Mrs. Wong's Finishing School, Part 8

MRS. WONG'S FINISHING SCHOOL
by uciboy

BEGIN PART VIII

Lilly spent the rest of the afternoon continuing with her studies.  It was an
exhaustive program, discussing literature, cultural heritage, and art, among
the many subjects she was studying.  Mrs. Wong was amazingly talented in the
skills that she could convey, from a variety of spoken languages (she was
helping Lilly to master Chinese) to maneuvering through a kitchen like a pro.
She was looking forward to the field trips the two would take - art
galleries, music halls, public and private gardens.  Lilly, of course, had
been exposed to all of these things throughout her life, but she was so busy
rejecting what her mother had to offer that she never appreciated them like
she did now.  Mrs. Wong was an amazing teacher.  And it was all fun!  She
even enjoyed the beauty care lesson in which she and Mrs. Wong played for an
hour with makeup.  

By midnight, Lilly could barely keep her eyes open as she lay in bed, working
on another novel.  Like the night before, Mrs. Wong walked in with a freshly
lit cigarette and sat on the bed next to Lilly.

"How are you, my dear?"

Lilly took off her glasses and replied, "You know how to tire a person out.
What a day!"

Lilly looked up at Mrs. Wong's face, her eyes smiling back at her.  She felt
so comfortable with this woman.  Then something odd happened.  Without
thinking, Lilly reached over for the cigarette in Mrs. Wong's hand and
brought it up to her lips for a puff.  She closed her eyes as she breathed
the smoke in deeply, exhaling it through her nostrils and blowing out the
remaining vapors from between her lips.  When she opened her eyes, she saw
Mrs. Wong's face looking down at her with a wide smile.  She smiled back,
unsure of what had just occurred - and then realized that she was holding the
cigarette between her fingers.

"Oh my God," she said with much embarrassment as she handed the Virginia Slim
back to Mrs. Wong, "I don't know why I just did that."  Humiliated, Lilly
sank under the quilt and covered her head like a little child. 

"It's okay, my dear," Mrs. Wong replied softly.  "You mentioned last night
that my sitting here with you evokes memories of when your mother would tuck
you into bed as a child.  No doubt you're just expressing now at 17 the urges
you had to smoke as a little girl.  I understand."

Lilly peaked from under the covers and said with a guilty grin, "May I have
another puff?"


"Of course, child," Mrs. Wong said and tapped some ash from the cigarette
into the ashtray.

Lilly pulled back the covers and sat up.  She gently received the cigarette
Mrs. Wong handed her and brought it up to her lips for an extended puff.
Gracefully removing it with her fingers, Lilly opened her mouth, revealing a
thick ball of smoke which she inhaled with a snap.  She loved the tingling
sensation in her body that the nicotine provided and to prolong that
sensation she exhaled slowly over the covers.  She smiled with pride.  "That
felt good," she confessed to Mrs. Wong, a vapor of smoke still emanating from
her mouth as she handed back the Virginia Slim.

"Would you like another puff dear?" her teacher asked.

"No, I better not," Lilly said with some hesitation.

Mrs. Wong could see the psychological addiction growing stronger in Lilly.
Perhaps this would be the last session they needed tonight.

"Tomorrow is another busy day for you.  We'll be taking a field trip to the
Norton Simon Museum so you should get some sleep.  You look very tired."

"Yeah," Lilly replied with a yawn.  "I think I could fall asleep right now."

Mrs. Wong put her hand on the girl's face.  "Rest now," she said, and Lilly
fell into a trance.

Mrs. Wong thought for a moment as she crushed her cigarette in the ashtray
and reached for one of Lilly's Virginia Slims sitting on the nightstand.
"Lilly," she said before pausing to light the 120, "did you enjoy our beauty
care lesson today?"

A smile formed on the girl's face.  "Yes," she replied slowly.

"So did I," responded Mrs. Wong after exhaling a cone of smoke above the
girl's head.  "You're sitting at the mirror right now Lilly, the amazing
assortment of makeup items in front of you.  Do you see them?"

"Yes."

"You notice that there is an opened silver cigarette case near your hand.  I
want you to pull out a cigarette and light it.  Look at yourself in the
mirror.  You look so beautiful holding a cigarette.  Take a deep puff and
watch the smoke float out of your mouth.  Doesn't that look good?"

"Yes, very sexy."


Mrs. Wong grinned, learning something new about Lilly's attraction to
smoking.  "Yes, my dear, smoking is very sexy.  Men love to watch a woman
smoke.  They love the confidence that it conveys, the sophistication and
elegance.  You are that kind of woman, Lilly.  You are a confident smoker."

