The Girls of Lakewood, Part 1

Here's a new story for all of you. Actually this has been under construction
for a long time which explains why it's so big. Had trouble wrapping it up,
and I'm sorry if it seems to run on. It was originally inspired way back
when by the picture "lilsmokr.jpg" that was posted here, although it has
obviously evolved way beyond that. That picture fascinated me even though I
normally am not into kids smoking; does anyone have a context for where it
was taken and what the circumstasnces were?

I'll try to post one of the seven parts each day this week. As always,
comments, feedback and constructive criticism are welcomed; also, as usual,
there are a few mild sexual references so if such things offend you please
proceed no further. 

**

"The Girls of Lakewood"

Chapter 1: How Curious


Sara Mackenzie was always a very curious, inquisitive little girl. At age 9
her parents sometimes worried that she was still small for her age, but in
other respects her development was quite normal, and she had finished near
the top of her 3rd grade class at Lakewood Elementary last year. Although
she was physically small, Sara had always possessed an inquisitive mind and
consumed several books she would borrow from the library in their well-to-do
Dallas suburb each week. Her parents took pride both in their daughter's
fine performance at school and also in her looks. Sara had unusually thick,
wavy auburn hair that looked it's best only when it was allowed to grow
long, full and natural, and it now reached nearly to her waist, tamed only
by a part on one side. Her round face had a scattering of freckles that
complemented her hair color, and she was an extremely cute little girl. Her
mother Michelle loved to dress Sara in dresses that contrasted with her
daughter's auburn locks and Sara enjoyed being dressed this way to please
her mother. Michelle shared her daughter's auburn hair but had recently
changed from a full, shoulder-length cut to a more trendy style that was
very short.

Sara's curiosity was always keen, and on more than a few occasions had
caused her to get into trouble, but it was never meant as anything
malicious. Her mind just always wanted to know more about the things she
encountered in the world, and if it meant taking a chance then that seemed
just fine as far as Sara was concerned. Her parents always took care to warn
Sara when they felt she would be too strongly tempted by things that could
harm her, but Sara by now had learned to discount their protective instincts
somewhat and was making decisions on her own. 

Recently Sara had begun to feel curious about her mom's smoking. She knew
that it was supposed to be bad for you, because they had taught her that in
health class last year. This piqued her curiosity, because from her earliest
memory she had always associated smoking with her mother, and couldn't
understand why she still smoked if it was a bad thing. In Sara's eyes her
mother always looked extra stylish and sophisticated when she smoked, and it
seemed to Sara that her mom just really liked to smoke as well. When she
asked her mom about what they told her in health class, Michelle confirmed
that it was true, in fact; she told Sara in no uncertain terms that it was
indeed bad for her. But she was still faced with the sight of Michelle
smoking each day, which didn't makes sense to her given what she had learned
about it,  and so one day she innocently asked her mother about why she
still smoked. The reply she got astounded Sara. "Young lady, don't you even
think about smoking! I wish I didn't smoke, and someday I will quit. But
it's just really hard to give it up, and I can't do it right now. It's a
terrible, disgusting habit and I hate myself for still doing it. So don't
get any ideas, OK?"

That set Sara back on her heels a bit. It wasn't like she had asked her mom
to let her smoke, she thought. All she did was ask a simple question and she
almost got her head bitten off. "Why the reaction?," she thought as she
retreated into the living room from the kitchen where they had been. Sara
studied her mom for a few moments. Michelle had just lit a cigarette when
Sara had asked the question, and now Sara watched her mother from a distance
as she placed the long, white cigarette to her lips and began a slow puff.
The look on Michelle's face certainly didn't look like one of disgust or
hate, Sara thought, it looked more like one of enjoyment.

Michelle had began experimenting with cigarettes when she was just finishing
junior high. At first it was something she would do only from time to time
with her girlfriends, and she never really thought she would become a daily
smoker. She continued in this manner for some time, only smoking at parties
occasionally, but when she entered high school her circle of friends
disappeared suddenly and she had to make new acquaintances. A few of her new
home room classmates were friendly towards her and she was accepted into
their group. Most of them smoked, and Michelle soon felt pressure to join in
when they would sneak off to light up. They quickly introduced Michelle to
the pleasures of inhaling and while she found it uncomfortable at first, she
stuck with it and quickly adapted to this new way of smoking. She soon began
to smoke on a daily basis. Over the next few months Michelle began buying
the odd pack of cigarettes on her own, in addition to those she could sneak
away from her parents, both of whom were smokers. She was always on alert
for the chance to slip one of her mom's Salem 100s from her pack since she
liked those the best and they were what she began to buy herself. By the end
of her freshman year at the high school she was smoking 5 or 6 cigarettes a
day and had started to find it enjoyable, looking forward to having a chance
to smoke during breaks with her friends. Near the end of the school year
Michelle even started to continue her smoking on weekends on her own,
slipping out of the house to smoke secretly if she couldn't find a way to
have one at home.

