Mississippi Burning

"I'll, um, see you downstairs," he said, stumbling into the dresser before reaching the door.

"Bye," Caroline said playfully before taking another gorgeous puff.

+++++++++++++++++++

When the kids went upstairs, Patty followed Charlotte into the kitchen where she was handed a potato masher. She knew exactly what she needed to do with it since, as a child, she had often helped her Mom in the kitchen while her sister and Dad worked at the store. But before Charlotte gave her a bowl of skinned potatoes, she lit herself a 120, placed it in a clean ashtray, and then lit a second cigarette which she proceeded to hand to Patty.

"Oh, I better not," Patty said, politely declining.

"I saw what you were reaching for before you decided to pick up that lemonade glass instead," she said in a sympathetic tone.

"Oh, you saw that," Patty said with embarrassment as she began to mash the potatoes in a bowl.

"Mmm-hmmm," Charlotte hummed.

Patty glanced towards the kitchen exit into the living room. "What if Justin sees?" she whispered.

"So what if he does?" Charlotte replied, "You're a grown woman." Then she added, "They're upstairs; and you'll hear them when they come down. So really, sis...what the hell are you waiting for?"

Gazing at that long cigarette her sister held before her was having a hypnotic effect on Patty. She always loved the look of a freshly lit 120. The orange glow emanating from the tip was so beautifully erotic. When she was a teenager, she didn't need the boys in town to tell her that she was a sexy smoker. She already knew that. (How she fell in love with a man who couldn't see that for himself always disappointed her.) It didn't matter that she was 40 now. She knew she was still a looker, and that long Virginia Slims would enhance her beauty. Moreover, she still longed for the exhilaration of the smoke flooding into her body.Oh, how I miss its power...

She gingerly took the cigarette from her sister's fingers and brought it up to her lips. She watched as the tip brightened with the pulse created by a gentle puff, and she could feel the excitement rising within her. She inhaled...and she suddenly felt transported back to her first cigarette at age 14 with her sister in the woods. She closed her eyes as she held the smoke in her lungs, desperately trying not to whimper from the pleasure surging through her body, and then exhaled a thin white stream.

"Good, huh?" Charlotte said with a wicked smile as she reached down for her own 120 in the ashtray and took a long puff. She was thoroughly enjoying watching her sister's relapse. But greater things were yet to come, Charlotte knew, as soon as the two of them could be alone in the house later this evening. Wondrous things....

Patty smoked more than half of that cigarette, savoring each puff, before quickly stubbing it out when she heard her nephew enter the house. When Curtis ran upstairs, she washed her hands and face in the sink, seemingly oblivious to the fact that with three smokers in the house, she was going to smell like smoke regardless of whether she lit a cigarette or not. Surprisingly, she didn't feel guilty, and that worried her. Now that she had crossed the Rubicon, there was no going back. How was she going to handle the next week hiding her newly embraced identity as a smoker without Justin discovering that?

"Can I help?" Justin asked when he came into the kitchen.

Patty jumped in surprise at his appearance, wondering if he knew what she had done. She discretely glanced over at the ashtray. Would he notice among its contents a cigarette that was only half smoked? Would he assume that it was hers? And then she came to a very sensible conclusion: so what if he did? Charlotte was right. She was a grown woman.If I want to smoke, she defiantly said to herself,I'll smoke! She nodded to herself triumphantly.

But not right now; not in front of Justin, she decided cowardly.

PART 8 - SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY

Justin was surprised at the size of the meal his Aunt had cooked, a real southern dinner with fried chicken, potatoes, peas, and biscuits. Now he was working on finishing a plate of bread pudding. "Did you always eat this way when you were a kid?" he asked his Mom.

Patty, who was absolutely stuffed by the time Charlotte was pouring the after-dinner coffee, replied, "Well, not always; but yeah, a lot of meals were like this. 'Hard to believe now."

"Don't you cook Southern at home, Patty?" Charlotte, sitting next to her sister, asked as she reached into her purse for her pack of VS-120's and proceeded to light one. She then placed the pack between them and gave Patty a knowing smile.

"Actually, I had to learn to cook Chinese for George after we got married," she said, noticing exactly what Charlotte had done but ignoring the secret offer. "He was American born, but he loved the Asian dishes of his immigrant parents." She glanced down at the pack.Must resist. Then she added, far more distracted than before, "He was always complimentary of whatever I'd whip up for supper, but we both knew I couldn't prepare a steamed bun or a plate of stinky tofu to save my life as well as his momma."

