RJ’s First Cigarette, Part 2: RJ and Jeffie

[smokinron]

A few days after their husbands got together, Louise and Irene caught up with one another. Louise invited her over for coffee and, since the boys were still on Christmas vacation, Irene brought Jeffie. RJ showed his friend his new train and they got right down to the business playing with it. Louise asked Irene, “Kitchen or living room?” “Kitchen for me, Hon; I’m not one for formality.” Louise liked her already.

Seated at the kitchen table, Louise asked her neighbor, “So how do you feel about our two little boys smoking?” “Well, Darlin’,” she said in her charming, soft southern accent, “I really didn’t mind the fact that he was smoking. Hell, where I come from people start to wonder what’s wrong if a boy hasn’t tried smoking by their age. Mind you, nobody pushed it, but it was just accepted. Tobacco is our life and our livelihood; it’s what puts the food on the table. No, what bothered me is what other people might say. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love this little town, but so many of the people here are holier-than-thou Baptists and Bible thumpers. I don’t want my son labeled as a ‘bad’ boy or have people talking about what a bad mother I am.”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been upset about!” Louise admitted. After I got over the shock of seeing my husband and son smoking together in the living room on Christmas Eve and after a big fight with Joe later that night, I realized that I didn’t mind the fact that RJ was smoking so much. I mean, I’m not naïve; I know that boys see everyone around them smoking, especially older boys, and they’re bound to try it. As it turns out, he had already been smoking with Jeffie. So, I figured that we might as well be open about it, but I was afraid of what other people would think.”

“Louise, about catching Jeffie and RJ at my house: I suppose I should have called you, but RJ promised that he would tell you and I figured that being able to smoke with Jeffie at our house, and maybe at yours, would be enough incentive to get him to come clean.” “That’s OK, dear; you did the right thing,” Louise replied. “I’m just glad that RJ will have a pal to smoke with and that I have a new friend in the same boat.”

Just then RJ came into the kitchen. “Mom,” he asked, “Is it OK if Jeffie and I go to my room and have a smoke?” “No, I don’t mind at all, but you don’t have to go to your room to smoke. Come on out here and join your mothers at the table. I’ll get you both something to drink and we can all have a smoke together.

RJ called Jeffie into the kitchen and they sat at the table while Louise poured the boys glasses of Pepsi and set out a plate of homemade cookies. They all lit up cigarettes. Watching her son smoke a cigarette with his little friend, Louise suddenly found herself more and more comfortable with both the idea and the reality of her son smoking. She had always thought of smoking as an exclusively adult pleasure and habit. But, it was interesting, she thought. Here they are, just little boys and yet they smoke just like adults. Seeing them holding their cigarettes, taking drags, inhaling and exhaling, reinforced her new-found comfort. The boys made it appear as if smoking was the most natural thing in the world. Maybe her assumption had been just that, something everybody accepts without question, yet which has no basis in fact or reason. Louise looked over at Irene and both women smiled.

After the boys finished their snacks and their smokes, they went back to playing with RJ’s train and the two women continued talking.

“Irene, Joe told me you had a confrontation at the school over Jeffie’s smoking. How did that go?” Louise asked. “Well, Hon,” Irene said, “It ended better than it started. When they caught Jeffie smoking on the playground, Sam and I got called in for a parent-teacher conference. Miss McNulty, the boys’ teacher, got all prissy with me and said, ‘Mrs. Vachek, we have a real problem here.’ I said, ‘Miss Mcnulty, ‘WE do not have a problem; YOU have a problem.’ I explained that Jeffie had our permission to smoke and that after the incident in question we laid down strict rules about when and where he could smoke. When she saw she couldn’t shame me or bully me into submission, she backed down.”

“While I was there, I went and talked with the principal, Miss Fitzgerald. She told me she had grown up in a large family with several brothers. She told me they all smoked at Jeffie’s age and she basically said that as long as Jeffie did not smoke at school she figured it t was no business of anybody at school.”


