Snowed In, Part 2

Snowed In
Part II:

The day progressed at a snails pace. Judy and Jamie saw each other briefly, 
passing in the kitchen for a snack or bumping into each other in the hall. 
The tension was fierce and constant.

At 3 pm, Judy walked into the living room and joined Jamie on the couch. She 
sighed heavily as she lay her head back.

Jamie looked to her mother and could sense something was wrong. Instead of 
taking a shot, she offered some comfort.

Jamie reached out her hand and placed it on her mother’s thigh. “Long day, 
huh?” she asked.

Judy was pleasantly startled. “You don’t know…” she said with a smile.

“Can I ask you something?” Jamie asked.

“Sure honey, anything.” Judy replied.

“I noticed you haven’t been smoking much today, why?”

Judy paused and gave a half hearted smile. “I’m out sweetie. Sorry if I’ve 
been a bitch because of it today.”

“No problem Mom, I’ve been grumpy too.”

Dr. Phil’s booming, southern voice interrupted them suddenly, making them 
turn their attention towards the television.

“On today’s show, we’re going to have a look at some family communication 
issues. Stick around, you’re in for a treat.” The shows music blared and 
images of Dr. Phil waving his arms and shouting, laughing, and pointing 
fingers filled the screen, then returned to the large, popular figure 
sitting in a chair.

Judy and Jamie sat up a bit and listened intently.

“OK, I’d like to welcome Cindy and her mother Kathy. Kathy has a secret that 
she’d like to tell her mom. Her mom,” he drawled, “already knows about the 
secret, but has been afraid to confront her daughter. Cindy doesn’t know 
that Kathy knows and wanted to get this out in the open. Through all this 
Hoopla, they’ve grown apart. Make sense? How’s that for communication?”

The crowd laughed and both Kathy and Cindy blush, embarrassed.

Over the next ten minutes Judy and Jamie watched the show in silent wonder, 
amazed at the parallels between their stories and Cindy and Kathy. Their 
story was about Cindy’s sexual behavior, but the pattern was undeniable.

Jamie’s heart raced as she contemplated what she was about to do. She took a 
deep breath and stood as the show went to commercial.

Judy looked up surprised. “Going somewhere?” she asked.

“Just running to the bathroom, be right back,” Jamie said.

She walked quickly to her room, shaking nervously. She reached in her 
backpack and pulled out her own pack of Marlboro Light 100’s and lighter and 
put them in her sweatshirt pocket. She returned to the couch just when the 
show started up.

Judy noted that she hadn’t gone to the bathroom at all, but didn’t mention 
it. Jamie’s hands were stuck in the front pocket of her hooded sweatshirt, 
fumbling with something. Beads of sweat appeared on her brow and her color 
slowly faded from her face.

At the next commercial, Judy muted the television. She couldn’t stand it 
anymore. She turned to her daughter. “You wanna talk?” she asked lightly.

Jamie looked down and replied. “Yeah, there is something I need to tell 
you.”

“You aren’t a lesbian like Cindy are you?” Judy asked straight faced, and 
then burst into a giggle.

“No!” Jamie giggled and then got serious. She slowly pulled her hands from 
the pocket and produced the cigarettes and lighter.

“I’ve been smoking Mom.” She said flatly, unable to look Judy in the eyes.

“How long?”

Jamie shrugged her shoulders a bit. “I don’t know.”

“About 7 months?” Judy asked.

“More like nine maybe?” Jamie replied sheepishly.

A few seconds passed that felt like minutes. “So you knew?” Jamie finally 
asked.

Judy eyed the pack hungrily and nodded. “Yeah, I knew. I wanted you to be 
the one to come forward and tell me.”

“Are you mad? Am I grounded?”

Judy sighed and contemplated her answer. She reached for the pack from her 
daughter’s hands and flipped open the box. She shook a single cigarette out 
and placed it in her lips. She then took the lighter and clicked it once, 
and leaned the tip into the flame and drew.  She double pumped and then 
lightly exhaled into the space between them. Jamie’s mouth began to water.

“No,” she offered finally as she continued to exhale. “I’ve tried to keep 
you from smoking because it’s bad for you, and addictive as hell. I guess I 
didn’t want you to end up like me. But,” she began and then interrupted 
herself with another long draw,” you’re 16 now, and you’ve obviously been 
doing this for a while now,” she finished as she spoke through her exhale.

“I will let you smoke, but there are going to be conditions,” she said 
semi-sternly.

Jamie’s color went from white to peach in a matter of milli-seconds. She 
reached out and hugged her mother tightly, pulling her close. Both women 
felt the love and closeness between them come back in a tidal wave. They 
parted, both wiping tears from their eyes.

“I know we have a lot to talk about Mom, but could I have one of those now? 
I’m going insane!” she laughed as she wiped her tears again.

Judy reached out and handed her daughter the cigarettes and lighter. She 
trimmed her ashes in an ash tray that sat on the coffee table and watched as 
Jamie lit up. Her style was very familiar. She drew deeply, caving her 
cheeks in, and she had a natural snap inhale.

Once the nicotine was flowing through their bodies, the words flowed freely 
between them as well.


Thirty minutes passed, and each had had two more cigarettes while they 
talked and reconnected. As Judy crushed out her cigarette, she glanced up 
and and noticed Dr. Phil was ending. She quickly un-muted the TV to hear his 
final thoughts.

“So what did we learn? You gotta talk to your kids. Kids, you gotta talk to 
your parents. Secrets will eat you up and do horrible things to you and 
others if you keep ‘em in too long. Take care…”
As the ending music played, Jamie looked over her mothers should to see a 
speck of blue sky peek out of the clouds. Judy glanced at the pack of 
cigarettes.

Two left she thought silently.

Just then a snow plow raced by, sending clouds of snow in every direction, 
and clearing a safe path into town.

At that moment, all was good.

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