Bad Influence in Recovery

You never know what your children are going to turn into a prop when they replay the tapes and mimic their mother pretending to be an imaginary lady in a brick house with plastic ornaments in her garden who smokes Pall Malls.

Skye and Alex picked up their spelt sesame stick snacks, held them between their fingers, at the webbing between their middle and index fingers, (so I know they're not going to be smokers because smokers never hold their cigarettes that close to their palm - what a relief!) and they practiced saying what a smoker would say.

"Does anyone have a cigarette? I sold mine." (Skye)

"Can you direct me to a telephone?" (Alex)

"Mitsy, how ever DO you get coffee stains out of carpet?" (Alex doing Mommy doing imaginary lady who smokes Pall Malls)

I saw how into it they were, Skye had four spelt sesame sticks in front of him. Alex had the same soggy one he kept puffing on over and over for each line he delivered. His mannerisms were impeccable.

I know Alex will never smoke. But my ears perked up when Little Skye used the word "cool" twice. Oh m'God! I'm such a bad influence! Backpedal! Backpedal!I broke out the You'd-Better-NEVER!-Do-You-Hear-Me?-NEVER!!-Smoke-Cigarettes! speech which included the gory details on the damage smoking does to ones' lungs, and the dangers of second hand smoke.

Then perhaps I got carried away and began giving them scenarios for the future: "What would you do if you got in a car and your friend lit up a cigarette?" I wanted them to say "I'd get out" or "I'd tell them not to smoke". But instead Alex, who doesn't like walking two blocks home from the bus stop, said "Well, I wouldn't get out of the car....."

I said what my parents said during their "Don't-ever-get-in-the-car-if-the-driver-has-been-drinking-
DO-YOU-HEAR-ME?" speech. I told him "Well, if you're just at the high school, you can walk home. If you're farther than a mile, call me and I'll come get you."

They ate their cigarettes and carried on. No more questions about directions to a pay phone or how to get coffee stains out of carpet. What worried me was when was cleaning up afterward and found Skye's secret spelt sesame stick collection he'd cleverly stashed!