Justin, who had not noticed his mother pining for a cigarette, smiled when he heard her say "supper" and "momma." He couldn't remember her ever using those words back home in LA. Clearly she was reconnecting with her Southern roots. If he could read her mind, he would know just how badly she wanted tofully reconnect at that moment by lighting up.

"I declare, I wouldn't even know where to buy tofu around here," Charlotte said with a laugh as she held her cigarette horizontally just beyond her lips. "We are the only Chinese family left in Bedford, Mississippi."

And then Justin caught a glimpse of Caroline reaching into her own purse after finishing her dessert. He could tell that she knew he was watching her out of the corner of his eye, because she was staring straight at him as she brought the lighter to the tip of her long cigarette, and then offered the flame to her brother's all-white Marlboro Menthol. It didn't take long for the dining room to fill with thick smoke.

Over the next 15 minutes, a lively conversation commenced about growing up in the South, particularly if you were non-white. Charlotte and her kids each had stories to share of racist incidents. "You remember, don't you sis, Momma telling us that when she was a kid, she didn't know which public water fountain to use: the one for whites or the one for coloreds," Charlotte said pointing her cigarette from one side to the other. Yet despite racial insults and microaggressions, all three of them each affirmed their love for their town and its people.

Justin, who normally would have found this fascinating, wasn't really listening. Instead, he was watching his cousins smoke cigarette after cigarette. Caroline held her 120 nonchalantly at the tips of her index and middle fingers, completely at ease as she brought the filter to her lips for a four second puff, and then opening her mouth wide to ensure that her cousin could see the slow inhale that followed. In contrast, Curtis kept his 100 in the corner of his mouth, making the orange tip pulse every few seconds and releasing a small strand of smoke which he would French-inhale through his nostrils or simply pull back into his lips. He only removed the Marlboro from his mouth to tap off the ash, and then back to the corner of his lips it would go. Justin had never seen such devotion to addiction. As only a casual smoker himself, just the idea of chain smoking made him queasy.

He also was growing uncomfortable to watch Curtis wrapping his arm around his sister's shoulders, occasionally caressing her ear or her neck as he would a lover. It wasn't long before Curtis had moved his arm across Caroline's shoulder blades so that his fingers could fondle the edge of her breast.And he's not even trying to hide it! Jokes about Southern incest were common in California among Justin and his friends, but what he was witnessing, he concluded, was no joke. As he took a sip of his coffee, he realized that his Mom had an expression of grave concern. She had obviously noticed their behavior, too.

"Tell us about this meteor that landed," Justin asked, seeking to distract his mother from watching Curtis grope his sister. "Any intelligent life pop out?"

"Well if it did, I hope it goes into politics," Charlotte said in a wave of disgust.

Justin's ruse worked. "How big was it?" Patty asked, reengaging in the conversation.

"About the size of a football by the time of its impact," Curtis said, "but it caused ahelluva - oh, sorry Momma - ahuge fire in that tobacco field."

"And what a mess it caused," Charlotte interjected. "Dust and ash all over town from the smoke. I still can hardly keep things clean around here."

"And the road block?" Patty asked, still puzzled that it was there at the edge of town.

"Oh, I'm sure it's just temporary," Caroline said, looking down at the ashtray as as she tapped her 120 over it. For some reason, Justin sensed she wasn't telling the truth.

"Just until those looky-loos stop showing up," Charlotte said with a chuckle. Then leaning into the table, she added, "You know how we've always valued our privacy in Bedford."

Patty stared at Charlotte with a perplexed look. Those were exactly the words that Lawrence used at the road block. And yet growing up in Bedford, she couldn't remember a time when that was actually true. In fact, she recalled, there was alwayssome effort by city leaders to try and rejuvenate the Main Street and bring visitors in. A meteor landing in the middle of Bedford would be a tourist godsend to this dying town.So why do the residents want to keep people out?

"What's wrong, honey?" Charlotte asked with a smile, seeing her sister's furrowed brow.

"Oh, nothing," Patty said. "Just thinking."

Curtis looked down at his watch. "We better get going," he said to his sister.

