Cigarette Burns

The daughter unit went back to Seattle after a six day visit. It was sad to see her go and it put me in mind of the first time I sent her off without a parent. She was 14 and she and her 13 year old cousin went to Salt Lake City to visit their grandma (my mom). I only worried a little about the flight - what really made me fret was that they were going to spend a week in Smokeytown. My mom was a very addicted smoker.

She also used to burn me with cigarettes. Not on purpose, she was an inveterate puffer and she was also a serial gesticulator. During my childhood, I ran afoul of the business end of many "ciggies". Most of the time I happened onto a conversation in progress and got bumped by the glowing butt that was always clamped firmly between her fingers. She always felt really bad, but I felt worse - it hurt like Hell!

Sometimes she'd leave a hot butt on the counter while she was cooking. I'd come in to preview dinner and lean up against the burning tobacco. Shreiking, I'd then stick my burned part under the cold faucet. Cigarette burns are weird - they hurt a lot but I think that's partly because tobacco burns at temperatures slightly less hot than the surface of the sun. Also, the burns are little and round and white in the middle. Did I mention they hurt? A lot?

As dangerous as living with one effusive smoker was, it was worth my life to negotiate my way around my mom, my grandma and my aunt when they were chatting. It was like being surrounded by a swarm of kamikazi fireflies...There were glowing butts everywhere. And not just where mine got singed if I was in shorts or a swimsuit. Yowie! I found it prudent to stay sitting in a corner during these gatherings. Or another room.

The problem was, my mom and our relatives were a heck of a lot of fun. They all loved to tell stories and we'd all get to laughing. Then they'd start flapping their arms (and attached tobacco delivery systems) and I'd get burned. It was OK, though,I had fun and got to know my family. Plus I didn't scar, probably because the cig was always pulled away at the beginning of my shriek so the burns weren't very deep.

So I sent my baby off to visit her granny and possibly get burned. I hoped she wouldn't, but I knew my mom and her tendancy to flail her arms when smoking. I told my baby all about it and warned her to watch out. I also taught her how to treat a burn. Just in case.

The daughter and her cousin came back unscathed. That is good because they are both pale skinned redheads who scar easily. I suppose if she can make it there, in the words of Liza Minelli, she can make it anywhere, and she knows how to treat a burn.