The Magic Cigarette

Eight-year-old Josh sat on a swing on the playground of Dickson Elementary School, kicking the pebbles underneath the swing set with his shoe. The spring sun was setting behind the neighboring high school, and he knew that he should have gone home a while ago.

Two teenage girls rounded the corner at the back of the school, climbed five or six steps up the fire escape and sat, one a couple of steps below the other. Josh held very still in reaction to their appearance, and they did not seem to notice him.

One of the two girls wore flair pants and a flannel top, and her dark hair was long and streaming down her back and shoulders. The other was dressed in a cheerleading uniform, and her blonde hair was feathered like Farrah Faucett's on Charlie's Angels.

"Debbie," said the dark-haired girl after a few moments, "are we going to smoke that joint or what?"

Debbie looked around and spotted Josh. She inclined her head toward him. Josh was staring at them very frankly.

"This kid is watching us, Nan," Debbie said. Josh could see her underwear under her short skirt because of the way she was sitting on the fire escape step. He took a good look, but neither of the girls noticed.

"He's not going to tell anyone," said Nan.

"How do you know?" asked Debbie.

"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" Nan asked Josh.

Josh shook his head no, wide-eyed because she had spoken to him.

"See?" Nan said. "Now let's light up."

Debbie took what kind of looked like a cigarette from a case in her purse. She lit it with a blue Bic lighter, the same kind that Josh's mother used to light her cigarettes, and then dropped the lighter back into her purse. She took a long, hissing drag of the cigarette-thing and then passed it to Nan, who did the same thing before passing it back to Debbie.

"What is that?" Josh asked.

"A cigarette," Debbie said.

"I've never seen anyone share a cigarette before," Josh said suspiciously. "And it smells funny."

"That's because it's a magic cigarette," Nan said.

"Oh," Josh said. He was unconvinced, but he was willing to take their word for it.

"Did you hear that Karen DiCicco is preggo?" Debbie asked Nan in a choked kind of voice like she was holding her breath and trying to talk at the same time.

"No shit!" Nan exclaimed, taking the special cigarette and drawing on it. "Who's the lucky daddy?" she asked in the same choked voice like the one that had just come out of Debbie.

"That's the thing," Nan said. "She doesn't know. That's what I hear, anyway."

"I didn't know she was such a slut," Debbie said.

Josh didn't understand words like "preggo" and "slut," but Karen was clearly both of those. It didn't sound like they were good things.

"Like you never..." Nan looked at Josh, and her voice trailed off. She brushed her hair behind her ears with her fingers. Her ears had long earrings with blue stones of some kind set in them.

"Sure I do," Debbie said. "But one at a time. Karen was going out with Pete Shueman," Debbie said confidently. "But she was also screwing around with Bobby Gerber too. So it could be either one."

Josh was surprised at the mention of his brother Pete. He and Josh had been told by their father many times to quit screwing around, but apparently, no one had said that to Karen and Bobby. He wondered what kind of trouble they were in for screwing around. They probably wouldn't be able to watch TV for a week. That's how Josh usually got punished.

"Or both," Nan said. "Wouldn't that be wild?" They both laughed. Josh didn't get it, but he figured it must be pretty funny because the two girls kept laughing. He tried to laugh too, but he wasn't sure what to laugh at, so he stopped trying and simply stared at each girl back and forth as they spoke. They would look at him and smile every now and then, and he beamed because he felt like he was part of the group, even if he didn't get what they were saying.

When the special cigarette got too small to hold, Debbie produced a clip from inside her purse and put the magic cigarette into it. Josh wondered why the magic cigarette didn't have the cotton thing on the end like his mother's cigarettes did. The girls sucked on the remnants of the special cigarette until it was almost gone, and then Debbie put the tiny bit that was left on the fire escape step and ground it in with her saddle shoe.

By then, the sun had set, and the streetlights had come on. Josh knew he should definitely be home by the time the streetlights came on and that he would be in trouble when he did go home, but he kept sitting on the swing, captivated by the teenage girls and their strange conversation.

