Reflections, Part 4

REFLECTIONS-
PART FOUR

"Do you know that you're a really pretty little girl?" Elly said as she 
rubbed Janice's face with cleansing cream. She thought that the younger girl 
could stand to lose a little weight, but she was otherwise ravishingly 
beautiful, and she was certain that they could produce a work of art. She 
rubbed the cream into her face while Janice sat in front of the big mirror 
on the back of her dresser.

They were entirely camped-out in her room, and had brought the ashtray from 
her Mom's room in, and Elly's pack of cigarettes, and Tina's makeup case, 
and had started the music in her Mom's room, where the stereo was. Both 
girls swung their hips to the beat of the music that engulfed them with its 
primordial passion and softly beckoning rich, male vocal sounds. Tina 
studied her face, looking at the color of it, while holding up the little 
sample strips and comparing them and choosing a foundation color.

"There's no blemishes anywhere, Elly. I would die for skin this soft," Tina 
said while Elly paused and let Tina do the work of wiping off the cleansing 
cream.

"The cheeks will be a problem, though, we have to be careful with those and 
bring the blush down all the way to the bottom. It's because you have rich 
and full cheeks, Janice, and we need to feature them properly, and blend the 
color into the skintones above and below," Tina continued on, while Elly 
wiped her hands and lit up another cigarette and stood behind her while Tina 
wiped her face. She could see Elly clearly, as the tiny girl, holding her 
pack of cigarettes, poked out her chin and lifted her head up gracefully for 
the reward of a brilliant flame from the lighter, then she took the puff 
into herself, making the tip of the cigarette glow. She placed the pack and 
the lighter down on Janice's dresser, next to the ashtray they had brought 
from her Mom's bedroom. After a while, Janice would begin to look like Tina, 
or Elly, or even her Mom. She closed her eyes and felt the feeling of having 
Tina softly reward her face with wiping, felt the intense thrust of the 
chocolate overload which she had worked so hard to achieve, then opened her 
eyes to Elly's exhale within her room. Janice pursed her lips and blew 
outward into the mirror softly, imagining that Elly's exhale was hers. It 
was indescribable bliss.

"This is the foundation, Janice. I selected it special for you because it 
fills your pores all up, and it's the same basic shade as your face. I 
really wish I had your color and the soft texture of you skin," Tina 
explained as she worked on Janice's face, pausing from her duties with the 
brush to get another hit from Elly's cigarette. Tina had a way of soothing 
and relaxing her with a soft and warm, melodic voice and she felt the warm 
cream flowing into her pores, softly stroked with the brush upon her face. 
Janice looked upward at the ceiling and imagined her face floating, a thing 
of beauty within Tina's exhale cast upward in the artistic delight.

Janice looked at herself in the mirror. Her face became transformed 
gradually into her mother's face as Tina took a big drag on the cigarette, 
burning it down and filling her chest with the warm delights of the smoke, 
then easing it gently out of her chest in repeated small breaths. She stared 
at the smoke in a contemplative way. Janice didn't know whether she was next 
going to take a puff on the cigarette or apply the brush to her face, 
because she held then both readied. She hoped that Tina didn't get mixed up 
in the midst of all this music that was filling the room. The girls had 
brought over quite a collection of tapes, and they had turned it up quite 
loud in her Mom's room.

The other colors went on, in a way that only Tina could have seen. The rich, 
warm and darker tones gradually forming a bridge and making a beautiful 
cascade of color up onto her chubby, but not nonexistent cheekbones. What 
gradually emerged was the face of Andrea, and this was the look that Tina 
was going for. She dangled and she puffed on the cigarette as she softly 
brushed Janice's beautiful face, filling the younger girl with visions and 
revelations of her future life, full of smoke and of pleasure. Janice closed 
her eyes and smiled with the sensations.

She applied the eye shadow, and gently wafted on the mascara while swinging 
her hips to the music. This one was called: "Betty Davis Eyes," and Tina 
thought it was quite appropriate. She took a deep drag on the cigarette, 
inhaled and stubbed it out in the ashtray, then she looked at the face that 
she had created.

Elly, in the meantime, had lit another cigarette and was rocking to the 
music, too. She was slowly moving throughout the room while swinging her 
hips gently back and forth:

And she'll tease you
She'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious
And she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
She got Greta Garbo Stand off sighs,
she's got Bette Davis eyes.

