Karleen's Surprise, Part 5

    Karleen's Surprise, Part 5

    Karleen cleared her throat and said, "So you want to know why I started
this glorious habit? Well, it was my senior year in high school and at the
time I probably could have been voted most likely to NEVER smoke a cigarette.
I had always hated the smell of cigarette smoke. I gave my mother such grief
about her smoking and then to top it off my three best friends all started
when theywere 15. Wherever we went they were always puffing on a cigarette.
They were pretty cool about it and never pressured me to try it so I can't
blame peer pressure on them. I remember driving around at nights with them all
smoking and me with my head out the window trying to breath." Here's your
order ladies.", the waitress said. Amy looked at the overflowing ashtray on
their table and asked the waitress for a clean one. The waitress looked at 6
butts in the ashtray and said, "I can't believe you had time to smoke 3
cigarettes each. You must be smoking up a storm." Karleen smiled and said, "We
have to make up for all the quitters in the world." The waitress laughed and
said, "Count me in, I'll quit when hell freezes over." Amy chimed in, "Looks
like we'll have to start a club, SMOKERS ONLY!" "Well if you do let me know,
all the waitresses here will join. All ten of us smoke and we get awfully
tired of running out back to enjoy a smoke. Well enjoy you meal ladies.", the
waitress cheerfully concluded.

    "Well back to the story", Karleen began. I liked a boy and Darla my friend
said that he smoked and there was no way I could put up with his smoking. All
my friends laughed and then Darla said that maybe this was the time to try a
cigarette. If I started now it would give me enough time to get used to it
before the party next week. Danny was going to be there and I could dazzle him
with my new habit. I thought about it and probably 10 minutes later I asked
Darla for a cigarette. Stacy who was driving about ran off the road when she
heard this. Darla pulled out a cigarette and handed it to me along with her
lighter. She asked me if I knew how to smoke and I said that of course I did,
I'd watched my mom smoke since I was little. I then proceded to make a fool of
myself by inhaling my first drag and coughing for 5 minutes. About the only
thing I could think of was how stupid smoking was. But over the course of the
night I managed to smoke 3 cigarettes, none of which I enjoyed. But I kept at
it and I probably wouldn't have started smoking regularly but I tried one of
Stacy's Salems. Both Darla and Kim smoked Marlboros and I really hated the
taste of those. But I really enjoyed the taste of the menthol. To make a long
story short, I impressed Danny and we dated for the rest of year. I also
started a habit which has lasted 30 years. But the strange thing is that I
don't regret it. Smoking brings me pleasure, something my life has been short
on recently."

    Amy was lighting up after lunch when Karleen finished her story. After her
first drag she coughed loudly. This was followed by an equally loud cough from
Karleen. "Whoops, we sound like an ad campaign for the American Cancer
Society", Amy laughed. "I don't care though, everything is going to kill you,
I would prefer to choose a method I enjoy. And nothing is more enjoyable than
a cigarette after a meal." "Amen to that", Karleen added. "You know Karleen",
Amy started, "We're both in similar situations. You can't smoke around your
clients for fear of alienating them, I can't smoke around my work place for
fear of looking unprofessional. Except that is before I perform surgery. I
always go down to the parking garage and have 2 cigarettes before operating. I
figure my patients would want me to! "I'm sure they appreciate that", Karleen
joked.

    It was just about time to get back to the job of finding Amy a new house.
Except Karleen suddenly felt a little dizzy. Funny she hadn't felt this way
since she started smoking. Then she realized she was still wearing the
nicotine patch. Quickly she rolled up her sleeve and removed the patch. Upon
seeing this Amy cracked up laughing. "You must have been desperate. I thought
only nurses did that!", Amy roared. Karleen was a little red in face said,
"Yes I was desperate, I thought I was going to be around a non-smoker all day.
And I didn't want to sneak one for fear you smell it on me and give me an all
day lecture or worse fire me." Amy was still laughing when she said, "I have
to confess, I do that too. When I have an operation that's going to last over
an hour I slap one of those on. To be honest after an hour my mind starts
wondering. All I can think about is having a cigarette." "Dr. Amy Allen, we
are two peas in a pod", Karleen said. "Let's go find you a house, and of
course we must smoke ourselves silly doing it."

    "Agreed", Dr. Amy said. "But we've got to stop by the 7-11 so I can buy
another pack of smokes." Karleen now got a devilish grin on her face and said,
"Don't bother, you can bum a pack of my Salem's. We need you to start smoking
something with a little more kick, get you off those wimpy low tar and
nicotine cigarettes." "I think you're right.", Amy said. "A person needs all
the nicotine they can get!"

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