Those of you who’ve been reading this blog, and our monthly ramblings in Smoke Signals magazine (available, obviously, at Smoke Signals Online, have heard our sad tales about the paucity of good sightings here in Southern California. (Signs at our airport, until recently, have read “Welcome to America’s non-smoking section” – and they’re not exaggerating by much.)
But last night/early this morning, quite by accident, we happened upon one of the places where attractive smoking women in SoCal do hang out.
We actually wish we weren’t there to find it, but we unfortunately had to take someone to the emergency room at our local upscale hospital – and because it was a busy night, we were there from midnight until nearly 6am.
And when we went out for a smoke at 5am, it apparently happened to be break time for the staff.
There were six women (four nurses and two techs), five of them quite attractive and in their 20s to early 30s – and the sightings were 1980s quality. One nurse (who happened to be the one in charge of our friend’s case) was a beautiful brunette, probably around 23 or 24, and she had run out of cigarettes. She asked one of the other nurses what she smoked. The answer was “Marlboro 100s” – and our brunette, with a very hopeful face, said “Marlboro Reds???” When the answer was yes, she got a big grin on her face, and after bumming one and lighting up, took some of the biggest cheek-hollowing drags we’ve seen in quite some time before releasing huge cone exhales into the pre-dawn air. The 30-ish nurse she bummed the cigarette from lit up, and her inhales were just as deep, with even thicker exhales. And across the way, a gorgeous tiny blonde nurse, also in her mid-20s, was inhaling almost as deeply on her Salem 100s, and then doing wonderful mouth/nose exhales right under a street light.
Of course, the break ended all too quickly – and of course, we wish that we hadn’t had to be at the ER at 5am (our friend was treated and is OK now) – but it was a terrific few moments in an otherwise grim night; and a reminder that there are still pretty young smokers everywhere. It’s just a lot harder to catch them.