Early in her summer vacation that year she soon realized that she missed her
smoking when she tried to do without it during the first week or so, and
decided that she would smoke for a while longer. It didn't take very long
before her parents discovered their daughter's secret, and after initially
prohibiting her from smoking, they realized that they were powerless to stop
Michelle as she continued to smoke in secret. Not wanting their daughter to
be forced to disobey them, they reluctantly gave her permission to smoke at
home, and after a few weeks her mom started to let Michelle supply herself
from her carton. When she returned to school that fall Michelle's new
freedom to smoke had resulted in her smoking 10 to 12 cigarettes a day and
she had started to crave cigarettes regularly. In attempting to satisfy her
growing desire to smoke over the next two years, by the time she graduated
from high school at age 17 Michelle had let her habit reach the pack a day
level and she now knew that she was quite addicted. She was never really
comfortable with that aspect of her habit, though, and didn't like the way
it took control of her at times. She still enjoyed smoking most of the time,
but nagging feelings that she should quit would pop into her head from time
to time when she would experience a craving that she couldn't immediately
satisfy.

After her marriage at the age of 23 to a young engineer named Bill
Mackenzie, Michelle quickly became pregnant with Sara. Her doctor advised
her strongly to give up the habit while she was pregnant and with great
difficulty, Michelle was actually able to go more than 6 months without a
cigarette. After Sara's birth, Michelle had hoped to remain free of the
habit. But a few weeks after returning home from the hospital she began to
feel a nagging desire to try smoking again. It wasn't made any easier by the
fact that her husband Bill had not yet succeeded in quitting himself, and
the scent of his smoke slowly began to drive Michelle crazy. 

Unbeknownst to Michelle, Bill was also close to the edge, but for a
different reason. During the last while prior to Sara's birth their sex life
was practically nonexistent. His need for sex had almost driven him mad,
making him feel like his veins were itching inside his body. Now that things
were getting back to normal he was trying to make up for lost time, and they
had several lengthy, passionate sessions following her return home. For
Bill, the only thing missing was to see his sensuous, auburn-haired love
smoke once again. He had always found Michelle's smoking to be an extreme
turn-on, although he would never think to mention that to her for fear she
would find it bizarre, and he had felt deprived in more ways than one while
she was pregnant. He had begun to fantasize about her starting to smoke once
more and decided that he would do whatever he could to nudge her in that
direction.

Later that evening they had yet another passionate hour of sex. Michelle had
been very inhibited when they were first married, but with Bill's gentle
prodding she had gradually experimented with new techniques and was now
quite bold sexually, much to his joy. Laying in bed side by side afterwards,
sweaty and exhausted, Bill found the energy to go to the living room and
retrieve his Marlboro Light 100s, lighter and an ashtray. Climbing back into
bed next to Michelle, he lit up and drew deeply on the cigarette. He exhaled
a long stream towards the ceiling before turning towards her. She was
watching him intently and Bill needed no other prompting. Smiling, he
extended his hand holding the cigarette towards Michelle and gently held the
cigarette to her lips. She instantly sealed them around the filter and began
a long, slow puff, then drew it deep inside her. A surge ran through her
body as she responded to the effect of the smoke. It felt wonderful to her,
and a smile formed on her face as she welcomed back her old friend. As she
exhaled towards the ceiling, she settled her head back on the pillow as Bill
took another puff of his own. As soon as he had finished, he flicked ash off
the head of the Marlboro and again placed it to Michelle's lips. She pulled
greedily on the cigarette this time and Bill watched transfixed, first at
her long, determined drag, then as her breasts heaved upwards as she
expanded her chest to allow her to fill her lungs once more with the rich
smoke. They quickly finished the cigarette and Michelle was surprised to
discover Bill had become aroused once more. Another passionate lovemaking
session was followed this time by a cigarette for each of them. Bill watched
in secret delight as his auburn-haired beauty now enjoyed her first full
cigarette in months. 

