A Letter from Paradise, Part 2 | |
Index by date |
Index by author |
Index by subject Smoking From All Sides ( Glamor - Pics | Female Celebrity Smoking List ) [ Printer friendly version ] Jump to part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | |
|
2. The Old Familiar Places On that first breathless day after work (was I tired? Me? Naaah!) we decided to do it up right. We strolled over to the Hyatt on Capitol Square. Its Plaza restaurant was pretty good (for a berg like Columbus) in my world, so how bad could it be here? As I approached the Maitre 'd, out of habit I said, "A smoking table for two, please." His squinted as though I had asked to be seated in the men's room. "You may 'ave any free table you wish, m'sieu. Ashtrays will be provided and replaced as necessarie." I gave myself a mental slap. Smoking sections? We don't need no stinkin' smoking sections! Laurie and I were seated at a table by the windows overlooking the square (which is no square-it's just a street). Back in the bad old place, we'd have been at a table by the kitchen door...or at the bar. It was a strange and wonderful experience to sit in a familiar place in such changed circumstances. Before today, if this much smoke had been seen in the restaurant, someone would have been dashing in with a fire extinguisher. Most tables were occupied either by couples or the usual, suited expense account crowd, and smoking was occurring anywhere eating was not...and in some cases where it was. One thing I would learn about my new home was that with smoking so prevalent, women in particular felt a great need to individualize their smoking styles...to stand out from the throng. My incessantly roving eyes noted some who were "unconscious" exhalers, taking a drag and letting the smoke come out at it willed, gracefully dotting conversations, or slipping out through nostrils over the course of many breaths. More interesting was an Hispanic beauty who was definitely smoking "con brio." Her slender all-whites were 160mm at least! As she lit up, she gazed intensely into her husband's (or whoever's) eyes as if to hypnotize him. Anyway, she hypnotized me and I was three tables away. She took a cheek-hollowing drag which lasted long enough to read the entire menu, removed the cigarette, and let some uninhaled smoke escape her open mouth, like cotton balls accumulating before her lovely face. Then she performed a perfect French inhale, capturing every wisp of smoke in front of her. Her mouth-only exhale spanned three breaths, billowing endlessly around her and her table-mate. After that, I couldn't see her very well. It was too cloudy.. I was also pleased to see that many women (and a few men) were using holders. They came in all shapes and sizes, from the modestly short to the "Holly Golightly" model. Women using the latter needed to get their lights from someone across the room. With a camcorder here, just in this one restaurant, I could have made a mint back home. "Hey Grant, eyes front!" Laurie said, "or I'll get the idea you'd rather be at another table." Her smile showed she understood, the dear. "I got behind schedule on our stroll over here. Help me catch up." Laurie and I both needed to increase our nicotine intake for our new jobs. Improves concentration and memory, you understand. She produced a pack of B&H menthols (same brand as I smoke), took two, and handed one to me. I looked for a light, then remembered all I had was my magic Zippo, and the magic was all gone. Laurie produced her stolen Bic and lit us both. Laurie can hold her own in any group of smokers in any world. Part of it is her looks. She's about 25, with straight, pale blond hair to the middle of her back, where it curls under attractively. Bangs cover half of her high forehead. She can wrap that hair around her face and shoulders like a cloak and often does. Just now she shakes her head prettily to keep it out of the fire. Her face is a smooth, rounded oval, skin pale and creamy, a little like smoke itself. Her eyebrows are blonde and thick, with a lovely arch to them. Her green eyes are enormous, her lashes naturally long and heavy. Her nose is slightly upturned, giving her a girlish appearance (and a perfect angle for viewing nostril exhales!). Her mouth is narrow but the lips are full and everted (most of the skin shows outside-like the all-girl band on Palmer's video "Addicted to Love"). The kind of lips born to hold a cigarette and blow smoke. Her figure (what I could see of it-too much to hope that public nudity would be a part of this world, too!) was very ample above and below, suggestive of some lingering baby fat in just the right places. She'd never be a supermodel with that figure, but then I have no desire to sleep with broomsticks, myself. It's too much like riding a bicycle across railroad tracks. The capper is, of course, her smoking style. For this first cigarette, she double drags almost every puff, since she's trying to play catch-up. As she starts that first drag, cheeks caving, hey eyes go all dreamy and unfocused, like she's having a quiet orgasm. I've seen this effect before, and I have to clamp down on myself to avoid the most premature of all ejaculations. After she completes part two of the first puff, she begins her exhale. What words can I use to describe it? Voluminous comes to mind. Endless also, but that's been overused. Think of scattered cumulus clouds on a bright summer's day, translucent yet substantial, reflecting the golden light of the sun. That doesn't come close, but perhaps you begin to get the idea. After each puff, smoke emerges copiously from her pouting lips and nostrils (not pouted). Like most smokers in this world, Laurie makes no special effort to exhale away from me, turning her head just enough to give me a slight profile view. I rejoice in the enveloping clouds of our mingling exhales. We each went through three cigarettes in this manner in something less than fifteen minutes. As the smoke accumulated thickly around us (it seems there was no special ventilation to clear smoke here), I found myself out of habit looking around to see who we were pissing off. One just does not smoke like this in public! In any restaurant back home, it would certainly have drawn a whispered comment from the waiter to tone it down a little. I needn't have bothered. No one here gave it a second thought. I know you're all anxiously waiting for my review of the food. Sorry, friends. I don't remember what either of us ordered or how it tasted. Try to forgive me. It was, though, just as expensive as ever. One other incident bears mentioning. When we were halfway through our dinners Laurie set down her silverware and reached for her pack of cigarettes. I did likewise, never wanting to miss a "B&H moment." Before we even got the smokes going, our waiter silently appeared and whisked our plates away. "Hey, wait! I'm not..." I said, but he didn't seem to hear me. "Don't worry, silly. The food will be back. He's just taking it to keep it warm for us while we smoke." She batted her large eyes mysteriously. "They do that in all the better restaurants. If you want to keep eating while you smoke, just tell the waiter when you order. Me, I like to concentrate on one pleasure at a time." Since Laurie had a magic Zippo like mine, I had assumed she also came from my old, anti-smoking world. However, she seemed to know a hell of a lot more about how things worked here than I did, and enjoyed displaying her superior knowledge. Women like that kind of edge. Men too, I guess. In any event, she wasn't tipping her whole hand...yet. Sure enough, when we were done smoking, the food reappeared, nice and hot. Somewhat later, as I slipped my Visa in the check folder, praying it would work (it did), Laurie looked up and asked "Well, what now?" "Ummmm...," such an open ended question left me twisting in the wind. Tomorrow was Friday, which meant an early get-up. After all I'd been through that day, I really didn't feel like hitting the bars, despite my insatiable desire for more smoking sightings. So I shrugged as if to say "What do you think?" Ping. Ball in your court, Laurie. "Let me put it another way," she continued. "Your place or mine?" Bingo! I thought the attraction was mutual, but you can never, ever be sure ("Date rape!" she cried). "Yours. Mine's a pigsty, if it's even still there." That settled, we departed. I should draw a veil of privacy across the rest of the evening... But naaah! What's a little kissing and telling between universes? Put the kiddies to bed, my friends, and let's press on... |
Previous part | Next part | |
Index by date |
Index by author |
Index by subject Smoking From All Sides ( Glamor - Pics | Female Celebrity Smoking List ) [ Printer friendly version ] Contact webmaster | |
Processing took 0.00186 seconds
|