The days after, Helena couldn't understood what had been going on. Why this interest for those women and that girl? Manuela, what a smoker! She just kept smoking and coughing, smoking and coughing, and Helena assumed that the grand-daughter, Christa, would go the same way sooner or later. Anyone could see that Grandma was her big idol when it came to smoking.
The time went on and Helena started to forget about the whole thing until Manuela phoned an evening and asked if she wanted to drop in for a cup of coffee the next evening. Helena accepted without giving it much thought.

When they now met again, at Manuela's place, Helena noticed what a great woman Manuela still was, despite her age and her heavy smoking. Of course, she had small wrinkles on her dark brown lips and her almost black hair had started to turn light grey, but it actually made her even more exciting.
Ana-Maria was there too, and she had cut her hair even more short now. Helena noticed how tall and slim she was. Her body together with that short hair drew the attention to her face with her extreme hawk nose, which her mother had too, but her less extreme body and hair didn't put the face in the focus in the same way.

They sat down and drank their coffee, chatting. Manuela didn't smoke while drinking her coffee, Helena noticed to her surprise. As soon they had finished their coffee, the older woman was of course the first one to light up. She took an eager double drag, inhaled hardly and nose exhaled through her long nostrils after some seconds. She started to cough with a long, wet rattling and cupped her dark brown hand over her mouth. Her smoker's cough lasted for about ten seconds. Then, Helena couldn't resist asking about her smoking life.
- How many years have you been chain smoking, Manuela?
- Well... about ... over seven, I think, Manuela guessed.
- Little Mummy always was a heavy smoker, I've heard, Ana-Maria smiled and mouth exhaled. She coughed three times in her hand.
- I think my little girl means when I told her about how I was smoking while pregnant with her. I didn't have any real smoker's cough at that time, but I had started to cough a little in the mornings. I mean, I started to smoke one pack per day at 17 already, maybe that's why. I remember waking up in the morning and try not to cough, because Ana-Maria was so heavy to carry inside me, and coughing made it worse.
Manuela laughed a little, and as so many times before, it turned into a coughing fit. She coughed and coughed and it sounded like the mucus inside her chest was almost like foaming. Helena heard her cough some of it up and swallow.
- Mmmm, I shouldn't have taught you to smoke, or should I, Manuela sighed and smiled at her tall daughter. She put her arm around Ana-Maria and leaned her head on her shoulder. - Yes, I think I did right, you're a great smoker, honey.
- You should have seen us when we were alone together, Manuela smiled at Helena. - She was ten only, we were watching TV together. I was smoking and smoking as usual, I wasn't really chain smoking at that time but when watching TV I almost was. Anyway, I had put my arm around my girl (she caressed Ana-Maria's cheek and Ana-Maria responded by touching her mother's cheek with the tip of her nose), holding my cigarette in that hand. I got some crazy idea and said "want to try?" and she nodded. I carefully put the cigarette between her lips and told her to suck but to avoid inhaling. Well, she got used to the taste after a few trials, and some weeks later I told her to inhale carefully.
- I still remember the cough I got, Ana-Maria laughed. She started to cough. - I like this smoker's cough I've got better, she laughed again.
- But I didn't really start smoking until I was 14, I think. And only with Mom the first year, just like Christa now.

-Yes, what about her, Helena asked eagerly. - I remember you told me how she started...
- Well, maybe we didn't tell the exact truth, I can't remember because sometimes I modify it just a little, Manuela interrupted her. Her voice sounded like she had got a lot of fluid mucus up and she cleared her throat three times. Helena waited for a real coughing fit, but she didn't get any this time.
- I noticed that Christa was trying my cigarettes that I had left in the ash-tray when she was 12, I think, Ana-Maria explained. So, I let her try every now and then, I mean not every day but once or twice per week maybe. But, (she looked at her Mom, pretending to be serious) after she had stayed one night here, just she and Grandma together, I noticed she was coughing a lot the morning after. I think she was 13 actually. First, I guessed she just was getting a slight cold, or maybe that it was because of Mom's second hand smoke. But, it died out after a few hours, so I assumed it was the second hand smoke. Then I realized that Christa had been sleeping here for several times, without getting it, so I decided to simply ask her. She hesitated a little when answering, so she didn't really have to answer. She then admitted she had smoked almost one pack, well starting afternoon and going on until midnight, but anyway. And, old Grandma had to admit she had been training my little girl from inhaling a few cigarettes properly up to being able to smoke a whole pack without getting sick.
- I never thought of it, actually, Manuela sighed and smiled. We were sitting there in the sofa and she looked like a real lady when holding that cigarette between her fingers. And, her nose exhales - I don't think that I started to nose exhale already after my fifth cigarette!
- And today, Manuela went on after dragging deeply on her cigarette, we can smoke one pack each together without any problem when she's here. Well, of course, I smoke mine much faster, but anyway. We smoke and smoke, and she puts her warm, soft hand over my mouth when I get my coughing fits, she says she loves it, you know.

- Mmm, she'll soon get a nice cough herself, Helena said dreaming and without thinking about what she said.
Ana-Maria and Manuela looked at her. Manuela started to laugh with her mouth shut, and her chest sounds told the two other that she was going to cough. Her laugh quickly turned into a long, really deep and dark rattling and she cupped her hand over her mouth. She hacked and hacked so she couldn't catch much air, and she bent her body forward more and more. Finally, she forced herself to inhale and she coughed almost wildly for half a minute. The sound from her chest got thicker and thicker and soon she cupped both her hands up over her lips. Helena understood she was coughing lots of smoky mucus up. When her cough subsided, she got up to wash her hands. Meanwhile, Ana-Maria and Helena lit new cigarettes, and Ana-Maria coughed a little with slight rattlings after a long nose exhale. Manuela returned and lit a new cigarette immediately. She pulled the smoke down into her smoky lungs with her mouth open and nose exhaled.
- Your noses seem to be made for cigarette smoke, Helena smiled. Ana-Maria filled her lungs with cigarette smoke from a triple drag, crushed the cigarette out in the ash-tray before turning her head and mouth exhaling.
- Well, our big hawk noses are used to it, she said with smoke drifting from her nostrils. - Maybe our nose exhales look bigger because of our nostril sizes, she laughed and looked at her Mom.
- Mmm, Manuela said and nodded. - Funny thing is that Christa has got the same style. Has she told you when she smoked through her nostrils at school, she asked her daughter.
- Yeah, she did, Ana-Maria smiled. - Those stupid girls, you know, she explained to Helena. - They were competing to see who could smoke the largest number of cigarettes by inhaling through the nose. Of course, Christa had the largest nostrils - she managed to smoke six cigarettes in each nostril at the same time! Of course, they didn't smoke the whole cigarettes, I guess they tested a few drags.

Ana-Maria turned her head and coughed four times. She let her hand remain over her mouth for a while. She looked at her watch.
- Time to go home and fill Christa with some second hand smoke before going to bed, she joked.
- Looking forward to seing her again, Helena quickly added. - Why can't the three of you come over to my place an evening?

Helena said she would give them a call before the next weekend.
- Mmm, she thought to herself on her way home, their three long, smoky pairs of nostrils, and their three smoky, rattling pairs of lungs in my flat... I should fix a candid microphone to save the sound of Manuela's lovely coughing fits forever... plus Ana-Maria's coughings. And, if I get Christa to smoke enough, maybe some of her nice, young cough as well...