The picnic table rests on pavestone under a large oak tree across the parking lot from the office park where it’s shared by the various tenants. On nicer days it’s visited by office workers seeking a quiet place to get some fresh air and a little peace and quiet. Mostly though, it’s the place where the smokers come out for their frequent nicotine fixes throughout the day.
A typical day:
9:35am
Anne arrives; the work day has barely begun but she’s already out there; almost always the first visitor. Anne just turned 50 and though she still turns heads, she’s beginning to show her age. She doesn’t need to work but the kids are out of the house so she went back to use the college degree she worked so hard for. Her highlighted blond hair rests on tan, sun-damaged skin with an abundance of gold jewelry. Her French tipped manicured hand holds the same brand she’s been smoking since high school. She was the popular girl; started smoking in her sophomore year, mainly just to be seen at parties holding a Virginia Slim to rebel against her goody-two shoes image. She smoked off and on through college. Anne’s college sweetheart urged her to quit before they married. She tried but was alarmed it was harder than she thought. She had some success when she was pregnant but picked them right up again as soon as each of her kids was born.
Though her work day is only an hour old, she’s already on her 6th cigarette. She’s had two with her morning coffee, another as she applied her typically heavy makeup, and two more on her drive to work. Anne will easily go through an entire pack today.
9:50am
64 year old Maybelle elegantly walks out from her retail boutique. She was an absolute goddess in her prime but now looks ten years older than she is. From a distance she’s fashionable and elegant but you can see the age in her eyes and profound draw lines around her mouth that have formed from decades of nicotine addiction. About 5’7” and thin, almost gaunt, Maybelle is out of breath by the time she sits down and reaches into her purse for her Winston 100’s. Her heavy breathing produces a rattly cough that prompts her to self-induce another series of hacking coughs to clear her lungs of heavy phlegm, a reminder of the COPD her doctor has warned her about for years and looks around to see if anyone noticed. Expensive lotions and manicures can’t hide the yellowing on her fingertips, nor can her whitening treatments hide the tar buildup between her front teeth. For her, ending the day under two packs is a small victory in her definition of cutting back.
10:05am
The youngest visitor, Kaitlynn, smiles as Maybelle crushes out her third butt into the concrete flower pot ashtray. The 18 year old high school graduate just started her job as a receptionist in the dental office on the first floor. She’s still self- conscious about taking ‘smoke breaks’ at her age, especially since nobody else in her office smokes. Short and somewhat frumpy with short brunette hair, Kaitlynn has a nerdy look to her with large framed glasses. She still wears the same Charming Charlie costume jewelry she’s had since middle school. Her first cigarette was at a middle school sleepover where she and a friend uploaded the YouTube video on a long-buried channel she couldn’t even remember the password to. She still looks like a kid and has gotten used to the disapproving stares she gets while she’s out in public. She’s twirling her ballet flat around her toes and pulls a Camel Crush she lights with a purple Bic lighter. The gamer friends she still hangs around with mostly vape but she feels accepted as the only cigarette smoker in that friend group. She’ll power-smoke her Camel and rush back to work. She’ll return at lunchtime and again mid-afternoon on her less than half pack a day journey.
12:00 noon
Carla and Christine walk out after their half hour lunch. They’re customer service reps at the health insurance company; the largest business in the complex. They don’t socialize after work in spite of their close daytime friendship. Carla is 26 with long beautiful brunette hair but is a little rough around the edges. She’s a former
bartender who is used to having a cigarette whenever she wants, and an 8 hour day in an office is a challenge for her. She isn’t married but lives with the father of her two year old.
Christine is the opposite; a 42 year old tall, beautiful redhead who has been married 20 years and enjoys the youthful energy her work friendship with Carla gives her. Christine hasn’t had a cigarette since college, where she’d occasionally have one if she was drunk enough. She only walks out with Carla to be social. Lately though, she’s been tempted to bum one of her menthol L&M’s. She can’t really explain why, maybe it’s the stressful work of repetitive customer service calls. It just sounded good sometimes, especially when a gentle breeze carried Carla’s fresh exhales across her face; it smelled so good.
Jenna broke Christine’s daydream. Jenna is one of their office-mates, walking off her lunch as usual with her ear buds and sneakers in place of 4 inch heels. Jenna is a 32 year old social butterfly. Ugly rumors are out there that Jenna’s husband found out about the affair she’s having with their son’s soccer coach. Christine ignores them since Jenna is so outgoing and vivacious. She suspects Jenna’s naturally flirty nature with the office bosses, combined with her physical beauty make her an easy target for the jealous fatties who work there. There’s a lot to be jealous of; Jenna is the classic petite blue-eyed blond with proportionate gravity- defying cleavage and birthing hips that make guys shift in their chairs whenever she walks by.
Today, Jenna took a detour by the picnic table to be friendly. She quit smoking some time ago as a promise to her husband and takes her lunchtime walks to deter the temptation to join them. However, before she resumes her walk she reaches her hand toward Carla with her index and middle fingers slightly spread apart in that universal unspoken ask every smoker knows. Carla obliges as she holds her L&M up for Jenna, who takes an impressive double pump, savoring the slow exhale into the breeze betraying her comment about having quit. Jenna replaces her ear buds and comments her husband will never know before thanking Carla with a wink and resuming her walk.
That was too much for Christine. She waited for Jenna to turn the corner before turning back toward Carla, who didn’t even hesitate; no condemnation, no utterances of ‘but you don’t smoke’ or any sort of discouraging comment. She simply holds her pack out for Christine to pull one for herself in that sisterhood of generosity all smoke-break friends know. Christine cuts her eyes toward the building to make sure the coast is clear as if they’re out behind some high school
and accepts Carla’s light. Her 20 year dormant muscle memory takes over. Christine knew to take it slow at first but ingested enough to bring on that lovely and familiar buzz as she admired the elegant look of the white tube between her fingers. This wouldn’t be Christine’s last one, nor would she pick up a pack of her own on her way home today, just a first step toward occasionally indulging an added pleasure on her lunch breaks with Carla – just to be sociable. In future days, Christine’s husband would sometimes give her an odd look like he detected something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. She’d just shrug and internally resolve to be more careful, content to remain a closeted daytime smoker – occasional social smoker.