(Very soon it’s time for me to get back to some proper writing, so maybe my subconscious is doing some sort of warm up exercise. On the bus last night I was suddenly overwhelmed with a piece of text I just needed to write. It’s one of them that just comes to you, and you’ve got nothing to do with it, you just write it down.)
The subway picks up speed again with the familiar, metallic whooshing sound. All the empty seats lay dirty and silent around them, for a second reminding her of some cheesy apocalyptic scene from one of them movies she doesn’t like. There is only her, him, and that “no smoking” sign staring her in the face, screaming out its message to the gray surroundings with its bright red letters.
She’s rotating the unlit cigarette impatiently between her fingers. You know what, she thinks to herself. You know what? Fuck it.
“Mind if I smoke?”
“Do I mind if you selfishly breathe secondary smoke into my oxygen supply, forcing me to inhale toxics that will effectively poison my system and shorten my life a little with each breath of air? Not really. Do I mind if you add to your own pathetic addiction of said toxics? Maybe. But no one is stopping you.”
She looks at him, trying to decide if he’s one of them people who are going to be difficult about this, one of them hippies who deserves a kick in the nuts, or if he’s actually being as wonderfully sarcastic as he seems. He smiles. She pulls the lighter from her inside pocket without breaking eye contact.
“Thanks.”
The click of the ignition, the slight spark on the first attempt and the yellow flame on the second. The dry paper between her lips, the tiny, slowly burning glow that comes to life a couple of inches from her nose, like a tiny camp fire for roasting tiny marchmallows. The first inhale, the pause as she holds it, the burning in her lungs. The exhale, the rising smoke dancing towards the ceiling like spirits from her insides, like something with meaning. The buzz. The relief from emptiness.
What had he said, to shorted your life with every breath?
Sounded like a fair enough deal to her.
(Need to boost confidence, is it any good? Am I ready to write on monday?)