"Let's go get some beer," Nan said. "We can drink it at my house. My mother's on second shift today."

Josh felt a pang of disappointment at the idea of them leaving.

"What about your dad?"

"He's still living with his girlfriend, Susan. I hardly see him anymore."

The girls stopped talking for several seconds.

"You'd better get the beer," Debbie said. She gestured at her outfit. "Rah-rah-rah."

"What about him?" Nan asked.

"I don't think he should be drinking beer." They laughed.

"Shouldn't you be at home, little boy?" Debbie asked.

"My name is Josh," Josh announced, insulted at being called a little boy.

"Josh what?"

"Josh Shueman."

"Holy shit," Nan said.

"Did you understand what we were talking about?" asked Debbie.

"Sure," said Josh. "Karen is screwing around with Paul Gerber, and she's a preggo slut."

Debbie gasped. Nan laughed.

"You should go home," Debbie said.

"I don't want to," Josh replied.

"Why not?" Nan asked.

"I'll get in trouble for being out so late," Josh said. "It's almost dark."

"We should take him home," Nan said.

"What about the beer?" Debbie asked.

"I can get beer after we drop him off," replied Nan.

The girls climbed down from the steps of the fire escape. Nan held her hand out to

Josh. He took it, and she pulled him off the swing.

"Let's go," Nan said.

"Don't you want to know where I live?" Josh asked.

"I already know," said Debbie.

They walked off the playground onto the sidewalk with Josh sandwiched in the middle. He held his other hand up, and Debbie took it. He gripped their hands tightly and dropped his weight towards the ground experimentally. The girls suspended him between them.

"Swing me!" Josh said excitedly. The girls swung Josh up and down a few times.

"Okay, that's enough," Debbie said after a few moments. "You're heavy."

"That's what my mom and dad say."

They rounded a corner, still hand-in-hand-in-hand. Dennison Junior High School came into view. It had a lawn terraced into three ascending hills, and it was a favorite for sledding in the wintertime. They walked across the street from the school and its adjacent football field. Sometimes Josh could hear the noise of the high school football games that were played there from his room.

"Are you going to tell Pete what you heard?" Debbie asked.

"I don't know," Josh said. "Maybe."

"I don't think you should tell him," Debbie said.

"He might get mad," Nan offered in support of her friend. "You don't want him to get mad, do you?"

"He picks on me a lot," Josh said in affirmation. "I don't want him to get mad at me."

"Then you should keep it to yourself," Debbie said.

Josh thought about that for a moment. "What will you do if I don't tell him?" Josh asked, slyly.

"What do you want?" Debbie asked.

"A kiss," Josh said, surprising himself. He didn't know he wanted the kiss until the request had popped out of his mouth.

"Okay," Debbie agreed.

"Ew," said Nan. "That's perverted. He's just a kid."

"He's just like Pete," Debbie said. "Only smaller."

"You have a crush on Pete!" Nan exclaimed.

"No, I don't!" Debbie denied. Even Josh knew that her defense rang hollow.

"Oh my God, yes, you do!" Nan went on.

Debbie was silent, but her grip on Josh's hand became tighter.

"Ow," Josh complained. Debbie let go, then turned and knelt in front of Josh. She offered him her cheek.

"On the lips," Josh said.

"He is just like Pete," Nan laughed. Debbie turned her face to Josh, tilted her head, and closed her eyes. Josh darted in, brushed her lips with his own, and darted back away again.

"You're a good kisser," Debbie said, standing up.

"Definitely," Nan agreed.

Josh grinned.

He held out his hands, and each of the girls took one. They walked the last block to his house in silence. Josh tried to cut through the alley because it was quicker, but the girls very deliberately steered him to his house the long way. It was almost completely dark.

They stopped at the steps that led up to Josh's porch. The light was on, but only the screen door was closed. Josh could sense movement inside the house, and he could hear the evening news coming out of the TV within. His stomach began to knot as he anticipated his punishment.

"Remember, you promised," Debbie said.

The girls dropped Josh's hands, and he slowly mounted the steps that led to his doom.

"I'll remember," Josh said, looking back.