Mrs. Wong watched Lilly purse her lips and exhale a gust of air.

"Good girl, Lilly.  I want you to put your makeup on now, admiring how good
you look smoking.  Every woman should smoke when she puts on make-up so that
she can watch herself in the mirror holding a cigarette.  This is what you
will dream about tonight, my dear.  When I count to three, you will fall into
a deep sleep with these thoughts in your mind.  One...two...three."

****************************************************************

Lilly walked down the hallway and opened the door into the kitchen.  There
she saw Auntie Elizabeth and Auntie Georgia sitting at the table, smoking and
talking with Jeffrey the butler.

"Aunties, what are you doing here?" she asked quizzically.

"You're from a good background, Lilly," Elizabeth replied while Georgia
slowly blew a cone of smoke up towards the light.  "Stand up straight."

She heard voices in the living room and walked in to find Caroline standing
on a winding staircase, wearing a ballroom gown and holding a long lit
cigarette.  "You know you want to," she said to Lilly as she brought the Max
up to her lips.

"What are you waiting for?" added Jenny who was now standing at the bottom of
the stairs, also dressed in a gown and smoking a long Capri.  The two girls
laughed and walked out of the living room through a door.  

"Wait," Lilly said, and followed them through the door, finding herself in
the back of a church.  At the front, Caroline and Jenny, still in their
gowns, were standing side by side.  Lilly heard the preacher mumble something
while the two girls slowly brought their cigarettes up to their mouths and
exhaled successive streams of smoke into the air.  Lilly didn't understand
what was going on.  Were here friends getting married?

"I now pronounce you debutante and debutante," Lilly heard the preacher say,
and everyone in the church stood up as Jenny and Caroline turned to face the
audience and march down the aisle, arm in arm.  Jenny ran up to them.
"What's happening?" she asked frantically.

Caroline smiled at her.  "What are you waiting for, Lilly?"


"You know you want to," Jenny added as the two breezed by Lilly, smiling,
waving, and smoking.  When Lilly turned to follow, her mother stepped out of
one of the pews and offered a glass of wine.  "You must go to finishing
school," she told her daughter.

Lilly knocked the glass out of her hand onto the floor and watched her mother
crouch down to clean up the mess.  But when the crouching woman turned her
head upwards, Lilly realized it was actually Mrs. Wong.  "Choose wisely,"
Mrs. Wong said mysteriously.

Lilly ran down the aisle to the church door and suddenly found herself in her
bedroom in Mrs. Wong's home.  She turned to the vanity mirror, the desktop
covered with makeup items which she remembered using earlier that day.  When
she looked into the mirror, she saw her reflection holding a cigarette high
by the side of her cheek.  She looked confident, self-assured, and beautiful.  

"You know you want to," the image said to her.  "What are you waiting for?"
Lilly watched her reflection bring the cigarette to her lips and take a slow
burning puff.  She could suddenly feel the incredible sensation of the inhale
move through her body like a tidal wave.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Lilly woke up with a start!  What a bizarre dream.  She looked over at the
clock and saw the red numbers reading 4:30.  It had only been about 4 hours
since she fell asleep with Mrs. Wong in the room, and she could still smell
the smoke hanging in the air.  She felt a tremendous sense of anticipation
flowing through her blood, and her heart was pounding.  She knew what she
wanted.  She turned on the light and reached for a Virginia Slim out of the
cigarette case.

***************************************************************

"Miss, your presence is requested for breakfast in the dining room," Jeffrey
said with a knock on the door at 7:30.

Lilly opened her eyes and replied in a scratchy voice, "Thanks," followed by
a wicked cough.

"Are you sick, Miss?" the voice behind the door asked with concern.

Lilly cleared her throat and said, "No, I'm fine.  I'll be down soon."  She
put her hand onto her aching chest. "Oh my gosh," she whispered to herself as
she looked over at the ashtray.  "How much did I smoke last night?"  In
addition to Mrs. Wong's crushed cigarette, Lilly counted three that she had
smoked in the one and a half hours before feeling so dizzy that she put the
last one out and fell back to sleep.  Now she was regretting smoking so much.
"How can Mom do this every day," she asked as she pulled back the covers and
walked into the bathroom to take a shower.

But with the images of her dream still playing over and over in her mind,
Lilly felt the urge to have a cigarette by the time she got out of the
shower.  "Maybe just a quick one," she said, biting her lip in anticipation
of the wonderful feeling she knew she could experience from the smoke.
Before she could light it, however, Mrs. Wong was knocking at her door.  

