Old Friends, Part 2

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Subject: Old Friends, part 2
Date: 19 Feb 1997 23:59:24 GMT
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   It had to be a trick. Elisa was sure of that.
   "If you want to start, now is as good a time or place as any, Leah."
   "Not here. Take me home."
   Elisa hesitated. She'd read case reports- people with-
   Leah's purse was just big enough.
   "Come on. Say goodbye to your friends over there and help me."
   "What friends ?" Elisa asked, not willing to give this woman who had
betrayed her anything she could use.
   "Sandra Ellison. Come on, I did everything but wave my credentials at her,
Elisa."
   "Why didn't you just call me on your cell phone ?"
   Leah smiled. "You know better. Every call is monitored. They'd have pulled
me out in three hours."
   "You-" Elisa stopped herself before she could say something that would make
it irrelevant whether or not she was being lied to. "All right. I'll be right
back."
   She lit another cigarette and left the pack right at Leah's elbow. The woman
didn't shy away from them. In fact, the look in her eyes, was one of longing,
faint but definite.
   Sandra's holds were much better. Elisa could see the effort as she walked
back over to the table. There was real grace to the way she lifted the slim
cigarette to her lips. The inhale was full-bodied, electric. Kyle was openly
watching her and it was obvious he liked what he saw. Elisa wished all things
were this easy to solve.
   "I can't believe you walked right over to her like that," Sandra said,
looking properly astonished. "What did she say ?"
   "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me. Thanks for the call, Sandra. We'll
probably be leaving in a few minutes."
   Sandra, who hardly seemed like the cloak and dagger type, leaned closer to
Elisa and let out a soft, slow exhale that made Kyle squirm in his seat.
Elisa lifted her head, her own exhale thick, coating them all in sweet
smelling smoke. "Do you want me to follow you ?"
   There was something ludicrous to the question but it showed genuine concern.
Sandra had soft blue eyes and a personality to match. She was genuinely
worried, but then again, she certainly had no idea how much of a shark Elisa
could become when it was truly necessary.
   "No. We're going back to my house. She needs help, and I'm the only one who
can give it to her. I'll call you in the morning."
   The look on Sandra's face was clear.  Be careful.
   