"Tina!" Elly screamed, puffing out an enormous burst of cigarette smoke.

"What?" Tina looked over at her.

"We can't have Janice looking like that! My god! She looks like..." Elly 
seemed started at the results.

"She looks like her Mom, and I think her Mom is a very beautiful woman, 
don't you, Janice?" Tina said. Janice opened her eyes and saw her Mother's 
face in the mirror, and felt at once very wicked and very exhilarated. Then 
the words of the song punctuated her thoughts:

She'll let you take her home
It whets her appetite
She'll lay you on her throne
She got Bette Davis eyes
She'll take a tumble on you
Roll you like you were dice
Until you come out blue
She's got Bette Davis eyes

"Well, she does look quite appealing. And a lot older, too. I guess you're 
right. It's her mother's face. Why can't you do me like that?" Elly took a 
very pronounced drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke out questioningly.

"Well, your eyes are tantalizing, but you have to admit that they don't 
exactly work the magic that Janice's eyes do. You're one in a million, 
Janice!" Tina then bent down and kissed the little girl, and Janice giggled 
and gave her a kiss back.

"Well, my eyes are more subdued, so you need to bring them out. Of course, 
with Janice, that is easy to do," Elly explained, drawing on her cigarette 
for comfort as Tina set to work on the lipstick. It made Janice feel very 
delighted in her eyes, and she wondered if they were "Betty Davis Eyes."

"Now first you get a light coating, all around. Relax your lips, now and 
I'll rub it into all the little teeny places where it needs to go. Now put 
out your lower lip like this," Tina demonstrated while Elly drew on the 
cigarette. Janice's room was getting quite a smoke-haze in it by this time, 
but Janice thought of that as a good thing.

She plumped out her lower lip, and Janice did the same, then she brought the 
top lip over it and finished the act up with a big smacking sound. Tina 
giggled, and then wiped Janice's lips of excess lipstick.

"Janice, you look really sexy now," Elly smiled at her, as Tina crafted the 
lipliner into place, a dark counterpart to the color she had already 
applied. Tine smiled at her beautiful creation, and stood back, admiring it. 
She drew a cigarette from the pack on the table, and picked up the lighter 
to light it. The flame illuminated her face with a certain splendor, 
befitting any artist, and as she sucked on the cigarette and turned off the 
lighter, Janice could feel the warm glow of creation within her. Janice 
turned her eyes to Elly, who was admiring Tina's masterpiece. Elly smiled at 
Janice as she raised her own cigarette into her lips, and drew on her reward 
with happiness. Janice stared back at Tina, completing her drag, and huffing 
the cloud of smoke into her mouth with somewhat of a recoil at the strength 
of her inhale. Then she smiled at Janice, while letting the pure cloud of 
majesty out of her lungs in a resplendent sheet. Elly finished up her drag 
on her cigarette, and almost simultaneous delivered her exhale of smoke 
beneath those dark, passionate eyes. The room was very hazy with smoke now, 
but Janice loved it, as she loved and admired her new and much more 
passionate lips. She thought that Elly and Tina should always be her baby 
sitters.

"I'm going to wear lipstick all the time, from now on! And mascara and eye 
shadow, too!" Janice declared, in exuberance. She was high with the 
chocolate belly, but most of all, from all this cigarette smoke around her. 
She had such dreams of grandeur.

The phone rang in the her Mom's room, and Tina quickly put out her 
cigarette, and then ran to get it. She hadn't yet acquired the correct 
smoking style of carrying it around naturally, so there it lay in the ash 
tray, long and somewhat smoldering. Elly just gazed off as she went away, 
and brought another reward into her body as she drew inward on the cigarette 
once more, waiting to see who was on the phone. She had a feeling it was 
someone special, but dared not develop too many hopes. She knew Sam was 
supposed to call tonight, and she had left a message on his answering 
machine with this number. Janice picked up a tube of lip gloss and began to 
extend it from the barrel and gently applied it to her lips once more.

"Your definitely are you mother's daughter," Elly said while exhaling smoke. 
She smiled at Janice while helping her to apply the lip gloss.

