Amy and Bonnie, Part 2

Amy and Bonnie

Chapter 2 Home Sweet Home

After two hours of watching her Aunt chain-smoke and drive, Amy was quite
ready to get out of the car. As they rolled to a stop in the driveway Amy
opened the car door before Bonnie could even turn off the engine. She bounded
out and went around to retrieve her suitcase, waiting impatiently for her Aunt
to pop the trunk. Her aunt started into the house, as Amy slowly followed,
frowning all the way, "Eeewwww I bet I stink now. Why does she do that to
herself? God, it's so filthy and stinks so bad!"

Amy looked up at the two-story house before she entered. It looked almost
gothic and creepy to her. She imagined it would smell like smoke inside, and
be totally gross. 

She walked through the door, and was instantly hit by the nearly-overpowering
stench of thousands of cigarettes. Her mom had one remarked that her Aunt had
smoked since she was a little girl, and it certainly showed in the house. The
walls might have once been white, but were now a dingy yellowish-brown color.
There were ashtrays on every table in sight, and all of them overflowing with
lipstick-coated spent filters. She noticed her Aunt heading for the den, and
she hopefully moved the other direction towards the staircase, hoping the
stench would be less up there.

"Oh, I have all the rooms upstairs closed up, dear. I don't go up there very
often, so I keep everything sealed up. You'll be in the guest bedroom next to
mine. Just put your things in there and come sit with me in the den." Bonnie
smiled at Amy, and said this as she took a deep drag and sent a jet of thick
smoke into the room.

Amy trudged back to the indicated room, muttering under her breath. "Rats. I
thought I could get away from that smell! But now I am stuck with Miss
Puffs-A-Lot all the time."

Amy noticed the room had the same smoky stench as the rest of the house, and
also saw with dismay an overflowing ashtray on the nightstand next to the bed.
"She smokes in here too? Gahhhh."


As much as she didn't want to, she knew she had no choice. Amy made the trip
back to the den. Coming up to the doorway she saw the room was awash in a
thick foggy haze of smoke. Her aunt was sucking hard on a freshly lit
cigarette, the last having already fouled the air completely. Bonnie looked up
from the book she was reading and smiled at Amy. "There you are! Come sit by
me and tell me how things are going for you! How's school? What kind of grades
do you get?"

Amy sat on the sofa as far as she could from Bonnie. "Things are OK I guess.
School's kinda boring. I get straight A's, Mom is really proud of me for
that."

"As she should be, young lady! That is something to be proud of indeed! So, do
you have a special someone in your life? A boyfriend perhaps?"

Amy laughed. "Well, there are a few guys I think are kinda cute, but I'm not
like going with them are anything."

Bonnie took a deep drag and nodded. "Do you have a best friend?" she asked,
talking around a thick cloud. Amy saw the smoke popped out with each word her
aunt spoke, and that for several breaths after there was a foggy stream of
smoke escaped her nostrils.

"Oh yes, Tanya Yates is my best friend in the world. She went with her family
to Disney World last week, or I might have gotten to stay with them."

"You didn't want to stay with your smoky old aunt, hmmm?"

Amy started, and then said "Oh! Uh, no Aunt Bonnie.. it's just that, I, well,
that is.. I wanted to hang out with Tanya you know, and..."

Bonnie laughed and pulled out a fresh cigarette. "It's certainly alright dear!
When I was your age the last thing I would have wanted to do would be spend
six weeks with some old bag in her creepy old house!"

She laughed again, which turned into another wheezy cough. 

Amy sat bravely enduring the stinking smoke, smoke that made her breath feel
short and burned her eyes, as her aunt puffed happily away.


Amy had only been too happy to offer to wash the dinner dishes. Dinner had
been delicious, but the whole thing was soon spoiled for her. After eating
only a small portion, Bonnie lit right up at the table and soon had Amy
surrounded by a gray haze. But that didn't help for long. Amy soon was
surrounded yet again by a stinking haze, and turned to see Bonnie puffing away
on a stool at the counter behind her. This spurred her to get the dishes done
as quickly as possible. She knew her aunt must be lonely, but wherever she
went she fouled the air so badly that Amy just had to get away just so she
could breathe. Going to bed that night was a relief. She escaped the worst of
the smoke, but could not get that horrible scent out of her mind. She went to
sleep worrying about whether the time she spent here with Bonnie could give
her lung cancer.


The next afternoon, Bonnie produced a pitcher of tea and announced tea-time.
So she and Amy sat and sipped the tea, while Bonnie puffed her cigarettes and
they chatted together. Bonnie produced a box and handed it to Amy. 

"What's this, Aunt Bonnie?"

"It's a little gift for you dear. Open it!"

Amy opened the box and saw a curious-looking silver amulet inside. It was
round, and had what looked like a mis-formed outline of a person on it,
slightly raised on the surface, like a bas-relief. A long gold chain was
attached to it.

"Oh, Aunt Bonnie, it's beautiful! But, it looks so expensive, I couldn't..."

"Nonsense, child. Put it on!"

Amy then noticed her aunt was wearing an almost-identical amulet, except
Bonnie's amulet was gold. She slowly slipped the chain over her neck and let
the amulet hang between her budding breasts.

"There, now we match! Have some more tea, dear"

Amy finished her cup and let Bonnie pour another. She felt a bit woozy, but
figured that it was from all the smoke in the air.

"Can I go outside for a while, Aunt Bonnie?"

"Why certainly, as soon as we finish our tea"

Amy nodded and nearly chugged the tea, to hurry things along. She stood up and
then sat back down fast. Her head was spinning like mad. Her breath was
ragged, and she was afraid she would soon faint. She saw that her aunt was
handcuffing herself to the chair!  "This must be a dream or something!"
thought Amy.

Bonnie then drank the green tea and then began chanting in some strange
language, glancing down at the book in front of her occasionally, as if she
already knew the material and was only double-checking it. Amy sat in her
daze, on the edge of passing out, when her aunt's chanting rose in volume and
intensity. Suddenly, Amy saw a blinding white light and everything went dark.

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