The Blue Bong

She picked the green pipe and took a long hit. Her eyes closed, nose flared, head cocked upwards slightly, her neck exposed, and her chest puffed out. Puff. Puff. Puff. That one took an eternity. The music in the restaurant slowed down, every sound had an ethereal kind of feel to it. She stopped, removed the pipe from her mouth, and held her breath. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tock. Tock. The pipe was almost back to her after having made a round when she finally let out the smoke, slowly through her nose, before taking one long breath of fresh air to mix with the smoke, and let the diluted smoke out. Nods of approval all around.

The glass bong was emerald blue in color, she had bought it the day after she had finished the twelfth grade. Something to remind herself to turn into a wild spirit, to explore the world, do things she wouldn't have done. Meet people, go places, see the world, do things. That was her motto. The shiny blue bong seemed a bit too gaudy, there were glass instruments that would looked at home in a lab more than in a pothead's closet. That was more her style she picked up one that looked like a double-bubbling flask. The smoke would go through there, into the water, come out, again into the water and you were supposed to put ice into the second chamber to cool it down, by the time the smoke was out it would be free of ash, cool, and utterly pure. As if it was made in a lab. No. She didn't want something that was made in a lab. That wasn't the person she wanted to be. She wanted to be a spirited person, down to tumble with the weeds, get roughed up and learn from the world. The lab equipment wouldn't do...she needed accessories that reflected her aspirations, not her existing values.

The very week she met him she brought it out. He was impressed. He didn't know of many people who owned bongs to begin with...the guys rolled on any piece of paper they'd get their hands on, though using newspaper as rolling paper was getting to be considered ratchet lately the more well-off guys had started buying proper rolling papers. The classier guys had pipes, just for the weed, they wouldn't let you mix tobacco in those at all even if you promised to clean up afterwards, something about the smell of tobacco polluting the fragrance of weed, those jackasses. And this was a girl. Who had a bong. That looked so chill. He knew he knew then he couldn't let her go, if she wanted to marry he'd be down for that if she wanted to talk and she had a husband and three kids to go back to he was down for that too. He'd become an admirer a dust on her mat if that meant getting to spend more time with the cool girl.

So anyway guys, lets do this more often while we're all still here, she said after a long pause. Your eyes look so red, he said, smiling. Maybe that's cos they're so full of...um..love, she said giggling through the sentence. I took a big hit, it's hitting me pretty hard, we're not going to have too many of these days man, gotta enjoy them while they last no, she said generally to the crowd. Murmurs of agreement.

When's your flight again, Aditi (??? figure the names out???) asked. It's...it's...8.30 in the evening, I think, eight days...wait no seven days from now! Damn, that's so close man less than a week from today, fuck. Who knows when I'll see you again haiii. fuck. This is weird yeah or is it just me. I feel sad man, she said her eyes arching up, as she looked at everyone with eyes of a hungry puppy.

Of course we'll meet yaar what the heck are you talking about, Sammy said  (again, need to keep track of the characters???), we'll meet in fall break, Winter break summer break all the time, in fact dais and didis say they started hanging out more with their friends in the U.S. that they did here because that's all they had for family and friends. I'm telling you guys right now, I love y'all but I want me some white friends too. And boyfriends, heyyYooo! she said. Hoots, sniggers, claps, shouts of encouragements.