After work, when Joe walked in his front door, he saw RJ and Jeffie on their bellies on the floor, playing with the train and smoking cigarettes. He went over to the boys and gave his son a hug and patted Jeffie on the head. “So, what are you guys up to?” he asked. “Just smoking and playing with the train,” RJ said, matter-of-factly. “That’s swell,” Joe said. “I’m gonna say ‘Hi!’ to your mom, so I’ll let you guys get back to it.”

He walked out to the kitchen where Louise was busy starting supper. “Hey, Woman, what’s up?” he asked as he gave his wife a peck on the cheek. “Just getting supper ready,” she replied. “Irene came over today we talked about the boys’ smoking. She’s a great gal; talking to her really set my mind at ease about all this.” “I can see that, Louise,” he said teasingly. She gave him a slightly embarrassed grin and said, “I know! I over-reacted, but talking with Irene, seeing the boys together smoking, it all just began to seem completely normal and natural. And,” she added, “it’s just reassuring to have another mother to talk with.”

She went on to tell Joe that she had kept Jeffie, because the boys were having such fun together and that she had invited Irene and Sam back for supper. “They should be here shortly.” Sure enough, a few minutes later the door bell rang. Joe answered and invited them in. Irene immediately went out to the kitchen to help Louise and Joe got beers for himself and Sam and the two men sat down in the living room.

When dinner was ready they all gathered at the table and sat down to meatloaf, mashed potatoes and a green bean casserole. When they were all done, the women cleared the table and brought out coffee and the pecan pie Irene had baked that afternoon. When they were done the boys did not ask to be excused from the table as they would have done before. Instead, they were only too happy to remain at the table for the after-dinner cigarette ritual with their parents. “How interesting,” Louise thought, “who would have thought that the family that smokes together stays together!”

They capitalized on the moment to go over the smoking rules that both families had laid down. The boys could smoke freely at home, and now at each other’s houses, they could smoke in certain situations when they were out with their parents, but they were not to carry their cigarettes to school, or to smoke at school under any circumstances. The boys agreed and then asked if they might be excused from the table.


RJ woke up early. As he lay in bed he became aware that he still had the taste of tobacco in his mouth and on his tongue from the cigarette he’d had before he went to bed the night before. He liked the taste; it was an adult taste. He turned over on his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows, and reached for the pack of cigarettes and ashtray he’d left on his nightstand. The smell of the crushed butt in the ashtray reinforced his desire for a smoke. Before putting the cigarette in his mouth, he ran it under his nose to get the smell of fresh tobacco.

He reached for his matches and as he did so he saw in his mind’s eye flashes of men lighting cigarettes from the TV shows he’d watched last night. He struck a match and lit the cigarette. As he drew in the first puff of smoke, he could feel a slight stirring in his groin. As he took another puff on his cigarette, he instinctively rubbed his hard penis against the mattress and continued doing so as he smoked, still picturing the men from TV. A moment or two later, as he was taking a deep drag on his cigarette, he felt his penis explode with a gush of moisture. It felt so good.

He put out his cigarette, threw back the covers, and pulled down his pajama bottoms. At first he was afraid he had wet himself! But, no, the liquid on his tummy was all thick and gooey, definitely not pee! And then there was that feeling. RJ got up, put on his robe, grabbed his cigarettes, and went downstairs where, as usual, his dad was sitting at the table. “Morning, Dad,” RJ said with a smile. “Good morning to you, son,” his dad replied. RJ took a cup, filled it halfway with coffee and then filled it up the rest of the way with milk. He sat down at the table and took a sip of his drink. The smell and taste of the coffee prompted him to reach for another cigarette.

As he lit the cigarette, he could feel his penis stirring again. He sat there smoking, trying to figure out what was going on. “You’re quiet this morning, RJ.” His dad remarked, “Anything on your mind?” As the question hung in the air, a million things were going through RJ’s mind. He was thinking about what he had just experienced and wondered if he should say anything. Finally he just blurted it out. “Dad, something happened this morning right after I woke up.” He said. “I was laying there feeling a little sleepy still and all of a sudden I felt my wee-wee get sort of hard and then, all of a sudden I felt all wet down there. But I didn’t wet my bed, Dad; it was different.”

