Stairs, Part 5

Stairs

Part 5 - Third Training

"I'll leave you to get on with it then." Suzy got down to her homework again,
but was a bit baffled by question two. Time to try mum's tip, she thought. By
the time she had double pumped and pulled down an extended booster, she could
see her way through the problem and bashed the answer out on her keyboard.
She remembered to mark her newly opened pack: S.  3rd Training

All in all, she smoked three more cigarettes to complete her homework and lit
a fresh one for the stairs, getting pretty hungry by now. Dinner followed,
with Pamela and Suzy enjoying their two after-dinner cigarettes. They had a
quiet evening like Monday. By the time Suzy hit the stairs for bed, she had
been able to smoke a further four Player's. She could see from her packet
that she must have smoked 17 cigarettes today, before realising she had had
two from mum's packet. She went to bed satisfied with her day's total of 19
cigarettes, like yesterday, every one inhaled as deeply as she was able. She
had enjoyed every single one and had taken a new pack from the cupboard for
tomorrow.


When Wednesday morning's alarm went off  Suzy came bright awake. She was
already looking forward to her first cigarette of the day and hurried into
her dressing gown and down the stairs. There was mum as usual, a mostly
smoked cigarette in one hand and the tea pot in the other, about to pour. It
would not be long now, Suzy thought, before she could light her own cigarette
and draw the first of lots of Player's smoke down to the full depth of her
lungs. "Oh no!" mum cried with as much surprise as possible when she saw the
milk curdling on the surface of the tea. "This milk's off. I'll have to make
another pot. Won't be too long." Pamela watched Suzy's face fall on the
assumption that she would have to wait ages now for her first cig, when the
tea was finally ready. Her face seemed to say, how could this happen? Mum,
having saved some old milk for just this occasion, finished her Player's and
put the kettle on again. Sitting back down, she lit a fresh cigarette with
obvious relish and blew a long stream of smoke towards her daughter, who was
not pleased. 

"The tea'll be a few minutes yet, Suzy. If you like, you could start a
cigarette while you're waiting," mum offered helpfully. Immediately Suzy made
a beeline for the snug table, her arm stretching towards her packet as she
approached. Quickly taking out a Player's, she exhaled, and tapped and lit
her cigarette in one brisk movement, caving her cheeks in more then ever, mum
surreptitiously noticed from her seat. Real relief flooded through Suzy as
she was direct-inhaling a long second drag; she noted how lovely the flavour
of fresh tobacco smoke was as the very first taste in her mouth. Mum
suggested she make herself comfy in the snug and she would bring the tea
over, which Suzy marked with two double pumps.

Mum finished her cigarette and came over bearing their mugs of tea, just as
Suzy finished hers too. They took their first sips and of course mum lit a
new cigarette. Though she stuck her head in the newspaper, she made sure her
exhales went temptingly Suzy's way. Suzy realised that of course she would
need another cigarette too to go with her tea, but was not quite sure if she
dared. Dare she did, however, sliding her hand over her Player's packet and
getting ready to light up. Mum saw and smiled, and offered her daughter a
light, conferring her blessing.

"Nothing like a ciggy with a cup of tea is there?" she grinned. "But you'd
better take it up with you while you get dressed. We're running a bit late."

"OK Mum," Suzy agreed and off she went.

Suzy really enjoyed smoking a cigarette while she got dressed and sipped her
tea. She decided to make it a regular feature of her early morning routine.
She was down the stairs again in her school uniform not long after finishing
her `dressing ciggy', as she now thought of it. Just the one round of toast
permitted Suzy to start a second after-breakfast Player's at the table, which
she was now in the habit of taking back upstairs with her to collect her
school things. She found that a strong double pump to start the stairs, and
long out-of-breath direct inhales, helped her smoke her cigarette in good
time. A last two pulls coming downstairs again, and she stubbed out on her
way to the car; she sat in the car and expelled a little mist of her deep
residual exhale. Suzy decided to wait a few moments after all those ciggies,
almost one after the other. She smiled at the thought. And lighting up a bit
later meant she would be closer to school by the time she finished it. But
the aroma of mum's dense exhales let her wait no longer - she wanted one now.
She took care to fully exhale before drawing so that every inhale was strong,
long, and really deep. Suzy was certainly content with her five cigarettes by
half past eight, when she began her school day.

Unfortunately her cravings for a cigarette had got so intense by the final
bell that she ran most of the way home. Anticipating her first draws off a
fresh Player's after all this time spurred her on, despite her getting quite
short of breath. This naturally served to increase the power of every drag
she sucked off her cigarette, and prompted her to take much more frequent
puffs. She sucked that one down while still in the hall and immediately lit a
second Player's which she pulled deeply on while walking through to mum.

"Oh Mum," she sighed and talked through an exhale, "it's so good to be back
home to see you and the house - and to be able to smoke my cigarettes again!
It's getting really, really difficult, Mum, to last to the end of the
afternoon. Really difficult."

"I do know what it's like, darling. Sheer misery, isn't it?" mum sympathised,
while inwardly glowing that her daughter's strong cravings meant she was
already deeply and irreversibly addicted to cigarettes.

"Please, can I take my packet with me so I can at least have one on the way
home, or even outside school at lunchtime?" she persisted imploringly.

"Certainly not, Suzy, you know that's forbidden. Tell you what, though, I'll
invite your cousin Gaynor round to see how well you're doing after only a
week smoking cigarettes, and to give you a few tips. They'll help you last
the day better next week. She only started smoking a year ago. She loves her
cigarettes too - I think she's as bad as me! - and has been through just the
same as you with school when she started. She'll help you out. How does that
sound?"

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