Smoking story

Smoking story is one of those stories with a ‘twist’, or surprise ending; it’s also an experiment into whether it’s possible to write a story that is so short it can be read without without scrolling down a web page

One thing I discovered is that it can be done but it restricts description and character development, there just isn’t enough room for them.
Despite these disadvantages, it gives an insight into the impact which the law banning smoking in pubs and bars (and other public places) has had on British people.
So really, it’s an experimental short story which has a surprise ending and some social commentary.

Smoking story

“It almost makes you want to give it up,” he said to the girl who had just drifted from the pub into the smoking shelter.
She lit a cigarette. “It’s terrible, isn’t it”, she said. Her husband or boyfriend was waiting for her there, he guessed, just as his girlfriend was waiting for him.  On second thoughts maybe she wasn’t with a man. The only man around her age – about 20 – was the barman. Maybe she was with a girlfriend.
He glanced again at the bar and saw that she had bought a drink. The barman’s hand seemed to linger over hers when he handed her the drink and his expression hardened.
He realised that the girl had seen it too – and his reaction. “It’s really terrible, isn’t it” she said, smiling this time. She stubbed out her cigarette. “Anyway, it’s been nice meeting you.”
Back in the pub she walked up to the bar and smiled at them both.”It worked. He’s jealous” she said to the girl. “Ok, you’ve had your 15 milliseconds of fame” she said to the barman, nodding towards a drinker at the end of the bar who’d just finished his beer and was looking at him expectantly.
The girl tilted her head towards the shelter where her boyfriend was still smoking. “It’s been really nice seeing you again, Sarah, I didn’t think I’d meet an old friend from college when we came in here – and thanks for the research.”
“No problem, apart from having to smoke a cigarette again for the first time in three years”
“Don’t get into the habit.”
“Ok, as long as you don’t get into the habit of getting too friendly with my husband,” Sarah said, smiling fondly at the barman.

Smoking shelters

Because it is now against the law to smoke in bars and pubs in the UK,  many pubs have erected `smoking shelters’ outside their premises, where customers can smoke.