Dr. Blacklung, I Presume?, Part 2

Dr. Blacklung, I Presume
By:  slimv

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Chapter Two:  McPherson Elementary
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"How abou t over there, underneath that big Oak?  How does that look?" asked
Kenny, as he pulled her oxygen tank behind them.

"Not so fast," huffed Katie."  The hundred or so feet between the car and the
Oak seemed insurmountable even though there wasn't a hill in sight.  Her
lungs argued loudly by coughing and hacking with every step she took.  The
kids should see this she thought as trudged across the spring green grass.

A class of fourteen fifth graders did see, but the distance between them
wasted her effort.  As they exited the school building following their
teacher, a small blonde girl in a blue dress was sitting in the grass under
their favorite tree as a guy helped her with a mask.  That's what it was, but
they didn't recognize it as such.  These kids, so young and naive, most of
them had never witnessed a girl on a portable oxygen tank.  Some had seen
them attached to the elderly in grocery stores, but never a girl- not much
older than them selves.

As they approached the tree, Kenny instructed them to sit in a circle so
everyone could get a good view.  Their teacher, Mr. Kerry thanked Katie for
coming to talk to his health class about her real life experiences with
smoking.

Katie took one more deep breath and lowered the mask to the ground beside
her.  That was Kenny's cue to turn the oxygen off at the canister.

A boy named Tim squirmed as he moved his legs to an Indian style position.  A
black ant scurried past his sneaker and he flicked at it with his finger.  He
squirmed again.  The erection between his legs was uncomfortable.  He had
dreamed about this day since his teacher announced the visit two weeks
earlier.  He had thought of nothing but Katie O'Hare since that day.

All he knew about her was what their teacher, Mr. Kerry, had told them.  A
girl was coming to their school to talk to them about smoking.  Big deal
thought Tim.  Another anti-smoker.  Another lecture.  But what?  Mr. Kerry
told them that this girl, Katie O'Hare, was a smoker.  Used to be a smoker?
No.  She still smokes and she's only 16.  She was coming to tell her story.
And Tim was ready to listen.

She looked like an angel as she pushed the hair from her eyes and surveyed
the group of kids sitting in the circle.  Tim couldn't help but notice the
exquisite orange nicotine stains that decorated her finger as her hand fell
to her lap.  She looked stunning, so fresh and spring like in the deep blue
dress.  Her skin was smooth and tanned.  She was the picture of health on the
outside but it wasn't the outside Tim was concerned about.  

He watched as her chest rose and fell with each labored breath she took.  She
was so beautiful, so young but yet so tired looking.

"Thanks for letting me visit you.  My name is Katie O'Hare.  I'm 16.  I'm a
cigarette smoker and I have emphysema.  The nice looking guy behind me is
Kenny.  He's my boyfriend and he helps me get around.  You'll notice the tank
beside him.  That's my oxygen tank.  It's too bi g for me to carry around by
my self.  I'd never be able to get out of the car.  The walk across the field
almost killed me."

"I know you all are very smart and you've heard a lot of lectures from your
parents and teachers about how you should never start smoking.  You've heard
how bad it is.  You've seen commercials on TV telling you not to smoke.
You've seen and heard every thing.  But have you seen a girl my age who needs
an oxygen tank to breath?"

The kids looked at her, not saying a word, as they waited for her to
continue.  They all seemed horrified, except for one boy and a pigtailed
girl.  But Katie could see she commanded their attention.

"Lets see," continued Katie.  "When I was in 5th grade I was 10.  Are most of
you 10 or 11?"  All in the class responded with a nod.

"When I was your age I was already smoking two packs of cigarettes a day."

A gasp erupted from the class.

"Do any of you smoke," asked Katie?  No one said a word.  "Lets see a show of
hands.  An y one who ever smoked a cigarette, I'm just talking about trying
it.  You don't have to be a real smoker to answer, but raise your hand if
you've ever tried a cigarette."

Only two hands brushed the warm spring air- the boy sitting Indian style and
the pretty pigtailed girl. Katie pointed nicotine-stained finger toward the
girl and asked her name.

She said her name was Kaila and she had tried her mom's cigarettes.  When
asked if she had liked it, Kaila shrugged her shoulders.  When asked why she
tried it in the first place, Kaila said she thought it would make her look
pretty and grown up.  Katie nodded knowingly.

The boy, Tim, volunteered that he had smoked his sister's cigarettes and
asked if Katie knew her.  His sister's name was Jenny and Katie did know her.
They shared a trig class.

"Do your parents know she smokes," asked Katie.

Tim told her they did and they let her smoke because she couldn't quit.

"Any why can't your sister quit smoking?" asked Katie.

"Cause s he's addicted," said Tim with gushing pride.  Katie couldn't tell if
he was proud of knowing the answer or if he was proud his sister was
addicted.

"That's right.  And that's what I wanted to talk to all of you about today,"
said Katie as she reached into her purse and retrieved a gold pack of Benson
& Hedges.  

Another round of gasps filled the air as Katie tore the cellophane wrapper
from the pack.  Katie smiled at their apprehension and assured them she had
their principal's permission.  She handed the pack to her boyfriend who gave
it to the child nearest him.

"I want you to look at the pack and pass it around," said Katie.  Look at the
way the pack is decorated and be sure to read the warnings.