"Hmmm," she nodded and stubbed out her cigarette.

"Going?" Patty asked.

"Party at Cassidy's," Caroline said standing up. "Come on, cousin. You get to experience some genuine Southern hospitality tonight."

"I thought that's what you were all providing," he said with a smile.

"The term is y'all, ya Yankee," Curtis said teasingly. "And as for hospitality, you ain't seen nothing yet."

"I suppose there'll be drinking at this party," Patty asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Now sis, the New South hasn't given upall of its old habits." Then she turned to Justin, "Why I remember when your Mom was 16, she got sooo drunk...."

"Ahem," Patty grunted with a frown on her face as she slowly shook her head towards her sister.

"Well," Charlotte said with a playful smile with the cigarette millimeters from her lips, "I suppose some stories are better left untold." She took a puff and French-inhaled the contents from her mouth.

Justin smiled as he looked at his Mom.

"Have a good time," she said with some embarrassment.

++++++++++++++++++

The first stop the three teens made was at the convenience store. "'Need some smokes for the party," Curtis said as he unlocked the door and strolled inside. Justin, walking behind Caroline, was struck dumb by what he saw. He had been in smoke shops before in California. What he was standing in here was practically a mini-warehouse. Shelf after shelf was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of cartons of cigarettes, with unopened boxes filled with more cartons clogging the aisles.Is this what people were standing in line out the door for? "I thought this was a convenience store."

"Selling cigarettes is a convenience," Caroline replied with a wry smile as she lit a 120.

"Whatta you smoke, cousin?" Curtis called out after grabbing two cartons, one Marlboro and the other Newport.

"No thanks, I'm fine."

"Come on, Justin. We won't tell Aunt Patty your secret." She moved close to him and placed her 120 in his lips. "What's your brand?" she whispered seductively. Justin took a puff as he looked into her eyes and inhaled deeply, his scalp tingling from the sensation of the nicotine.

"Benson and Hedges," he whispered with smoke pouring out of his mouth. "Menthols."Christ, how I want to to share a smoky kiss with you.

"B&H," Curtis exclaimed as he tossed a carton of Menthols to his cousin. "He's a classy smoker!"

"With expensive tastes," Caroline said wryly.

"Honestly, I don't need a whole carton," Justin protested.

"Oh, you will," Curtis said as he grabbed a lighter off the front counter and gave it to his cousin. "You will."

-------------------------

When Justin and his cousins arrived at the mansion of the old Harper plantation, there were already at least twenty cars parked along the road. "What's the occasion?" he asked as he stepped out of the car and threw on the ground the B&H he had decided to light on the drive over.

"No occasion," Curtis replied heading up the steps of the front porch and ringing the doorbell. "We come here every night."

Every night? Southerners sure know how to party! As Justin walked towards the front porch, he noticed dark skid marks on the driveway.Odd, he thought to himself. He then saw Caroline picking one of the hundreds of wild flowers growing around the foundation of the house, choosing a fiery red bloom out of an orange cluster. "Look," he heard her say to Curtis, "this one's different," to which Curtis merely shrugged his shoulders. She proceeded to put the bloom into her coat pocket.I guess she likes flowers.

Justin was impressed with the façade of this 19th century mansion, and he suddenly made the connection that this was the same house Officer Lawrence was talking about with his mother. It still needed a lot of renovation, but he was envious that his Mom didn't grow up in something similar. The architectural style fit the stereotypical image he had of living in the Deep South.

When the door opened, a pretty 18 year old African American female let out a squeal. "Hey you two, we've been wondering where you were."

"Sorry, Cassidy," Curtis said as he kissed her on the lips. "Supper was late tonight."

"Well, come on in," she said, welcoming them into the foyer. "I see you brought your cousin."

"Hi, I'm Justin."

"Goodness gracious, aren't you just God's finest creation," Cassidy said as she fondled the muscles in his arms. "Mmm-hmm, I'm gonna get me some of you tonight. I haven't had a virgin in 6 months!" she said with a sly smile.

Justin, who was no virgin, was more confused than offended by the comment, and he looked at Caroline for guidance.

"Just ignore this swamp-ass nigger," Caroline deadpanned.

Justin did a double-take towards his cousin.

"Who you callin' swamp-ass, ya chink whore?" Cassidy hollered back in mock anger. "You see this mansion you standin' in?"