With some subtle encouragement from Bill, it took only a few more days
before she abandoned any pretense of being a non-smoker, helpless to resist
the intense pleasure she experienced when she smoked, and she began buying
packs of full-flavor Benson & Hedges Menthols for herself, the brand that
she had switched to years ago after she moved away from home. Within another
couple of weeks she had quickly returned to her pack-a-day habit once more,
and soon was buying her cigarettes by the carton again. She was secretly
amazed at how quickly she had yielded to the temptation to resume her
smoking habit, and how strongly she again felt the desire to smoke. If
anything, she now felt the need even more intensely than before and while
she admitted to herself that she enjoyed it very much, she never was totally
comfortable with it. She remembered feeling extremely ashamed of herself a
couple of months after Sara's birth when Bill walked in on her unexpectedly
and discovered her breast-feeding Sara while she herself was smoking a
cigarette. She had tried to explain that she hadn't had one in hours, that
she had just lit up before Sara had awakened and started being difficult,
and that it wasn't something she had ever done before. She thought it
slightly strange when Bill just smiled and held up his hand to cut off her
explanation, saying that it was OK, before walking away.  

Over the next few years Michelle continued to allow herself to enjoy her
smoking, but gradually the nagging doubts and concerns about the possible
effects of her habit returned. While she still enjoyed the sensations of
smoking, her guilt and fears made it less and less pleasurable for her. Yet
she knew that it would be more difficult than ever for her to quit now,
since she had smoked at a high level for so many years. But her insistent
cravings, the slight but nagging cough, some shortness of breath, and the
constant smell of tobacco smoke on her hair and clothes was gradually
convincing her that she must stop someday soon. More importantly, most of
the people she now associated with in the volunteer groups she participated
in were not only non-smokers, but actively disapproved of the habit, to the
point where she felt it was holding her back. Unfortunately for her, Bill
did not share these views and continued to smoke as always. On a few
occasions when she raised the possibility of their quitting together, he
dismissed it immediately, saying that he didn't want to quit and didn't
think it was all that bad for either of them. Still, she knew that she would
have to quit one of these days, if not for her own sake, then for Sara's.
Michelle knew that once her young daughter began to ask questions about a
subject it meant that her curiosity was getting the better of her, and she
was concerned that Sara was now beginning to focus on smoking and would soon
try it herself.

Meanwhile, Sara continued to observe her mother smoke over the few weeks
after their brief discussion. Michelle apparently still enjoyed her
cigarettes too much to quit just yet, although Sara overheard her mom tell
her dad one day that she was trying to cut down and had switched to a
lighter brand, whatever that meant. Sara would also see the occasional
cigarette ad in one of her mom's magazines, and was struck by how much those
women seemed to love cigarettes too. All of these things made it seem that
smoking wasn't all bad, and she started to focus on it. Sara's curiosity
eventually got the better of her and she decided that if she ever had the
chance to try smoking, she would. But she knew from her mom's reaction when
she asked her the question about smoking a while ago that she would have to
do it secretly. That was OK, she thought, since she had been able to satisfy
her curiosity about other things many times before without ever being
discovered. 

Sara waited patiently over the next few weeks for an opportunity to try
smoking. Finally, when her mother was called down to the utility room one
day to transfer a load of laundry to the clothes dryer, Sara had her chance.
Michelle had just lit up and had left the cigarette in the ashtray when she
went downstairs. Alone in the kitchen, Sara listened carefully and concluded
that her mom would not arrive unexpectedly. Carefully, she moved close to
the kitchen counter where the ashtray rested and gingerly reached for the
cigarette. Slowly picking it up, she moved it to her lips.

The tip of the cigarette still seemed slightly damp from her mom's mouth as
she closed her own lips around the end. She had watched Michelle enough to
know what to do, and gradually began to draw on the filter. Sara's eyes
focused on the end of the cigarette as it began to glow brightly, and she
began to taste an intensely cool, bitter sensation in her mouth. After two
seconds she withdrew the cigarette and slowly blew out a cloud of smoke
without inhaling. Her mouth watered, but otherwise she experienced no
unusual effects. Placing the cigarette back in the ashtray, she watched the
smoke disperse through the rom and concentrated on the taste that lingered
in her mouth. She had never tasted anything quite like that before and while
it wasn't  all that pleasant, Sara found it different and was fascinated by
it. She thought about trying another taste but she thought she heard her
mother beginning to head back upstairs and thought better of it. She smiled
slightly at her accomplishment, her heart beating faster in excitement, and
thought that she would have to try this again.

