Thirteen cigarettes.
I counted again, more carefully this time. Again, thirteen.
I sighed and sat back on the sofa. It wasn’t easy being a single mother of two teenage girls. I had long since given up on making them keep their rooms clean… just getting them up on time for school in the morning was a major victory. If I got them on time to soccer practice or swimming lessons, all the better.
And now one of them was smoking.
There had been fifteen cigarettes in the pack last night. I had made sure of that.
I had always wondered whether my daughters would pick up my smoking habit. I had been alert for any evidence of it, but had never seen any… until these last few weeks. Recently, every now and then when I walked outside, I would get a whiff of smoke, as if someone had just finished a cigarette.
Of course, that was no proof. It could just as easily have been a friend or a neighbor smoking. And so I had laid a trap. Fifteen cigarettes in a pack, carefully counted, left just by the front door, where one could be easily plucked on the way out without anyone noticing.
And someone had taken two.
I slid a cigarette out of the pack (twelve, now), placed it between my lips, and sparked it to life. I inhaled the first drag and blew it out in a long cone towards the ceiling. So, who was it?
Amy was my first suspect. She was the oldest, and was well into the age where she might experiment with smoking. But she had always been a good girl, always followed the rules at school, always did her homework on time. Perhaps she had started smoking to relieve stress from studying?
Then there was Natalie, the younger sister. She did have a bit of a rebellious streak. Getting her to shut her music off to finish her schoolwork was sometimes more than I could handle. But surely she would not start before her older sister? Still, who could say.
Of course, I could simply ask them. But whoever it was seemed resolved to smoke in secret. A direct question would likely just result in a denial, and might drive the smoker deeper into hiding. There had to be another way.
The girls had gotten a ride to school this morning with their friend, Kate, and her mother. I had promised to return the favor by picking the three girls up in the afternoon and taking them to their after-school activities: swimming practice for Natalie, then soccer for Kate and Amy. Perhaps I could find a clue there?
When afternoon finally came, I hurried to the school. The girls were waiting for me out front. They piled into the car, and we headed to our first destination, the local pool. We quickly unloaded Natalie and then continued on to our second stop, the soccer field.
Kate and Amy ran out onto the field to join their team, while I joined the other parents on the sideline to watch the practice. As the players sprinted up and down the field, I kept a close eye on Amy. If she had been smoking, even for a few weeks, it might show in her endurance.
I couldn’t help feeling some disappointment as I saw Amy keeping up with the pack perfectly well. Kate, too, was holding her own, even as some of the other girls began to get winded. Possibly smokers themselves? I wondered how many of their parents smoked.
As practice came to a close, I waved to the two hot and sweaty girls coming off the field.
“Hi Mrs. Riley!” Kate called out.
“Hello Kate,” I replied as they approached. I thought for a moment.
“Your mother doesn’t smoke, does she Kate?” I asked, as I pulled my pack from my purse.
“Nah, she actually quit about a year ago,” Kate replied nonchalantly. “I see. And not your father, either?”
“Ha!” Kate laughed hard at this. “Never. He hates smoking! He’s the reason my mom quit.”
Well, no clues there. I ushered the girls into the car, being sure to first throw a towel across the seats, then headed back to the pool to pick up Natalie.
Once we arrived, I left the girls gossiping with each other in the back seat, and headed over to where a group of swimmers was just exiting the water. Natalie was among them, and I noticed she looked particularly out of breath. Hmm.
“Excuse me, are you Natalie’s mother?”
I turned to see the swimming coach approaching from the side of the pool. “Yes, that’s me,” I replied, beginning to feel apprehensive.
“I’d like to have a word with you about your daughter’s recent performance.” “Oh?” My level of apprehension increased.
“Yes. I’ve just had her in a race where she beat out several of our top swimmers. Some have even been training a year longer than her. If she keeps this up, she might even be able to go for a swimming scholarship.”
“… oh? Oh! That’s wonderful!” I managed to say as I recovered from my mixture of relief and disappointment.
“Yes. A great set of lungs on that girl!” the coach called over her shoulder as she headed back to the pool side.
Well. No luck there either.
I wrapped Natalie in a towel and bundled her into the car with the other girls. They chatted with each other as I dropped off Kate and then headed back home. All the while I sat in silence, wondering where I would take my investigation next.
