Re : Re:Rush Hour Smokers -- Dave
Well today is Thursday, last night was an adventure I will not forget. Unknown to me Jessica, the smoker, rides the same train home with me. As I was walking to my car I could hear someone attempting to start a car in the lot, but did not realize it was her. I walked up and I could see her with a freshly lit cigarette in her mouth, and her body frantically bouncing in the drivers seat. I thought oh boy this could turn out to be something, I tapped on the passenger side window, it was kind of dark out, and she unlocked the door, again I had to get in the back seat. The inside was full of smoke, I asked what the problem was and she replied she did not know, but it would not start, you see her car is an old Oldsmobile probably a 1984 or 85, this is her train station car, she told me she has a new car that she keeps in her garage and only uses on special trips. Well anyway I watched for a few minutes as she unrelentlessly pumped the gas pedal non stop. She cranked and pumped and took deeeeeeeppppp drags off her cigarette, only removing it from her lips to flick the ash into the ashtray. I told her to stop cranking it and sit for a few minutes and just pump the gas pedal. She did, and lit another cigarette while doing so. She could have pumped that pedal more than 100 times, and finally she tried it again, and nothing. I could see she was getting mad, and everytime she tried it the pumping was faster and harder, and she inhaled longer and deeper. I told her that I could faintly smell gas, even though the inside of the car was full of cigarette smoke, and I told her that she probably flooded it due to all the pedal pumping. She looked at me and said that I was problably right. I asked if she was having trouble with it and she said usually in the morning it is a little difficult to start, but after a few minutes of pumping the gas it will start. She did say that she has not had the engine tuned up in the last 5 years. Well I offered her a ride home and she accepted, she asked if she minded if she smoked in my car, and at first I hesitated, but gave in, she was really upset about her car, and it seemed that smoking was her only relief. My car had never been smoked in. So I said what the heck, we got in and she immediately found the ashtray and flicked ashes into it. I asked where she lived and she told me, and much to my suprise she lived about 7 blocks from me. On the way home she chained 2 more cigarettes. We arrived at her house and she politely asked if I could pick her up in the morning. I told her yes. She said most likely in the morning her car would start after sitting all night in the train lot. She asked if I wanted to see her other car, we went to her garage and there it was a 05 Chevy Corvette, a red one. She told me she ordered it special, and even had a 200.00 smokers package, and sure enough when I looked inside there was a full ashtray that fits into the center counsel, and ashes everywhere. I asked her why she would smoke in such an expensive car, and she replied, "cuz I can". I asked if I could sit in it and she said sure, I opened the door and you could smell the stale cigarette smoke inside, it had sunk into the leather seats, and the ashtray was so full I don't think it could hold another butt. She told me she only drives it once in a while but comes out and starts it a couple of times a week.
Ok more tommorrow.
|