"It seals and locks the color in, and makes your lips look all slippery wet. 
Most of all, it makes your lips especially kiss-able," Elly grinned.

"Elly! It's Sam, and he's hitting on me!" Tina giggled, bubbling with 
excitement, and calling out from her Mom's room.

"Now just wait here, Janice, I won't be long," Elly said, then took her 
cigarette with her and calmly puffed on it while she smoothed her hair and 
sashayed slowly into her Mom's room. Janice figured that she was taking her 
time the way a queen would, knowing that she was "the" girlfriend, and no 
one could ever change that. Janice was very perceptive about things that 
way.

"Oh... Sam!" Tina said loudly as Elly approached, the other girl stopping to 
brush some ashes from her jeans. Elly was totally nonplused.

Janice looked at her face in the mirror, and couldn't believe that this was 
really her face that she was seeing. She smiled, and the face smiled back. 
She frowned, and the face frowned too. Finally, she made a funny face, 
grinning stupidly and flaring up her eyes wildly, and the face just said:

"Now that just looks silly! It just goes to show how childlike you are," She 
made a disgusted face.

"I'm sorry, I was just playing," Janice apologized.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I look very beautiful," the face said, 
turning to examine each cheek in turn.

"I do look very pretty. The way Mommy looks when she goes out," Janice 
admitted, puckering those brilliant lips and making kissing noises.

"Mommy always has something with her, and you have to admit that this sorta 
finishes the picture," the reflection said, picking up the smoldering 
cigarette, straightening it out and then holding it up proudly.

"Now put that down! You shouldn't touch that, because you might get a burn," 
Janice scolded, reminded of her training from when she was very young.

"Oh, stop it! I'm just holding it in my fingers; that's all, and a little 
tiny bit of smoke is coming out. I think it looks very nice next to my face. 
And I'm not a baby! I can hold a cigarette properly," she demonstrated by 
putting it in her fingers precisely the way her Mom usually held her 
cigarette, with her arm propped up on the table and the cigarette at about 
eye level. It was held up with two fingers of her left hand, and the tip was 
the highest point. She held the other fingers down with her thumb, and 
Janice had to admit that she liked the picture. She rewarded herself with a 
smile, and she could see the beauty in her glossy lips beneath those 
majestic eyes.

She glanced into the hallway, but the two other girls were still in her 
Mom's room, and Tina's voice came through, giggling and apparently trying to 
drive Elly crazy with her comments.

"Oh, Sam, you know how I love to hear you talk that way," she then followed 
her statement by giggling loudly, and Janice could imagine Elly calmly 
sitting on her Mom's bed, taking a drag on the cigarette. She turned back to 
stare at her reflection as it brought the cigarette over to those beautiful, 
wet lips, and took a puff.

Her heart was pounding from excitement and with the fear of being 
discovered, and she was silent at the act of this other person in the mirror 
who was so bold, but she had to admit, again, that it looked very natural. 
How often she had seen her Mom in this similar pose. She puckered her lips 
and blew out a teenie, tiny puff of smoke.

Still the older girls were in the other room. So she smiled and took another 
wicked, longer puff. This time she inhaled the smoke. This time the tip 
began to come to life. It was still a fairly weak puff, by many standards, 
but not to Janice. She made a funny face and shuddered at the smoke as it 
went down her throat and a wisp of burning tobacco got into her nose. Then 
she tried to look all grown-up, a pose befitting someone who was made up so 
elegantly, and held her cigarette up in her fingers and blew out a slightly 
bigger stream.

"That's perfect!" Her image declared, smiling at her as she held the 
cigarette up proudly and delicately. Then she inspected the tip, and seeing 
one side of it burning down and not the other, she decided that there was 
only one way to deal with this. Her mother had been in a similar position 
before, and a big and powerful drag generally cleared that problem away. She 
felt a little strange, because the nicotine was beginning to take effect.

With a furtive glance to check on the other girls to make sure they were in 
her Mom's bedroom, she then decided to go for it. Then she sucked on the 
cigarette watching the tip glow and sparkle and catch on fire, and she felt 
so incredibly naughty. Her heart was beating rapidly in anticipation, and 
she couldn't believe how wonderful this was. Seeing her face so beautiful, 
sitting just inches away from her, smoking a cigarette. She was absorbed 
with the image, and she felt that she had to complete it.