His father smiled, suppressing the urge to laugh, because he could see his son was so serious. There was another silence, but this time it was his dad trying to think what to say and how to say it. God, was his kid already there? RJ puffed on his cigarette and took another sip of his coffee searching his dad’s face for some reaction. His dad also took a sip of coffee and then a drag off his cigarette. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he looked his son in the eye and smiled.

“Don’t worry about it, RJ.” Joe said tenderly, “What happened is a sign that you’re growing up, Son. Your body is getting you ready to be a man and you’ll start experiencing a whole bunch of changes. Your wee-wee, which I guess we should start calling by its grown-up name, is going to start getting bigger. As your penis gets bigger, the sack which is called the scrotum is also going to get bigger and hair will start growing around it. It will take some time, but eventually you will get hair on your face, too, and I’ll have to teach you to shave. And your voice will change; it will get deeper. While all this is going on, you’ll probably start having some really nice dreams and you’ll wake up with that wet feeling down there. Don’t be afraid of it, Son; it’s completely normal.”

“So Mom won’t be mad at me for messing up my pajamas and the sheets?” RJ asked. “No, Son,” Joe replied with a smile. “She won’t be mad. I’ll talk to her and explain what happened. It will all be just fine.” As he spoke, he could see his son’s anxiety melt away, replaced by a sense of apparent relief. There was a long ash on the cigarette in RJ’s hand. He tapped the cigarette on the rim of the ashtray next to him and took a last drag on his cigarette before butting it out in the ashtray.

Apparently that was enough for now. Joe decided to wait and answer the bigger questions until RJ asked them. The two sat there, ate breakfast, and finished their coffee in comfortable silence.


Joe pulled up in the station wagon and parked in front of the house. RJ and Jeffie were waiting on the porch and ran out as soon as they saw the car pull up. They put their stuff in the back of the station wagon and got in the back seat together. As they were doing so Sam walked up from down the street. He put his bag in the back and got in the front seat beside Joe. A moment later, Joe drove off.

It was the last weekend of Christmas break and they were headed to the Kowalski’s little cabin on an inland lake in the rolling hills of southwest Michigan. It was a summer cabin, small, and not much to look at, but Joe and Louise had bought it with the idea that they would fix it up over time. It really wasn’t meant for winter use, but it had a fireplace and they had plenty of blankets and warm clothes. It would be fine.

It was a fairly mild January day and, although there had been a fresh snow, the roads were clear. They made good time and half an hour later, they were pulling into the parking lot of the grocery store near the cabin. Joe, Sam and the boys got out and went in to buy some groceries for their overnighter at the cabin. As they left the store, they ran into another man with a boy about the age of RJ and Jeffie.

“Hi guys,” the man said. “Hi, Mr. Perry,” they both replied in unison. Mr. Perry was their gym teacher at school. Turning to Joe and Sam, Mr. Perry said, “Hi, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Mike Perry, the boys’ gym teacher and this is my nephew, Tommy.” The men exchanged greetings and Joe asked, “Do you live around here, Mike?” “No,” he replied. “I live in town; I just promised my nephew a little outing before school starts.” “Same here,” Joe replied. “We have a little cabin on the lake and Sam and I brought the boys out for a last fling before they have to go back to school.”

“Hey, if you like, why don’t you follow us over. We were going to light a fire in the fireplace and roast some hot dogs for lunch.” Joe said. “Well, thanks,” Mike replied, “that’s very kind of you, but we wouldn’t want to intrude.” “No problem,” Joe said, “we’ve got plenty of food and the boys can play outside after lunch.” “Well, OK, what do you say, Tommy?” Tommy looked at his uncle, then at RJ and Jeffie and said, “Sure, that sounds swell.”

As they drove the short distance to the cabin, Joe, Sam and the boys all smoked a cigarette. Sam was the one who brought it up. “I think this is one of those situations where you boys probably shouldn’t smoke while your teacher is there with his nephew.” He said as he looked to Joe for support. “Probably not,” Joe said; “Sorry, guys,” he added, “I wasn’t thinking about that when I invited them, but I’m sure they won’t stay that long.