"Lilly, breakfast is waiting," Mrs. Wong said with the door closed.  "We need
to get a move on if we're going to go to Pasadena this morning."

"Okay," she replied, disappointed with herself that she didn't light a
cigarette after waking up.  She grabbed her purse off the bed and was ready
to head towards the door when she looked down at the cigarette case sitting
on the nightstand.  "Oh what the hell," she muttered as she snapped the case
shut and put it into her purse.  "Mrs. Wong's gonna find out anyway when she
sees the case nearly half empty," she reasoned.

Lilly remained quiet at breakfast, offering short answers to Mrs. Wong's
attempts to make conversation.  Mostly her mind was on how - or even whether
- she was going to tell Mrs. Wong that she was ready to start smoking - at
least for now.  

For her own part, Mrs. Wong could tell that Lilly was preoccupied with issues
other than the weather or what her favorite movies were.  She assumed this
was due to the dreams that she planted in her subconscious last night, and so
sought to move things along a bit by lighting a cigarette.

"So, my dear," she said, casually blowing smoke in her direction, "are you
ready to visit the Norton Simon Museum today?"

Lilly couldn't take her eyes off of her teacher's cigarette.  She reached
into the purse resting on her lap, ready to come out of the closet, and then
had second thoughts.

"Yes," she stammered, finding it difficult to concentrate.

"You know," Mrs. Wong said, the cigarette stylishly held with her elbow
resting on the table, "I can never decide which artist I like best, Picasso
or Monet.  Both have such incredibly different styles."  She brought the 120
to her lips and gently puffed.  "Do you have a favorite?" she asked after
exhaling.

"What are you waiting for," a voice in Lilly's head asked.  

"I like...Rembrandt, myself," she replied, her eyes fixed on the smoldering
instrument between Mrs. Wong's fingers.

"You know you want to," the voice continued.


"Yes," Mrs. Wong replied, cocking her head back and blowing a milky white
stream that cascaded upwards, "Rembrandt is a master."

Lilly couldn't stand it anymore.  "This is ridiculous," she muttered and
quickly pulled out the cigarette case in her purse, opened it, and reached in
to pluck out a Virginia Slim.  As she put it into her mouth and began
searching for the lighter, Mrs. Wong reached over with a ready flame and a
smile.

Feeling a little guilty, Lilly moved her head towards the flame and lit the
tip freehanded.  She brought her fingers up to the base of the 120 as she
drew hard on it, pulling the smoke back with a snap and sitting back in her
chair as she exhaled across the table.  "Oh my God," she sighed, "that feels
good."

"More importantly," Mrs. Wong said as she placed the lighter on the table,
"it looks good."

Lilly took another deep puff and held the smoke in her lungs for several
seconds before exhaling a sputtering cloud.

"Tsk, tsk," Mrs. Wong said, "you've no style at all, my dear.  Smoking is an
art form and you must learn how a woman of class smokes a cigarette while
still thoroughly enjoying every puff."  For the next 15 minutes, Mrs. Wong
showed the new smoker all the tricks of the trade:  how to light a cigarette,
how to smoke it with poise and grace - and just a little seduction.  "Never
hold the cigarette down low when you smoke in public," she explained.
"Always hold it high, making sure that everyone can see you are a confident
smoker."

"But most people these days don't smoke," Lilly said with concern.  "Won't I
be ostracized?"

"My dear, remember - you are better than most people.  Don't ever forget
that.  You will always find friends and loved ones within our social class
who will accept you for who you are.  I guarantee that if you take these
smoking lessons to heart, you will never be lonely."

Lilly believed and trusted Mrs. Wong.  She knew that she had taken a big step
on that tour of self-discovery that her teacher had spoken of on the first
morning.  She was ready to learn more about herself and her class.  "I'm
ready to come out in public now," she said, holding her 120 proudly between
her fingers.

"Yes, Lilly," Mrs. Wong replied with much satisfaction, "I believe you are.
Jeffrey?" Mrs. Wong called out, "we're ready to go."  

As the two walked into the foyer of the living room, both still smoking their
120s, Lilly felt considerably more relaxed and self-confident.  When Jeffrey
walked into the room, seeing the beautiful young Miss now smoking a long
cigarette with ease, he smiled at her.  "I see you chose wisely, Miss Lilly."

Lilly looked up at Mrs. Wong with a grin as she brought the cigarette to her
lips for a gentle puff.  "Yes," she thought to herself, "I did."

END PART VIII

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