Over the next few weeks she did try it again, on several occasions, each
time when either Michelle or Bill inadvertently provided her with an
opportunity. Sara became accustomed to the taste of the smoke, preferring
her mom's cool menthols to those of her dad, although she noticed that her
mom was now buying B&H Menthol Lights rather than the kind she always had
before. Sara began to treat smoking almost as a game in which she would try
to outwit her parents, and enjoyed the aspect of naughtiness that let her
feel she was getting away with something. She never took more than one or
two puffs at a time and still hadn't actually tried to inhale, not realizing
that was the technique her parents used, although she actually was
accidentally breathing a slight amount of each puff into her lungs every
time without realizing it. To Sara it seemed that she was doing something
that only grown-ups could do, and so it made her feel more grown-up herself.
She was about ready to bust with her news, and needed to tell somebody her
secret.

Sara decided to tell her best friend, Kimberley. Kim lived a couple of
blocks away in their suburban, upper middle-class neighborhood and she and
Sara had been classmates ever since they began going to school. They were
friends almost from the start and each morning she always waited for Sara to
come by so they could walk to school together. Since Kim's house was on the
way home, Sara usually stopped there to play for a while after school before
heading home herself. The two girls did almost everything together and each
called the other their best friend, so it was no surprise that if Sara
decided to tell anyone about her secret, the person she would choose would
be Kim.

"You'll never guess what I've been doing," Sara said to her friend in a
sing-song manner as the girls played in Kim's backyard one day after school.
Kim's mom Linda was inside but she trusted the girls to behave and so they
were usually left alone.

"What?", Kim asked, more interested in the wildflowers she was gathering
from along the fence than she was in her friend's chit-chat.

"I've been _smoking_," Sara said in a quiet, conspiratorial voice, with a
naughty little smile appearing on her face.

"Where? When?", Kim asked in surprise, suddenly interested.

"At my place... when mom leaves one lying around. If she isn't too close, I
take a puff all by myself," Sara said proudly.

"Oh, Sara, cool... does your mom know?", Kim asked, becoming more and more
interested all the time.

"Oh, gee, no, she doesn't want me to smoke. She even yelled at me one day
when all I did was ask her about it! But it's so much fun! I really like
it," Sara said with a grin.

"What's it like? I always watch my mom when she smokes and I always hoped
she'd let me try it someday. It looks so nice," Kim asked.

"It tastes kind of funny at first, but you get used to it real quick. Want
me to show you?", Sara offered.

"You have cigarettes here? In your purse?", Kim responded with a surprised look.

"No, silly, of course not. But I was thinking that we could probably swipe
one from your mom. She always has them lying around inside, right? If we can
get one, would you like to try it?"

"Where would we do it? Inside?", Kim asked, her mind struggling to come to
grips with this new concept.

"No, geez, not inside! Your mom would find us right away! I was thinking we
could go into the woods over there on the other side of the fence. There's
that place in there we used as a hiding place, remember? That would be good,
'cause no one could see us, and I could show you how. Want to try it?", Sara
dared her friend.

Kim thought for a few seconds. "OK. But we'll have to be real careful. If my
mom catches us, I don't know what she'd do, but it won't be fun."

"Don't worry," Sara said with a smile. "Whatever she'd do, it probably
wouldn't be as bad as what MY mom would do to us. She seems really crabby
lately. C'mon, let's go inside."

The girls entered the house to find Linda seated on the sofa in the family
room, watching one of the afternoon soaps. Sara had always admired the way
Mrs. Petersen looked, elegant, petite and slim, with stylish short black
hair that contrasted with her pale white skin. She thought that she looked a
lot like the actress Courteney Cox who had become famous on the TV show
"Friends", and several of her school friends had told Kim that her mom was
really pretty. Linda always took care with her makeup and favored dark
lipstick and eye shadow that accentuated the contrast even more. Today she
was dressed in a black t-shirt and white jeans which Sara thought looked
wonderful on her. Kim shared her mom's features and Sara was envious of the
look, just as Kim was envious of Sara's long thick auburn hair. Kim and her
mom shared more than similar physical features; because Linda was able to be
at home most of the day, only working for a few hours when Kim was at
school, she and her daughter had grown very close and seemed at times to be
extensions of each other's personalities. Sara envied the relationship and
wished that she and her mom could be the same way. 