Justin's face turned ashen. What had he gotten himself into?

"Don't worry, cousin," Curtis said with a chuckle as he wrapped his arm around his shoulders and led him out of the foyer. "Nigger and chink are meaningless words to us now." The two of them walked into the dimly lit living room where cigarette smoke hung heavily in the air. "What matters is how wetreat each other through the bond we all share." Curtis stuck out his hand towards the room with a smile. When Justin turned his head to look, he was struck with horror. The room was filled with teens his own age with thin tendrils attached to their bodies that were bobbing in the air. Some individuals were connected in pairs, their tendrils caressing one another. Others were engaged in sexual intercourse or blowjobs, the coils madly swirling and gyrating above their heads or wrapped around their bodies. A few seconds after he walked into the room, everyone stopped what they were doing. They could smell that he was a virgin.

Justin turned to flee, heading back to the foyer where he saw Caroline standing in front of the door with eight tendrils slithering above her head like the snakes of Medusa. "Smell the pretty flower, cousin," she said with a smile as she brought the red bloom up to his face and watched it shoot its spores.

PART 9 - PATTY RECONNECTS

After the kids had left, the two mothers took to the sofa with a couple of beers. Charlotte pulled two 120s out of her VS pack and handed one to her sister. "So can you finally relax now?" she asked as she lit her own cigarette and then offered the flame to Patty.

"Definitely," Patty said as she accepted the light eagerly while holding the long cigarette at its base. She puffed twice and snapped back a ball just like the pro she used to be. "Oh," she said with eyes closed and smoke gushing out of her mouth and nose in long columns, "how I've missed this."

"You didn't smoke last time you were here for Momma's funeral," Patty said with a wink.

"I was still married to George then," Patty replied with a mischievous grin. She was suddenly filled with guilt, feeling that such a comment disrespected his memory. She thought about stubbing the cigarette out.

"George seemed to be a good man," Charlotte said sympathetically, though she only met him once when he and Patty came to Bedford for a post-wedding celebration. "He certainly raised a fine son. But it's time for you and Justin to move on now."

Patty nodded her head in agreement as she took another puff. She opened her mouth to let the smoke float beyond her lips and then snapped it back. "So the store is doing okay?" she asked with smoke discharging from her nostrils. "It looked busy today."

"Oh, yes," Charlotte said as she got up from the couch and headed over to a potted plant of orange wild flowers on the window sill, deciding that now was indeed the time for her sister tomove on. "We're just a smoke shop now, and there are plenty of smokers in Bedford."

"Hmmm," Patty replied with another tip-glowing puff. "Some pretty young smokers from what I saw driving in today." She was thinking about the group of school girls she saw at the playground feeding their addiction.

"Oh, well," Charlotte said with a chuckle as she headed back to the couch holding the potted plant with her long cigarette jutting out from her fingers. She set the pot on the coffee table. "Around here, we don't worry about what outsiders and politicians think."

Patty saw this as a good segue to raise the delicate topic of her niece and nephew's relationship. "Sis," she said seriously, "I don't want to pry, but Caroline and Curtis seem pretty close."

"Oh, yes," Charlotte nodded in agreement and then brought the long cigarette horizontally to the center of her lips for a casual puff.

"No, sis; I mean unusually close." Patty was trying to choose her words carefully. "Like,abnormally close."

Charlotte tilted her head and brought the 120 to the center of her mouth for an elegant puff. She inhaled, held the smoke for several seconds, and then exhaled a beautiful, bubbly white stream above Patty's head. "You're well aware of this town's past," she said seriously. "Economic decline; racial conflict; personal misery. Bedford used to be a textbook case of the social rot of the Deep South." She tapped her cigarette over the ashtray. "But that's all changed now."

Patty didn't know what any of that had to do with an incestuous relationship she feared her niece and nephew were engaged in, but she decided to drop the topic. It wasn't her place to offer any criticism. She was, indeed, practically an outsider now after being away from Bedford for so many years. "I'm glad to hear that," she said. "What's brought the change?" Patty took a puff and French-inhaled two white columns speeding up from her lips.

Charlotte smiled as she reached over to the table and plucked a bloom from the pot. "We all just decided to take a break and smell the flowers." She handed the bloom to her sister who gently touched the flower petals.