So she inhaled that powerful puff.

And immediately started coughing. It was involuntary on her part, because 
she had not been entirely prepared for tremendous the stinging sensation in 
her throat. She hacked and coughed and smoke was everywhere in front of her.

"Janice! My goodness! Are you all right? No! Don't smoke that, honey!" Tina 
appeared in the doorway, apparently off the phone now. She had heard the 
coughing and wondered what might be wrong, so she had come running.

"She OK, Tina?" Elly called out from her Mom's room as Tina rubbed Janice's 
back and smiled at her.

"Everything's fine, Elly," she took the cigarette out of Janice's fingers, 
and did a poor job of pretending to be mad at Janice.

"That's a very bad girl, you know you're not supposed to smoke! You're going 
to get us into big trouble, you know, if your Mom finds out," somehow Tina's 
scowl was not very effective against that beautiful face, and it broke out 
into a smile, and then she lightly kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry. I won't do it again," Janice was sincere. She looked to be on 
the verge of tears, and that was one thing that Tina couldn't stand.

"It's quite all right, Janice. When I was your age, I tried smoking, too, 
and the results were really a disaster! I got sick to my stomach and 
everything. I thought I was going to die!" Tina laughed, then noticing the 
burning tip of the cigarette was about to leave an ash, so she quickly 
brought it to the tray and trimmed it.

"It felt awful," Janice said, making an ugly face. Tina looked at her 
grown-up face, than heard Elly talking with Sam in the other room, and had a 
thought.

"Janice, you have to promise me that you won't try smoking again for at 
least another few years or so, OK?" She said with firmness.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. It was an awful taste!" Janice made 
that ugly face again.

"Well, that's because I think you started with too big of a puff. Here, 
watch me," she took a small breath from the cigarette, inhaled it, and 
immediately blew the puff away. Then she smiled at Janice.

"There. Now if you still want to try it, you can, but only with me here," 
Tina held her hand out in the same way that her Mom had offered the 
cigarette to Elly today. Janice looked at her face in the mirror and it 
seemed to approve, so she plucked it out and put it in her fingers. Then she 
saw her image in the mirror grinning at her, and watched the glossy red lips 
encircle the filter. She took a little drag on the cigarette, then quickly 
inhaled, feeling the sting as it passed her throat and immediately blew the 
puff out of her body in a long stream. She was smoking, and it looked OK.

"Nothing to your Mom, now, and I never did this, OK? As a matter of fact, 
you shouldn't even mention this to Elly, because she wouldn't understand, 
really. I'm glad she is tied up with her prince charming at the moment," 
Tina continued on, giggling while Janice smiled and took another little puff 
and blew out the smoke again. The two girls looked at each other through the 
mirror, and it was that other Janice who was doing this now. That was the 
one who had stolen the candy bars, and the one who had said that bad word 
downstairs. This was the good Janice, or rather, that was, she wasn't really 
sure who was who, but she knew that she liked looking at those red lips of 
hers and seeing those naughty eyes, and she liked watching her smoke, too. 
She took another small puff, but inhaled it deeply this time, and then blew 
it out stylishly.

"OK, Janice, I think that's enough now," Tina made like a scissors with her 
hand, and Janice gave the cigarette back to her. Tina tapped it in the 
ashtray, put it in her lips and took a seriously satisfying drag on it, then 
filled up her lungs to capacity as she pulled out the elastic holding 
Janice's ponytail. She put out the cigarette, blowing smoke softly into the 
room, then picked up the hairbrush and started brushing Janice's hair.

"You're such a pretty little girl," Tina said, making soft brushstrokes with 
her arm.

"Yes, and Mommy says I am a good girl, too," Janice said, feeling a wave of 
delightful dizziness sweep over her. She felt like she was in a dream, and 
the words of the song came into her head:

And she'll tease you
She'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious
And she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
All the boys Think she's a spy,
she's got Bette Davis eyes

