Sisters, Part 9

"Sisters"
by Dromedary Joe

Part Nine

The girls both woke up around nine the next morning and hadn't been up for
five minutes before Brenda asked her sister for a Black and Mild.

Ashley barely answered in the affirmative before her sister had the last one
in the pack out and had it lit. Ashley never smoked a Black and Mild this
early in the morning, but of course she wasn't addicted.

It didn't take Ashley long to figure out her sister Brenda was addicted to
smoking. The way her sister smoked the Black and Mild was the same way their
parents smoked their first cigarette of the day.

Ashley grabbed the Black and Mild out of her sister's fingers. "So, are you a
smoker? I had my suspicions yesterday, but after watching you smoke that
without stopping, I know you smoke for sure," Ashley told her sister.

"No, yesterday was the first time I've ever tried one of those," said Brenda
pointing to the Black and Mild.

Ashley took a drag off the Black and Mild, making sure she inhaled. "Okay, so
you smoked your first Black and Mild yesterday, but there's no way you could
be a new smoker. The way you've been smoking should have made you sick."

Brenda realized there was no point arguing. 

"Okay," said Brenda, "I smoke cigarettes."

Ashley took another drag off her Black and Mild and thought about it for a
moment before she laughed. "You know, you're the sister I would have least
expected to start smoking. I mean, I'd suspect Cindy or Danni before I would
ever expect you to be a smoker. That explains why the house smells smoky
sometimes even when Mom and Dad haven't been home for a while."

Brenda wondered if her older sister suspected that Cindy might be a smoker as
well, and decided to help protect her sister. Of course, Brenda didn't know
about Danni yet.

"Yeah, that was probably me," said Brenda, "You're not going to tell Mom and
Dad, are you?"

"Of course not," said Ashley. Ashley, of course, had planned on doing some
bad things this trip and having leverage against her sister would buy her
silence...

"Cool," said Brenda, reaching for her sister's Black and Mild.

The girls got ready for the beach and headed down to the lobby.

"Hey," said  Ashley, "What brand do you smoke?"

"Newport 100's box," replied Brenda. 

Ashley went into the lobby store and bought herself a pack of Black and
Mild's and a pack of Newport 100's for her sister.

"Wow, never expected you to smoke those," said Ashley, handing the pack of
Newport 100's to her sister. Ashley knew enough about smoking to know that
Newport's had a reputation for being a strong brand. She had never expected
her sister to smoke those.

The girls lay on the beach for a few hours with Brenda smoking a few
Newport's. Ashley lit up a Black and Mild and shared it with Brenda. After
Brenda lit up her third Newport, Ashley looked at the pack of Newport's for a
moment. Surely one cigarette couldn't hurt, she thought to herself.

"Hey," said Ashley, surprised that she was asking, "You think I could try
one?" She picked up the pack of cigarettes.

"Sure," said Brenda, surprised her sister was asking.

Ashley dangled the Newport for a moment as she told her sister, "This will be
my first *and* last cigarette."

"Okay," said Brenda, curious about how her sister would like it.

Ashley lit up the Newport, at first smoking it like she did her Black and
Mild's - taking puffs without inhaling. After a few minutes, she decided that
if she was going to smoke a cigarette she should smoke it like a cigarette
smoker did, by inhaling every puff. By the end of the cigarette, she had a
pleasant nicotine buzz but she didn't like the taste.

"How did you like it?" asked Brenda, curious. 

"It was the nastiest thing I've ever done," said Ashley as residual smoke
came out of her mouth. She quickly stubbed the cigarette into the sand.

A couple of hours later, Ashley smoked another cigarette. 

"That wasn't as bad as the first one," said Ashley.

As the day wore on, Ashley smoked a few more and "not bad" became "pretty
good." By the end of the day, Ashley knew during her next trip to the store
she would buy two packs of Newport's, one for sister and one for herself.

"So you're going to start smoking cigarettes?" asked Brenda.

"No," said Ashley, "but it would be cool to smoke for just this week."

The girls sat up for half the night smoking cigarettes and talking about
life.

As Brenda lay in bed that night, she realized for the first time in a long
time her sister had treated her as an equal that day.

Previous part | Next part