A pack of Salem Light 100s rested on the table next to a large ashtray.
Linda was a fairly heavy smoker herself, having acquired the habit as a
young teen and never quite finding the motivation to give it up. When she
landed her first job years ago at a wholesaling operation that distributed
cigarettes among other products and always had free samples laying around
which the company salesmen encouraged the employees to try, her previously
infrequent smoking soon became a firmly established habit. The company not
only permitted smoking in the office but gave their employees a substantial
discount on purchases for their own use, and virtually all of her co-workers
were smokers. In this environment it was almost impossible not to smoke and
within a year of starting to work there Linda's habit had taken root. For
years now she had smoked more than 30 cigarettes a day even though she now
only worked there on a part-time basis.

"Hi, mommy. Look what I found," said Kim, entering the family room with Sara
and displaying the small bunch of flowers she had picked in the backyard.

"Oh, sweetie, they're beautiful," said Linda. "Let's put them in a vase,
shall we?", she said, getting up and heading into the kitchen. Sara hung
back and fixed her eyes on the pack of Salems. Looking back into the
kitchen, she saw that Linda and Kim were busy with the flowers. She boldly
reached for the pack on the table and quickly withdrew a cigarette,
immediately hiding it in the small backpack she carried. Sara realized
suddenly that she would have to find a way to light it, something she had
never done before. She looked around the room and saw a pack of matches near
the fireplace. She had used matches before - she had got in trouble with her
folks over that, she remembered - and so she walked over to the fireplace
and grabbed them as well. Entering the kitchen, Kim and Linda were just
finished arranging the flowers and were placing the vase on the kitchen table.

"Thank you, girls. They're very pretty, don't you think? Would you like a
soda or something?", Linda offered, as the girls nodded enthusiastically.
Linda retrieved two Pepsis from the refrigerator and gave them to the girls,
as Sara said, "Thanks, Mrs. P. C'mon, Kim, let's go back outside for a while."

"Have fun, girls. Be careful, now, OK?", Linda called to them as she
returned to the family room, reaching for a cigarette as she sat back down
and lighting up. She puffed out a small amount of smoke as she replaced the
lighter on the table, letting the cigarette dangle for a moment, before
placing the filter well inside her lips and starting a long, hard puff as
she separated her fingers and let the cigarette move sharply upwards in
response to her suction. After several seconds, she grasped the cigarette
between her fingers and opened her mouth just enough to let her draw in a
little air as she inhaled the smoke, then immediately reinserted it and
began another long pull. Smoke began to slowly funnel out of her nostrils
after a few seconds before stopping suddenly as she finished the second half
of her double-pump, and inhaled even more deeply. For several seconds she
savored the sensation of having her lungs absolutely filled to capacity with
smoke as she felt her body responding to the nicotine, before leaning her
head back and beginning a long, endless exhale. 

She took a deep breath and then let out a satisfied sigh. Remnants of the
double-pump exited her mouth and nose in a faint cloud as she tapped the ash
of her Salem. "God," she thought, "that feels so good," as she stretched
luxuriously and smiled a hedonistic smile. She no longer felt guilty about
smoking so much now that she had finally accepted the fact that she was
totally, hopelessly  addicted to her cigarettes, and she loved everything
about smoking that brought her such intense pleasure. Linda liked to double
up on her first drag almost every time now, at least as long as her husband
Hal or Kim weren't around. Linda didn't like to smoke in Kim's presence if
she could help it, although she found herself breaking her own rule more
often as her daughter got older. 

As for Hal, he always gave her a bit of a hard time about her habit,
although good-naturedly, which only made her want to smoke even more, it
seemed. She half-suspected he did it on purpose just to get her to smoke
even more than she normally would, since she knew for a fact that her
smoking turned him on. Hal was a successful architect whose own smoking was
limited to an occasional expensive cigar in celebration of closing a big new
deal, and Linda liked to tantalize him on such occasions by taking it from
him and taking a few puffs on the thick, long stogie for herself. She
thought she could learn to like cigars, having eventually learned how to
inhale the dense cigar smoke just like she did with her cigarettes, but they
weren't frequent enough to ever become a habit for her. Linda generally
avoided her double-pump inhales around Hal because she didn't want him to
get too used to the sight, saving them instead for special times when they
were alone. She smiled at the thought of his reaction to her smoking during
their intimate moments. 

**

End of Part 1

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