***

Janice parked the car, and took a few minutes to release her hair from the 
confines of the elastic band, which forced it into the ponytail. Holding her 
cigarette in her lips, she brushed her hair out into long smooth flowing 
locks, then sucked on the cigarette and filled her lungs with the wonderful 
treasure as she opened up a tube of lipstick. Exhaling slowly through her 
nose, she plumped out her lower lip to receive the touch-up dose, them 
smacked her lips together and smiled as her lungs were emptied of smoke. A 
touch of perfume, and she was good to go. Then she emerged from the car, 
wiping ashes from her new suit. She held her cigarette up in triumphant 
delight, because she had finished the long drive. She sincerely hoped that 
this trip was worth it, and rehearsed the whole scenario with Johnson as she 
locked the car, put her bag on her shoulder, got her briefcase and tucked it 
under her arm, and adjusted her glasses before she trotted through the 
parking garage. She waved at a guy in a good-looking flashy car as he let 
her pass by, and he smiled at her. She smiled back, as she waltzed by, 
carrying her briefcase.

This was the executive scene. With the prices over $50 to park for up to 24 
hours, only the very rich could afford to park here, and that was fine as 
far as Janice was concerned. She was far from being poor, thanks to her list 
of regular and very rich clients. She didn't want to have to park in some 
outdoor lot where her car was a target for thieves. This one had a security 
guard who prowled around all night; she only hoped that he was somewhat 
conscientious. She entered the elevator and noticed the wood paneling and 
plush carpeting, took a last deep drag on her cigarette and tossed it out of 
the elevator as the doors slid closed. Filling the interior air with 
Marlboro smoke from her exhale, she took a small bottle of breath spray from 
her purse and gave herself a couple of good squirts in her mouth.

***

The sound of keys being inserted into the lock woke Janice up from her 
sleep, but she felt too tired to get up. She much preferred the dreamlike 
state she was in, while listening to the occasional noise of jangling keys. 
A few thumps, some more jingling of the keys, and the door opened. Janice 
might have realized this, but she drifted back off to sleep. Andrea crossed 
the threshold a bit unsteadily, muttering and giggling softly to herself. 
She held a cigarette in her lips, and once she had closed the door, she 
pulled on it and set it glowing as if she hadn't had a cigarette in a month. 
She took it out of her mouth and leaned back against the door as she closed 
her eyes and inhaled, somewhat loudly.

"Shhh.. shh.. shhh..," she put a finger to her lips as she started to laugh 
quietly through a smoky exhale as she set her handbag down, then made her 
way, stifling a cough with difficulty, through the darkened living room.

What a night! This guy just didn't give up, and she was quite sore from the 
experience, but also very happy, because she had made an appreciable amount 
of money tonight. Tomorrow, she'd have to take Janice out for ice cream. 
Whoa! She didn't realize that the coffee table was here already, and bent 
over to hold it and to steady herself. The TV was still on, and the light 
was vaguely sufficient to see all three girls, Elly and Tina on the floor 
and Janice on the couch. Andrea quietly took the final puff of the 
cigarette, filled her lungs with smoke, and crushed the cigarette out in the 
half-filled ashtray on the table. Remembering to exhale quietly, she 
breathed out shallow, soft breaths of smoke as she looked at her baby, 
curled up on the couch.

"My goodness!" She whispered to herself. Janice was wearing makeup! It was 
complete with passionate shades of eye color, rich cheeky blush, mascara and 
a very passionate shade of lipstick. Andrea was started at first when she 
saw that ordinarily sweet, angelic face transformed into something that made 
her feel as if she were staring into a mirror. But then she felt tears in 
her eyes, and she remembered the young girl's protest earlier that day.

"No Janice, you're not a baby at all! You're a beautiful young woman," she 
bent over and kissed her softly, then felt a little bit woozy from changing 
her position too rapidly. She stared at Janice while she recovered from the 
ordeal and saw her face gradually moving closer and further away, sleeping 
on the couch, and looking exquisitely gorgeous. She made a mental note to 
give Elly and Tina a big tip in the morning, since she could certainly 
afford to do so now.

Andrea slowly lifted herself to her feet, staying for a while to regain her 
balance and absently staring at the ashtray, forcing herself to focus on 
something long enough until it stopped moving. She managed to find her way 
to the bedroom, not without stopping to retrieve her cigarettes from her 
purse, the image of Janice and the ashtray still alternating in her mind.

