The girl, Margie, was only 14 years old. She had started smoking at age 12, because her cousin Sheila, 3 weeks younger than her, smoked.
“What brand do you smoke?” Sheila asked with a smirk,
and a wink at her friend Shelly.
“Kools.” Margie replied too quickly. She just said the first thing that popped into her mind.
The other two girls made a face at each other.
“Well, we can smoke Kools while you are visiting.”
Sheila replied.
…….
So, now, at 14, and smoking Marlboro cigarettes,
Margie had never actually inhaled while smoking. This is about the day she decided to inhale.
Margie left the house early and walked behind the
school located next door. At the back of
the building, out of sight of the street, she pulled the pack of Marlboros out
of her jeans, drew one out of the pack, and lit it off a match.
Margie sat down on the low mound of earth and inhaled
deeply. Almost immediately it made her
head spin. The vertigo was extreme and
frightened her badly. She thought of
Susan Hayward, the actress who had died from a brain tumor. Then Margie tried
to stand up, but the vertigo got the better of her and she sat back down,
afraid that she was going to vomit. She
looked at the cigarette in disgust, and broke the lit end off, stuffing the
remainder of the cigarette back into the pack.
She thought, “Oh my God, I’m dying!” and “what will I
tell mother?”
She remained sitting on the low mound of earth for
several minutes, and finally the vertigo passed. After several minutes it dawned on her that
inhaling the cigarette smoke had caused the vertigo. No one had ever told her
that inhaling would have that effect.
Feeling better with the vertigo passed, she got up and started heading for home.
That was more
than enough adventure for one day.
....
...
..
.