When they reached the cabin, they all jumped out of the car. The other car with Mike and his nephew pulled up right behind them. What they all noticed at the same time is that the man and the boy were both smoking cigarettes. “Well, it looks like the smoking problem’s solved,” Sam remarked with a laugh. Mike had noticed them being noticed. He and his nephew put out their cigarettes in the car ashtray and got out of the car.

Joe went to the cabin to open the door while RJ and Jeffie started gathering up their stuff. Sam went over to Mike and his nephew. “Grab your stuff,” he said with a smile. Tommy grabbed a bag from the car and ran over to RJ and Jeffie. Sam and Mike walked slowly to the house. “So, your nephew smokes?” Sam said. “Yeah,” Mike said. “His parents caught him last summer and came down pretty hard on the kid. After the second or third time they gave in and let him, but there still not really cool with it, so I try to take the kid out whenever I can. But don’t worry, I told him he can’t smoke while we’re here.”

“Hey, no problem,” Sam said. “Jeffie has been smoking since summer and RJ just started this fall. Joe and I and their moms are fine with it. We’ve given them permission to smoke at home.” “I knew Jeffie smoked,” Mike admitted, “I remember when one of the teachers caught him at school. I guess I even heard that you and your wife had given him permission; I didn’t know about RJ.”

They went inside where Joe was already working on getting a fire going. The boys had thrown their stuff down on the couch and looked like they were starting to get acquainted. Sam went over to Joe and whispered something. Joe turned and looked over at Mike Perry for a sign of reassurance, then turned to the boys and said, “Hey RJ, why don’t you take Jeffie and Tommy out and show them the lake while we get things ready. And forget what I said in the car on the way over. You guys are free to smoke!” All three boys got satisfied looks on their faces and ran out of the house down toward the lake.

When they left, Joe turned to Mike Perry and asked, “So you’re OK with the boys smoking?” “Hell yes,” he said. “I was their age when I started, too, but nobody made a big deal of it then. I guess during the Depression and the World War, folks had more to worry about than whether or not their kids were smoking.” “That’s pretty much how we feel,” Joe replied. “They’re gonna try it, so why fight it.”

The fire started to warm up the small cabin and soon it was warm enough to take off their heavy coats. Joe made a pot of coffee and they sat down near the fire to talk. “So what’s the big deal at school?” Sam asked. “Why can’t they make allowance for kids who smoke with their parents’ permission?” “Well, it’s complicated,” Mike said. “I’m the only male teacher at the school and I only have the boys for gym classes; most of the women teachers don’t like the idea of kids smoking. And those who are sympathetic don’t want the hassle of having to deal with the parents who don’t want their kids smoking.”

“I can see that,” Sam said. “And it’s OK for now; the boys seem content to smoke at home, but eventually, they’re gonna start having cravings at school. Then what?” “Well, at least they get to go home for lunch, where they can have a couple before heading back to school.” Mike replied. “But since we caught Jeffie smoking on school grounds – and, of course he’s not the only one – I‘ve been thinking. What would you guys say if we formed a cub scout troop and limit it to boys who smoke with their folks’ permission?” “I think that’s a fuckin’ great idea!” Joe exclaimed. “It would be a regular scout troop,” Mike explained, “but we could let them smoke at meetings and maybe it would create a larger network for them.” They continued to throw around some ideas before they went out to join the boys down by the lake.

[kyle]

Ron,

Fantastic part 2!

Kyle

[smokesmoke]

Great! Part 2 was as exciting as Part 1. Hope you will keep this going. It's cool to read about those days when smoking was considered okay and encouraged.

[smokinron]

Thanks, guys! I really appreciate the comments and the feedback. I do plan to keep it going. I think what's been inspiring me is that I have been watching the dvds of the first three seasons of "MADMEN." Watching them really takes me back to that time period - priests lighting up outside church, doctors lighting up in the sam room, preganant women smoking AND drinking, and everybody else smoking everywhere! It had to have been the golden age of smoking.

[MalSkin]

Great story, thanks for posting it. Before anyone starts to say how immoral it is, we are talking of a different world back then, when it would be common place for boys to smoke younger.