Once she had lit up a cigarette, and breathed some of that life into her, 
she was able to get undressed, leaving her clothes in a pile on the floor. 
She figured that she'd forgo washing her face tonight, she'd just have to 
deal with it, as well as the makeup that came off on the sheets tomorrow. 
Yes, we could deal with it all tomorrow, she thought as she fell onto the 
bed and slipped the covers over herself, taking the last set of big and 
heavy drags from the final cigarette of the night and putting out the 
cigarette in her ashtray on the night table. She exhaled very slowly and 
shallowly, keeping her lungs full of smoke until long after she had turned 
out the light and sunk quickly into a state of dreams.

She was sitting at her makeup table, removing her makeup, then reached out 
to the ashtray for her cigarette and put it into her lips and sent that 
powerful reward to her lungs. She turned back to the mirror to resume 
cleaning her face, and an older version of Janice was sitting there.

She gazed from her dream at her daughter, who was dressed in a gorgeous red 
business suit. She wore the same makeup that she had seen her in on the 
couch, and she saw diamonds glittering from her earlobes. She looked 
ravishingly beautiful as she brought a long white cigarette to her lips and 
leaned forward to accept a light from a gentleman. It was a curious lighter.

He emerged from the fog, and Andrea saw a slightly graying and distinguished 
looking man smiling at her as he held the flame up to her long cigarette and 
brought it to life. She drew on it elegantly, and inhaled proudly as she sat 
back in a large armchair, thanked him, and began speaking in low tones, 
pausing in the midst of her conversation to toss her beautiful, blonde hair 
out of her face and blow out a smooth cone of thick smoke. She dangled a 
shoe from her toes, and Andrea noted her smooth legs, covered in black 
stockings.

He must be her future husband, Andrea thought within her dream, seeing the 
way he looked at her with complete adoration. She was pleased to think of 
Janice in this image, but then she looked down at herself within the dream 
and saw herself on the operating table. It was her breast enhancement 
surgery, she knew, having dreamed this part before. Then that was gone as 
she wiped away some more of her makeup at her makeup table. She exhaled a 
thick, dense cloud of smoke from her lungs, which obscured the image of 
Janice, then she downed another glass of vodka and felt that familiar sting 
in her throat. Andrea reached out to clear the smoke away, waving it with 
her hand, and coughing and, as the smoke gradually dispersed, the image she 
saw was of that smart-ass doctor, holding a scalpel and saying: "How big?" 
with an evil grin on his face.

Then she saw her, and ran naked from the operating table to reach her as 
Janice climbed into a big limousine with her cigarette held up proudly and 
her diamonds displayed with grandeur. The image of pleasure on her face was 
unmistakable, because it was still the face of her wonderful baby girl. She 
turned to the surgeon and said: "Big as you can make them!" Then she blew 
another enormous cloud of smoke in his face.

***

Janice reached floor nine of the building, where the executive suite was 
located. She looked at the guard, and all the locked doors, then announced 
herself in a very businesslike, professional tone.

"Janice Connor, here to see Mr. Johnson."

"Yes, Mr. Johnson told me to expect you. You can go right in," the guard 
looked at her outstanding figure and professional attire, and smiled as he 
buzzed the door open. After she had gone in, he sighed and waited for his 
heart to stop racing. Then he shook his head and mumbled:

"What I would give to be able to afford her!"

Once inside the secretary's office, she assessed the layout, which she found 
very impressive. No one was around, considering that his secretary had gone 
home at five o'clock that evening, and, judging from the hands of the 
antique clock, it was now six. Good. She was right on time.

She prepped herself by opening a small makeup mirror, smoothed her flowing 
hair, and then found the button for buzzing Johnson and pressed it.

"Mr. Johnson? This is Janice, from the agency."

"Good! Come in."

"How do you do, Mr. Johnson?" She presented her hand and smiled formally, 
keeping her bag and briefcase neatly in her left arm.

He took it and, although she was expecting a gruff handshake, judging from 
the articles she had read about him, he held it gracefully and walked around 
to the front of his desk, smiling genuinely at her. He was captivated with 
that face, although his eyes did stray to catch the rest of her appearance, 
and Janice could tell, in an instant, that he was quite pleased with what he 
saw.

"Please sit down , Janice, and be comfortable. And you can call me Bob. Most 
of my associates call me Bob." He rested back against the big, oak desk. He 
was built rather solidly, and she spied a trim waistline beneath his suit 
jacket. His broad shoulders, graying hair and rugged look gave him the 
appearance of Richard Gere, but she knew from the bio that this smiling face 
hid a cunning and calculating mind, so she was wary.