As the girls got their showers and began their homework, I made my rounds of the house. Earlier in the morning I had made a careful count of how many cigarettes were left in the packs I kept in my purse, the kitchen, and the bed room, as well as how many packs were left in the carton I kept on the fridge. None of them had disappeared since the girls had come home this afternoon.
Finally, I heard the girls brushing their teeth before they changed into their pajamas and headed to their rooms for the night. I took the opportunity to make a quick trip to the bathroom myself. I gave each of their toothbrushes a sniff, hoping to catch some residue of smoker’s breath, but any odor that might have been there was overpowered by the scent of mint from the toothpaste.
As I stood there with the toothbrush bristles pressed against my nose, I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror, and was struck by how ridiculous this had become. I decided that I would make one final attempt to discover the culprit, and if this was not successful, I would give up my amateur sleuthing and let nature take its course.
The next morning was a Friday. As the girls sat at the table shoveling down their breakfast cereal, I pulled up a chair across from them.
“Girls, I have a surprise for you,” I said with a smile. “This weekend I’m taking us all on a two-day camping trip at the park!”
Normally the girls would love a weekend camping. But if one of them were secretly smoking, that might put a different spin on things. With the whole family together for two days, it would be difficult to slip away to smoke in secret. And with the only cigarettes available being the pack I would keep with me, it would be very hard to sneak any. I watched their reactions closely.
“Oh wow, really?” Natalie exclaimed, dropping her spoon into the bowl and splashing milk over the table.
“That’ll be great!” said Amy with a big smile. “Can Kate come too?”
“Well I don’t see why not, as long as her mother allows it,” I said distractedly. My attention was still focused on the expressions of the pair sitting across the table. Both seemed perfectly happy, without any hint of nervousness.
I glanced at the clock.
“Oh, it’s almost time for school! Hurry up and finish, then get your books!”
And that was that. My last plan had failed. I drove the girls to school, then gave Kate’s mom a call to confirm that Kate could join us on the trip.
I made one last round of the house. No mysterious whiffs of smoke, all cigarettes and packs accounted for.
The girls awoke bright and early Saturday morning to pack for the trip. They had finished their homework the night before so that there would be no need to get back early on Sunday. I was busy as well, digging out tents and camping equipment and other supplies we would need to bring.
The doorbell rang.
“Come in!” I yelled.
I heard rapid footsteps and Kate’s voice calling out to the other girls. I continued to sort supplies on the kitchen table. Suddenly there was a *thump* as a pack of cigarettes landed on the table in front of me. I looked up in shock to see Kate’s mother Becky standing in the kitchen doorway.
“What’s this?” I asked in surprise.
“It’s an apology,” Beck said as she sat down at the table across from me. “I snuck some from your pack the other day and felt bad about it, so I got you this to make up for it.”
I was stunned.
“But…do you smoke?” was all I could manage.
“No,” she said, casting a glance towards the ceiling, where the voices of the girls could be faintly heard from upstairs. “Not really. I’ve been having one in the mornings every now and then, after I take Kate to school. I keep a pack hidden in the car, but I ran out faster than I thought the other day, and I really wanted one, so I took one of yours. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh no, not at all,” I replied, a sudden sense of relief flowing over me. “Believe me, I know what it’s like. I wouldn’t begrudge a fellow smoker in need. Err, non- smoker,” I quickly corrected.
“Thanks,” Becky said with a wink. “Anyway, just drop Kate by whenever you get back tomorrow.”
“No problem,” I said. My eyes fell on the open pack of cigarettes that I had been leaving out on the kitchen table as my trap, which I had been about to count before packing. On impulse, I slid it to Becky.
“Here,” I smiled. “Take a few for the road.”
Becky glanced at the kitchen door before quickly slipping the pack into her purse.
“Thanks again,” she said, as she stood up to go.
As Becky drove off, I began loading the tents into the car. Natalie came out with her backpack and tossed it in the trunk.
“Amy! Kate! Hurry up! What are you girls doing in there? The sun is rising!” I yelled towards the house.
“Coming, mom!” Amy yelled back.
I started the engine and waited impatiently. Soon, Kate and Amy came running out the front door. They threw their bags into the trunk, slammed it closed, then climbed into the back seat.
“Is everyone ready? No one forgot anything?” I asked, looking at the girls in the rear view mirror. They all shook their heads.
“Then off we go!”
I pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, the troubles of the past few days behind me, eager for our weekend adventure.