Stairs, Part 11

Stairs

Part 11 - Second Weekend

Saturday morning lie-ins were bliss for Suzy. She tried her best to keep
snoozing but eventually the call of her cigarettes, not to mention the
thoughts racing round her mind about mum's plans, was answered. Lying back
against the pillows, Suzy drew lusciously on her first two Player's before
going down for a big mug of tea with mum, accompanied by several lazily
smoked ciggies. Mum saw she needed a nudge: "About time you got going, young
lady. There'll be bacon, egg, and sausage by the time you're dressed, and
lots of practising to get under way."

Replete with a proper breakfast inside them, Pamela and Suzy lit their
cigarettes and inhaled deeply. "Now what we need to think about," mum
started, "is that during all the time you're at the model agency on Thursday
you may need to smoke perhaps twelve ciggies more or less in succession. So
today you should try and smoke ten Player's after each other, starting with
this one; tomorrow eleven after breakfast, then twelve on Monday morning.
Space out your puffs, but of course make sure each one is long and deep. Then
take a good long gap before lighting up again. Any problems with that?" 

"Sounds great to me, Mum," Suzy enthused as she lit another Player's. "And
I'll take glass of water so a dry mouth doesn't hold me back. That's a tip I
got from Gaynor." Clutching packet and lighter, she direct-inhaled most of
the way to the settee to catch up on some TV, and some serious smoking. 

Less than two hours later, Suzy successfully completed her quota of ten
Player's. Fresh air seemed a good idea so, pointedly leaving her cigarettes
on the table, she put on a coat and wandered up to the ridge. Though the
gradient was gentle, she felt a little out of breath when she sat down on the
bench at the top and vowed to jog harder on the treadmill next time. The walk
must have loosened her chest a little: on the walk back she was encouraged to
hear her smoker's cough had come on apace. Was it the ten Player's she had
just smoked in succession, or was it all those lovely strong Pall Malls?
Nonetheless, she drew long and hard on her Player's once home again.

Mum insisted she fit in an hour's mirror practice on both Saturday and Sunday
afternoons, paying particular attention to consistency - strength and length
of draw, depth of inhale, time of hold, finger positions, etc - so that she
would not need to think about it at interview. Suzy enjoyed these sessions
watching herself smoke. In her imagination, it was as if she were already a
grown woman whose smoking added much to her natural allure. In fact, by now
she could barely picture herself without a cigarette in her fingers, or
without sweet Virginia tobacco smoke issuing finely from lips and nose.

As she lay in bed on Sunday night, Suzy badly needed a third bedtime Player's
to relax her, such was her excitement about the week ahead. But she missed
her friends, and would be so glad to see them again as a fully fledged
smoking girl, win or lose, on Thursday. She went off to sleep happy.

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