"Certainly, Bob, now shall we discuss a few business matters?" She said it 
through a warm smile of her own as she lowered herself into the plush 
leather upholstered chair which was large enough to sleep in, and certainly 
comfortable enough. She opened up her briefcase, and withdrew the document.

"I love to discuss business arrangements, and I like a person who is very 
up-front with the charges. Can I offer you a cigar or a cigarette? I always 
smoke a cigar in here after hours," she caught the hint of a blush, and a 
boyish grin on his face.

"Oh, thank you, I'd love a cigarette," she said, her expression brightening 
up somewhat.

"I have these French ones, Gitanes they are called. My secretary swears by 
them, and I make sure to get her a fresh pack every day," he said while 
opening up a box and offering her one, and then using a complex-looking 
lighter to light it for her.

"This lighter was made in Austria, and I acquired it on one of my trips 
there. It was made by a little old watchmaker in the Austrian Alps, and it 
makes quite an interesting collector's item," he showed it to her while she 
drew in the rich, elegant smoke. As she exhaled a thin cone of smoke from 
her lips, she felt quite comfortable indeed, and examined the intricate 
carvings on the piece.

"It's very elegant. You have some fine things in this office," she smiled, 
her examination complete, then handed the lighter back to him, as his eyes 
met hers.

"Yes, I like many of the finer things in life," he stared into her eyes.

"I like them very much, too," Janice blushed visibly and deliberately, 
bringing a warm red color to her cheeks. Then she handed the paper to him, 
sitting back and crossing her legs while dangling her shoe from her toe. She 
took a nice pull on the cigarette, drawing her cheeks inward. Then she 
withdrew the long, white object from her lips as she enjoyed the elegance of 
bringing the rich, sensual nicotine into her body. She raised her head and 
elegantly blew a long trail of smoke into the office ceiling while Johnson 
read the paper.

"My... my... my..." he slowly shook his head while looking at the figure on 
the paper, and then up at Janice, who was staring at him with a daring, 
almost grinning look, then he returned his gaze to the paper once again.

He said nothing, but he placed the paper on the blotter on his desk. Then he 
proceeded back around to the other side, withdrawing a long, elegant looking 
Prince Edward style cigar from a humidor on his desk. He retained his 
silence as he trimmed off the end with a classy style cigar cutter, then 
picked up the piece of ornamental, Austrian artistry, and puffed up the 
cigar. Janice watched him carefully the whole time, drawing on her French 
Gitane and never moving from her comfortable posture, dangling her shoe from 
her toes while filling her lungs with the very elegant smoke.

He placed the cigar in his mouth, holding it there with his teeth, and 
glancing again at the paper on his desk. Then he removed his jacket and 
loosened his tie and went to the window to look out at the city, just 
staring and smoking. After a time, he spoke:

"You proposal seems well-worded and eloquently prepared. But the price is 
more than double what I have paid other agencies. On the other hand, you 
certainly have the promise of offering me a lot more than I can get from 
those other places. The word on the street is that you are the best that 
money can buy," he said, and it was true of course.

"Yes, Bob. But there's more to reveal than simple figures on a page," she 
said coyly, now standing up and taking off her glasses and moving over 
behind him at the window over the city. She took a powerful drag on the 
cigarette and inhaled, filling up that frilly white blouse beneath the red 
business suit, then exhaled a most beautiful stream of smoke, illuminated by 
the rays of the setting sun.

"There's just you and me, and everything your heart desires, Bob," She 
smiled at him as she gently turned him around to face her, and she kissed 
him softly, then she grinned as they touched noses.

Downstairs once again, they were ushered into his limousine, and Janice held 
her cigarette up proudly, showing off her diamond earrings. She thought 
briefly about her Mom, and how proud she'd be of her at this moment, getting 
all the rewards that life could give. She closed the widow and gazed at her 
reflection in the tinted glass. She winked knowingly. Her Mom had given her 
that beautiful face as stunning and full of rapture as her own. So she drew 
inward on the French Gitane and filled up her lungs with the feeling that 
this was going to be a pleasant reward, indeed.

THE END

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