   "Before we go, tell me what brought you here," Elisa said to Leah. 
   "See those kids over there ?" Leah asked, indicating the table of high
schoolers Elisa had seen when she first walked in. They were still smoking,
all seven of them. They looked- natural was the only word Elisa could think
of which accurately described it. Natural- and content. For now.
   Leah's laugh was vaguely sarcastic. "They were at the lecture I gave today
at the high school. One thousand dollars for about ninety minutes of
semi-original material-" She paused, shaking her head "It's amazing what
they're paying speakers these days, you know. But-"
   "You don't get to keep that, do you ?" Elisa asked, having decided on the
walk back over to the bar that she was not going to make any of this easier
on her old friend.
   "Some of it. You know they pay well."
   Elisa's nose exhale was perfect. Right now was one of those times she was
more than a little glad to be a smoker. The reduction of stress that came
with each inhale, the sense of inner peace, was very comforting.
   "That can't be the only reason-"
   "We'll talk more in the car."
   They drained their beers casually without needless talk. Elisa finished her
cigarette and lit another, then starting walking towards the door. Leah
followed slightly behind and Elisa slowed to allow her to catch up. When they
were dead even she brought her cigarette up from her waist and inhaled
deeply, deciding at the last moment to blow a perfect smoke ring that drifted
towards the table of teenagers.
   The tall blonde girl noticed, nudged one of the boys. They both laughed
although they were polite enough not to stare. It was obvious to both women
what they were laughing about. Ms. Anti-Smoking Lecture walking out of
Friday's with a smoker. "You're absolutely sure you don't want to do this
right here ?" Elisa said to leah. "You have a receptive audience."
   Leah's response was a low hiss. "I felt like enough of an hypocrite standing
in front of them earlier."
   They walked out, Elisa glad to get back into the cold night air.
   One of the waitresses was standing outside, smoking a Virginia Slims. She
smiled at Elisa, exhaling the sort of monstrous jet of milky smoke that was
only possible on a cold, humid night.
   Community. Maybe that was what Leah missed.
   "I have to stop and get a few things out of the rental," Leah said. "You're
driving the red Del Sol, right ?"
   Elisa wasn't surprised she knew that. Not one bit.
   It took Leah long enough that Elisa finished her cigarette and lit another.
Suspicion began creeping back into her mind. There was something wrong here,
she was sure of it.
   Leah knocked on the trunk. Elisa looked in the side mirror and saw that she
had a gym bag and a briefcase.
   She popped the trunk and noticed that Leah was considerate enough to close
the lid very gently.
   As she slid into the passenger seat Elisa handed Leah her pack of Marlboro
Lights 100s. "You know the rule, Leah. If you ride in my car, you have to
smoke."
   "This is a new car right ? Well, that might not be such a good idea."
   "Why ?" Elisa pushed, vaguely annoyed. She took a long, utterly satisfying
inhale on her own cigarette and although both windows were cracked, she
filled the small cabin with a wonderful cloud of second hand smoke.
   "I might just puke all over the interior. Fabric like this stains."
   "What ?"
   She took a prescription bottle out of her pocket as Elisa pulled out onto
Route 1. "They don't trust us, you know. Call us Xers. I take a drug test
once a week. If this isn't in my system- I get pulled off whatever I'm on
until I comply again. And god help you if you test positive for nicotine."
   Elisa made sure her inhales did not escape from the car, using nose exhales.
There was nothing quite like smoking in the privacy of your own car. "What
are they ?"
   "Little white pills. They- well, from what I've been told, they turn
nicotine into a nauseating low-level biochemical toxin. They're how I quit."
   "I don't suppose you're going to tell me who gave you those pills- or why."
   "No. That's one story I know has to die with me. You know about that if you
work with the team."
   "So how come the second hand smoke-" she started to ask, almost but not
quite turning her head as she exhaled.
   "The delivery of nicotine from inhaling smoke from your own cigarette is
different. That's all I know. You know I failed that biochem class."
   "Well then, just light one and hold it. I want to see if you remember how."
   Leah did as she was asked. Although she was on the short side, Leah had
perfect, slender fingers, and the long, white cigarette look positively
elegant in her hand. She held the cigarette with her left hand, the wrist
cocked perfectly, thumb touching her second finger. Yes, she still knew how
to hold a cigarette.
   The drive home was about twenty-five minutes, during which Leah held two
cigarettes. The one was kept burning with baby puffs eerily reminiscent of
that first time in the dorm room, when Leah's curiosity finally broke down
her resistance to her roommate's habit- something which had taken all of six
hours the day she'd arrived on campus.	
   There were no inhales.
   They shared the second one. Leah did try to inhale once, a small, timid pull
on the cigarette which, even in the flash of arc-sodium road lights,
obviously made her turn green.
   But she looked so good doing it.
   As they got out of the car, Leah said. "I haven't had one of those damn
pills in four days. I thought it would be easier."
   Elisa asked for the bottle, somewhat surprised when Leah actually handed it
over. She walked to the end of the driveway and dumped the pills in the
ditch, where they couldn't hurt anyone.
   
