I looked over at Alex and laughed but he wasn’t looking in my direction and suddenly he ran forward.
“What?” I asked. And then I saw it too. The thin column of smoke curling up from the ground. The joint was sitting on a big bed of dry pine needles, and it was only minutes away from going up in flames.
Alex picked the joint up and then began smashing his foot down on the pine needles.
“They could have caused a fire,” he hissed as his foot extinguished the last of the smoke. “So irresponsible.” He shook his head angrily.
“Totally!” I agreed, walking over to him. And then, we both suddenly became very aware of what Alex was holding between his fingers. We looked down at it. Thick, white, rather crudely rolled and burning. We both looked up from it and made eye contact.
“When last did you . . .?” I asked, not finishing the sentence, rather letting the question hang in the air, much like the pungent smoke wafting around us.
Alex looked serious. “I never have.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, and yet, the inflection at the end of his sentence made it feel like one.What was he asking me exactly?
We both looked down at it again. A breeze blew through the forest and dragged some of the smoke with it. It twirled and twisted in the air, like smoke coming from a genie’s lamp.
Our eyes lifted once more and we looked at each other again. “Do you think we . . .?” I asked.
“We could . . .” Alex replied, looking back down at the thing between his fingers.
“It’s just a plant,” I quickly said, in an attempt to justify this.
“And it’s used a lot in medicine these days too,” Alex added.
“Canada just legalized it,” I offered up.
“It’s legal in the Netherlands,” Alex added.
“Totally,” I confirmed.
“And medical marijuana is legal in most of America, you can basically get it for strep throat. I’ve had a few cancer patients on it during chemo.”
“See!” I said. “It would almost be criminalnotto.”
“Exactly,” Alex said.
“So we agree then?” I asked.
“Why not?” Alex replied and then slowly started raising it to his lips. Then he paused. “I’ve never smoked weed before. Ever.” He looked to me, questioningly.
“Just put it between your lips, inhale, and then you have to inhale again otherwise it doesn’t go down into your lungs.”
Alex nodded and tried, but all that happened was a massive fit of coughing and chest banging.
“That’s awful!” He continued to cough. “How do people do it?”
“I don’t think you got any,” I said, taking the joint from Alex and raising it to my lips. “Like this . . .” I inhaled the distinctive-tasting smoke, held it in my lungs for a while, and then blew it out. “Easy,” I said, and passed it back to him.
Alex tried again, but the same coughing fit occurred. He shook his head and passed it back to me. “I can’t do this,” he said.
“Wait!” I held my hand up dramatically. “You can’t back out now. I’ve already done it.”
“But I can’t physically do it.”
“I know.” I took the joint from him, remembering something from my college days. Not that I was a big smoker, but I’d partaken here and there—who hadn’t?Clearly the serious med students hadn’t, that’s who.
“I’m going to blow it into your mouth,” I said. “All you have to do is inhale as I blow in. Okay?”
Alex nodded and I indicated for him to come closer. I inhaled, careful not to keep it in for a second longer than it needed to be, and then brought my mouth down over his. I blew into his mouth and heard the sound as he inhaled in. But even once I knew Alex had inhaled, I didn’t move my lips. Instead, I kept them there. Letting them linger. Alex moved closer to me, the movement caused our lips to rub together. A static-like tingling sensation prickled on my lips. The sensation grew, until my whole face tingled. It crept into the back of my neck and raced down my spine. I pulled away, almost surprised by how intense the sensation had been. I looked at Alex. He had a slightly surprised look in his eyes too.
