Coming Home (Chapter 2) (Dark Side Forum)

Coming Home (Chapter 2)
Author: Nobody Special	May 25, 2003 at 08:18:14
in reply to: A new story (not set in 2103)* posted by Nobody Special on May 25, 2003 at 08:16:08*

Follow Ups
	On her drive into town, she passed her old school just as it was letting out. She slowed and saw her old history teacher, Mrs. Martin, in the parking lot. Mrs. Martin had been so helpful to Lisa, when she was working on her honors paper about the history of smoking in the women's movement. As Lisa drove past, she saw the ever-present Virginia Slims cigarette lit between Mrs. Martin's lips, as she stopped to help a young girl light her cigarette. A scene she'd witnessed (and experienced) regularly throughout her high school years. "God", Lisa thought, "that girl is so young to be already smoking...and why are the teachers still enabling such destructive behavior?" Lisa drove on, comforting herself that at least the billboard you could see from the school no longer had a Marlboro Lights ad. When she got to the house, her mother was napping, and Cheryl answered the door...with a cigarette between her fingers. "Cheryl! I absolutely cannot BELIEVE that you're STILL smoking!" "Of COURSE I'm still smoking. I'm a smoker. I've been a smoker ever since you taught me how to inhale. This is what smokers do...we smoke." "But..." "No 'but's. And please keep your voice down...mom's asleep, and she needs her rest." Lisa moderated her voice, but pressed the argument. "But you're pregnant." "So? Mom smoked when she was pregnant with both of us, and we turned out fine. Aunt Cecilia smoked two packs a day during all three of her pregnancies, and her kids turned out OK. I smoked when I was pregnant with Jennifer, and except for a touch of asthma she's fine. Lots of women smoke during pregnancy...it's such a waste to go through all the pain of quitting and then have to work your way back up to your old level after the baby is born." "Fine? We were both pack-a-day smokers before we had our first periods. Aunt Cecilia's kids all started smoking when they were 8 or 9 years old. Fine?" "Yes, fine. As in 'no problem'." "It's definitely a problem." "PLEASE don't start with that anti-smoking nonsense. I don't want to fight, and if you do it around mom you'll just upset her. You don't know how it hurt her when you quit smoking...it was like a personal rejection. She really doesn't need to relive that...especially now." Lisa gave in. As strong as her opinion about smoking was, she didn't want to create a hostile environment in her mother's house during her last days. "So how did you find out about mom's emphysema, if she didn't want to tell you?" "I was over visiting, helping her out with some stuff around the house, since she's been having trouble for a while now, and when she went to light up her cigarette..." Lisa suppressed the urge to begin a fresh rant, this time about her mother continuing to smoke even with emphysema. "...I noticed that she'd torn the filter off first. I wasn't that surprised -- you and I both know it's only brand loyalty that kept her from switching to non-filters years ago -- but I asked her about it. That's when she told me. She explained that she hasn't been able to suck hard enough to get smoke through a filter anymore, and that when she went to the doctor he told her she had it. He tried to set her up with an oxygen tank, but of course that wasn't going to happen, since she'd have to quit smoking or else she'd blow herself up." "God. Only mom would choose to keep smoking even when it meant she couldn't have an oxygen tank with emphysema." "Well, I wouldn't be too sure of that, Lisa, but whatever...that's the way it is. She's been getting worse pretty fast the last couple of days. Basically she can't do much of anything to take care of herself anymore, since she can't get enough breath to move around the house." "OK, so what do you need me to do?" "Just keep the house in order when I'm not here, and...umm...help mom with...anything she needs." "Sounds simple enough." "Yeah. Totally simple. And...speaking of me not being here...well, Ron's working the second shift these days, and I kind of need to get home to take care of Jennifer when he leaves..." "Say no more. I'll see you later, Cheryl."

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