.

    "I can't tell you here. Let's go. I will tell you on the way back to the
office." Jasmine whispered.


End of Part 1

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