Tim felt his erection grow harder as Joey Ackerman handed him Katie's
cigarette pack.

"Read the warning on my pack Tim.  Tell the class what it says."

Tim read the warning as if he was reading poetry.  "Smoking Causes Lung
Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicat e Pregnancy".  And then
he grudgingly released the pack to Lori Sims.

"Very good," said Katie.  "Does that scare anybody here?"

No one said a word as the breeze rustled through the leaves in the Oak above
their heads.

"It didn't scare me either," said Katie.  "I smoked my first cigarette when I
was 8 years old.  And Believe it or not, I wasn't afraid of cancer or heart
disease.  I couldn't even spell emphysema so how could I be afraid of it?
The only thing I was scared of was that my parents might find out.  Does any
one know why I was afraid of my parents finding out?"

"Because they'd make you stop or you'd get in trouble," said Kaila as she
stroked the gold pack held securely between her fingers."

"That's right.  I was scared they'd find out and I'd get in trouble and
that's why I kept it a big secret.  I was so good at hiding it.  My parents
didn't have a clue until I'd been smoking for over three years.  And by then
what do you think had happened to me?"

A quiet l ooking boy wearing plaid raised his hand.  "Were you addicted?" he
asked.

"I was hopelessly addicted by then," said Katie as she took the gold pack
back from her boyfriend.  "But it didn't take three years for me to get
addicted.  I was addicted after the first couple cigarettes.  I can't believe
I kept smoking.  It was horrid.  I hated the way cigarettes tasted back then.
It was like putting charcoal in my mouth.  Kaila, why do you think I kept
smoking if I hated the way it tasted?"

"Because you liked the way it made you look?"

"Very good Kaila.  You're right.  I did like the way smoking made me look.
OK class I want you to raise your hands if you think girls look pretty when
they smoke."

Everyone, including Mr. Kerry raised his or her hands.

Katie picked up the lighter from her lap and asked Tim if he knew how to use
it.  Tim nodded and approached her when beckoned.  He moved slowly so as not
to expose the bulge between his legs.  He took the lighter from Katie and
stared dumbly at her as she placed a long white Benson & Hedges between her
lips.  She smiled seductively at him, as seductively as a 16-year-old woman
can be with a 10-year-old boy.  He asked her for a light.  The scent of smoke
that clung to her hair and clothes made his head swim.

His face flushed with heat as his thumb came down on the lighter's wheel
expertly igniting the butane fuel.  He felt his hand in hers as she guided
the flame to her cigarette cupping it with her free hand.  

The tobacco crackled under the heat of the flame and glowed red as a trail of
wispy smoke floated towards the Oak.  He watched as her cheeks drew tight and
her lips released the filter.  A thick creamy ball of smoke engulfed her
mouth and quickly disappeared to the back of her throat returning momentarily
in the form of the most beautiful funnel cloud he'd ever seen.  The feeling
between his thighs was warm and sticky as her exhale brushed past his face.

"Do I look pretty," she asked?

Ev ery young jaw dropped.  Their silence was a unanimous yes.

Mr. Kerry wiped the perspiration from his brow as he took refuge behind Sam-
a behemoth 10 year old.  He wasn't the first health teacher to fall victim to
Katie's performance. 

"That's what I thought too," said Katie as she took another puff, this time
out of need and not for the drama.  "I thought smoking made me look grownup.
I thought it made me look beautiful and sophisticated.

She covered her mouth and coughed.  Not once but three times.  The third
cough was productive and tar flavored phlegm ejected from her lungs on to her
palm.  She held it out for the class to see.

"Is this pretty and sophisticated," she asked as she presented the gruesome
substance for their consideration.  "Its called phlegm.  Its like the mucous
in your nose and it slides down my throat and gets caught in my lungs.  It's
the reason I feel like I'm drowning.  It's dark because of the tar that
clings to the sides of my lungs.  This is the reason I can't breath.  This is
my emphysema and it can be yours too if you make the same mistake I did.

The sound of her voice was unmistakably forced.  Her lips moved but the words
that escaped them were muffled.  She put the cigarette to her lips and took
another deep drag.

Tim hadn't moved since lighting the angel's cigarette.  The lighter remained
firmly entrenched in his sweaty palm.

"Do you want to hear what emphysema sounds like", asked Katie.  "Do you want
to hear my lungs struggle with the air around us?  Do you want to listen to
my lungs drowning in a sea of thick sticky tar?"

Kenny handed the stethoscope to Tim and knelt beside Katie.  While Tim
listened Kenny moved the scope across Katie's chest.  She continued to smoke
as Tim listened to the magnified wheezing and rattling that sang from her
lungs.

Each child took their turn listening to the sound of Katie's lungs doing
battle as she filled them with the smoke from one cigarette after the other.
After the last child had heard the tragedy in her chest, she put out her
cigarette and motioned for Kenny to turn the knob on the oxygen tank.  She
lifted the mask and breathed the pure gas until at last she felt strong
enough to continue.

With the oxygen off, Katie dropped the mask to the ground.  She picked up her
pack and lit another cigarette.  She shuttered from the first puff and
expelled another chunk of something disgusting.  This time it landed on the
ground in front of the children.

She offered her pack to the children in gesture, asking if anyone would join
her in having a cigarette.  No one took her up on her offer.

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