   They were sitting on the couch in the living room. Leah had dropped her
stuff in one corner, and it occurred to Elisa that it was pretty damn big for
a handful of notes and some anti-smoking propaganda.
   "What's in the briefcase, Leah ?" she asked, pouring each of them a glass of
dry white wine. Elisa had a feeling getting Leah a little drunk couldn't hurt
right now, and a dry white was the perfect wine to take up smoking with.
   "If I told you-"
   "Please don't say I wouldn't believe you."
   Leah smiled, After all this time, that smile said, her ex-friend still knew
her pretty well.
   "One million dollars, if you must know."
   Too outrageous to be a lie, Elisa concluded. "Bribe money. Let me guess. You
were supposed to drive down to the capital in the morning-"
   "The govenour himself. A ban on smoking within 100 yards of all schools."
   "You still planning on going ?"
   Leah smiled. "No. I plan to sit her on this couch and smoke until I get
sick. Two or three good inhales should send me screaming to the porcelain
god."
   Elisa asked Leah to excuse her for a minute. She had suddenly remembered
reading a case file- something that had happened out in Phoenix about six
months ago. A quick check of the computer files was all it would take.
   "Let me guess- you have to make a call." There was sarcasm in her voice,
sarcasm and a disturbing lack of trust.
   "You trusted me this far, Leah. Give me five minutes."
   The computer was in the study upstairs. Elisa lit another cigarette and then
practically ran up the stair.
   She'd dumped the pills but kept the bottle. As she started up her Power Mac
8500 she pulled it out of her pocket. Micrilyacin.
   Yes.
   It took about two minutes to print the report out. She sat back while the
job spit out of the laserwriter, working the cigarette in the relaxed fashion
she felt was so important. Her inhales were never nervous or overdone. Never
needy. Each exhale was a quiet peace of art, whether from nose or mouth. Even
after all this time, she still enjoyed watching the act of smoking, even when
she was doing it herself. Her reflection in the mirror was one of peace and
contentment.
   She came down the stairs and knew it was, in a very small sense, too late.
The sound of her ex- no, her friend- vomiting beer into the toilet was
unpleasant, but Elisa knew it would be the last time. At least because of
their stupid, evil tricks.
   She let Leah clean herself up, made no effort to intrude. The look on the
other woman's face was sheepish- being sick was never easy for adults.
   "Did they ever give you any special instructions about using those pills ?"
Elisa asked, and she saw disappointment in Leah's eyes that she was going to
get no sympathy from her friend. Elisa picked up the cigarette still burning
in the ashtray and pulled gently on it.
   "Like what ?" Leah asked, her voice hoarse and very weak.
   "Like, always go to the same pharmacist, never use anyone else's pills ?"
   Leah tried to smile, getting nothing more than a grimace. "Yeah, as a matter
of fact. Why ?"
   "You've been taking a placebo since about the end of the first month. That's
why second hand smoke doesn't bother you."
   "I just- I just yakked my guts out-"
   "Micrilyacin is a synthetic toxin. In small doses it suppresses the urge to
smoke. In large or long term doses it's fatal. " She held out the four pages
of the report. "Read it. I remembered something about someone dying in
Phoenix. One of your people. They couldn't figure out why, thought maybe
someone from the team did it."
   Leah walked slowly over to Elisa and took the report, reading with the same
speed she remembered in college, when she'd envied her roommate's ability to
study.
   "But," she said, half finished, "I just got spectacularly sick all over your
very stylish toilet."
   "If that drug was so effective at curbing smoking, don't you think your
people would be mass producing it. Hell, they'd be dumping it into drinking
reservoirs. It'd be coming out of your tap water."
   Leah smiled. "I asked about that once. My supervisor snarled and said
something about the FDA."
   Elisa nodded. "Micrilyacin was banned by the FDA about six months after they
started testing it. Read the rest of the report. You can figure out what
happened. That guy, Harold Quimms, didn't start getting placebos when he
should have. Micrilyacin will stop your heart in large enough doses. Stays in
the system, too. Easy to trace. That's why-"
   "Your own people thought-"
   "I don't think any of us knew about those little white pills. You're right,
they don't trust exers. That's why they give you those placebos."
   "Are you saying I made myself sick ?"
   They both knew the answer to that question.

   Elisa and Leah walked into Fridays. Leah had admitted this was the final
step. Smoking in public. Not only the most enjoyable sort of smoking, but the
most important for a reformed ex-smoker.
   Elisa lit her cigarette before she went inside. Leah waited for different
reasons. She wanted everyone to see her light up, wanted that first glorious
exhale of public life as a smoker to be a grande re-entrance into the
community she had forsaken.
   They saw the same five girls at the same table. It was girl's night out.
Leah lit her Marlboro Lights 100 where they could see her, enjoying the look
of the long cigarette in her hand for a few seconds before lighting it. She
then walked directly over to the table. All five girls were smoking
cigarettes, each from their own packs. They were all pretty, young, confident
smokers. The best sort.
   "I just want you to know that everything I said yesterday in that talk was
bullshit."
   She exhaled with same grace and style that Elisa had become re-accustom to
in the last twenty-four hours. Her nostrils flared.
   The tall blonde leaned forward. "We all thought you were lying through your
teeth. I hope that's not insulting. But you're, like, so obviously a smoker."
   "Why don't you join us ?" a short redhead asked, blowing smoke from a Salem
Lights 100 over the table.
   "Do you have room at the table for a complete hypocrite ?" Leah asked
self-effacingly.
   "No. But we have room for you."
   Elisa smiled.
   Partly for Leah. Partly because Leah had gone to see the govenour and had
given him that million dollars.
   To kill the anti-smoking bill.

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