This story is by Roman Ambrosia and was part of our 2018 Spring Writing Contest. You can find all the writing contest stories here.
It is a hot late June afternoon in Alabama, Jason West, a 15 year old teenager, is visiting an amusement park with his mother. The two of them split up, so that Jason can ride the roller coasters that he loves, and mom can enjoy her quiet time. However, as he comes out of the restroom he sees a tall, blonde woman standing out of the women’s restroom wearing a gray tank top and blue shorts holding a big fat cigar. He looks as she takes a puff on it and smoke comes out of her mouth. A girl about his age comes out of the bathroom and the two of them start walking away. Then he is faced with a dilemma. Does he follow the sight of a woman smoking a cigar, which is beautiful to him, or does he just follow his original plan and ride rides.
“I want to ride that ride over there,” the girl says to her mom as she takes a puff of the cigar and exhales the smoke and some of it goes in the girl’s face.
“Ok honey, enjoy. I’ll be sitting on that bench there,” the lady says and kisses her daughter on the cheek. After that, she takes a seat on a bench as her daughter goes to wait on line for the ride. After she sits down at the left hand corner, Jason sneaks up behind her and starts sniffing her cigar smoke. He loves the smell and the sight. The lady then puts the cigar in her mouth. While it is dangling from her mouth and smoke is coming from her mouth and nose, she takes a rubber band out of her pocket book.
“I have to talk to her,” Jason whispers to himself hoping no one can hear.
“Want to put my hair in a pony tail?” The lady asks Jason with the cigar still in her mouth.
“Uhh sure,” Jason replies nervously. As he is doing her ponytail, she removes the cigar from her mouth and exhales a huge cloud of smoke, and it all flows to the back, on Jason. He is very happy.
“Want to sit down?” The lady asks Jason when he is done. Still nervous, he sits next to her on her right hand side.
“Hi. I’m Jason. What’s your name?” Jason asks the lady as she takes a puff of the cigar and blows the smoke in his face.
“How old are you, Jason?” The lady asks him.
“I’m 15 now, but I will be 16 in two weeks,” Jason replies.
“My name is Tiffany but you can call me Mommy Dearest and I’ll call you Sonny Boy since I’m 45 years old. How does that sound, Sonny Boy?”
“Sounds good, Mommy Dearest,” Jason replies. “But that girl that was with you, is she your biological daughter?”
“Yes, Sonny Boy. Her name is Molly.”
“She is lucky to have such a cool mom,” Jason says to Tiffany as she blows cigar smoke in his face after taking a puff.
“So, what is it that attracted you to me? I saw you standing behind the bench earlier watching. Did your little rooster grow?”
“I just thought you were pretty,” Jason says to Tiffany. “Your long, beautiful blonde hair. Your body. And to top it off, you smoking the cigar just makes you seem awesome, like you do your thing and don’t care what others think about you. Why didn’t you get upset when you realized that I was stalking you.”
“Don’t say stalking. You were watching,” Tiffany tells him. “To answer your question, I get looks all the time. People are too shy to get close to me. I’m like, come talk to me if you like what you see. I don’t bite.”
“I also like the smell,” Jason says to her.
“Interesting,” Tiffany says.
“Maybe it reminds me of when I was younger. My mother always had to work and when there was no school she’d leave me with my grandmother, who smokes cigarettes and occasionally a small cigar. Not the big ones like you do. My mother was always so strict and nagging. Never let me have fun. My grandmother always let me do whatever I wanted. Eat junk food, watch movies with profanity. You name it. I feel like she always understood me better then my mother. It could be I just associate smoke with coolness. Letting one be free. I’m sure you are a cool mom.”
“I let her go out with friends, but I sometimes pop in to embarrass her. She hates that I talk to and get along with all of her friends and when I light a cigar and start smoking in front of them. I make sure to smoke in my two seat pickup truck, windows closed. I even pull up next to her friends and let them see the stupid faces she makes as I blow smoke on her. Embarrasses her so much.”
“I wouldn’t be embarrassed by you,” Jason says.
“You talk a good one, Sonny Boy. Thinking you can upstage me.”
“Do you make her call you Mommy Dearest?” Jason asks as she blows more cigar smoke in his face.
“Of course. I do it to make sure she knows her role. I am nice about it, however. I let her say it in a sassing matter in public. We have fun together but she knows that I’m her mother and I’m older, prettier, smarter, and more talented then she is.”
“Are you worried that Molly may spot us, and what she would say?” Jason asks.
“She avoids making contact with me whenever she can. She is standing on that line over there and I am chatting with you. Everyone wins,” Tiffany says smiling.
The two of them continue talking for about a half hour. Jason is really feeling comfortable. Tiffany keeps blowing smoke his way. And then, Jason’s phone vibrates and interrupts them.
“Shit. It’s my mom texting me,” Jason says to Tiffany.
“Watch your shitty language, Sonny Boy,” Tiffany says flirtingly. “Only I can curse because I’m old. Understand?”
“Yes, Mommy Dearest,” he answers as she blows some more smoke on him. The two then continue talking for about a half hour.
After that, she puts the almost finished cigar in the mouth. While dangling it and smoking, she reads the text message with Jason. It reads, “We have to go soon. Where are you?”
“About to ride a roller coaster. Will meet up with you when I get off,” is what Jason texts his mother. As he anxiously waits for a reply, Tiffany takes one last puff of the cigar, throws it on the ground and stomps on it. She gives him a kiss.
“Thanks for the conversation, Sonny Boy” Tiffany says before giving him a kiss on his cheek. He then kisses her on the cheek. He enjoys the taste of cigar on her skin. At that point, he gets a text back from his mother which reads: “Ok. I’ll be by the entrance waiting.”
“I will miss you,” Jason says to Tiffany.
“Well, why don’t you give me your number so we can keep in touch and hang out sometime,” Tiffany says. “In a couple of weeks my daughter goes to summer camp. We can probably arrange something then.”
The two then exchange numbers and Jason goes to meet his mother at the entrance. Shortly thereafter, Molly is done with the ride. The two of them walk out of the park also. Jason’s mother tells him to wait in the car because she has to use the bathroom and gives him the car keys. It is at this point that Jason wonders if his choice to converse with Tiffany was the correct one. He knows that if his mother finds out, he is in big trouble and Tiffany would be in legal trouble. However, if he did not converse with her, he would have lost out on what could be a great friendship. At least for now, he is glad he rolled the dice but serious consequences could follow. But if he did not do this, who knows how long he would regret not taking the chance.
Jason walks to the car and notices a pick up truck parked to the left of his mother’s car. Jason is delighted when Tiffany walks up to it, opens the door, and gets in. She lights a cigar, and then opens the passenger door to let Molly in. Jason looks on in awe as the pick up truck drives away with Molly sitting in the passenger seat making dirty faces as her mother smokes a cigar and intentionally blowing smoke on her while driving with the windows closed. Jason is glad his mom doesn’t go out of her way to embarrass him even though she is annoying in private. However, he wonders what it would be like to have someone that seemed understanding like Tiffany.
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