This is a story I often think back on, as one of the most memorable times of my life.
In 1995 I had been made redundant from a heating installation company. I arranged to go back to full time college to learn about computers but that left me with the dilemma of what to do until September so I started job hunting. Just to help matters my girlfriend at the time got a job in London and decided she wanted to move down there, I did not, and we agreed on an amicable split.
A friend threw me a lifeline...he worked for a company that managed several properties in Spain, a couple of which he owned, and they could not get any local plumbers to fix leaks, mend toilets and sort out the hot water so I went out there for 3 months, staying in a little corner apartment that needed the decorating and tiling finishing, which I agreed to do as it was rent free. I had the use of a little Fiat car for work and pleasure, when it started, and they even paid me! With my redundancy money I was quite well off and having a great time, the work was not hard, I paced myself, working five mornings a week, doing some swimming and sun bathing in the afternoon and then hitting the bars in the evening and at weekends.
I had been in Spain for five weeks or so and I was in the local store waiting to pay for my groceries when I noticed two very pretty teenage girls in front of me, arguing quietly about which of them should ask for cigarettes and what brand to buy.
I offered my assistance, I said that most of the people I knew who smoked, smoked Benson & Hedges and I asked if they wanted me to buy the cigarettes for them.
The elder of the two said 'yes please' immediately and turned to the younger girl and said 'They were what Mum bought on the plane'.
I got the cigarettes at the till, paid and met the girls outside. As I handed over the cigarettes the younger girl said to the other 'we haven't got a lighter'. I offered them a light but the older girl blushed and said they would get a lighter later. They offered me money for the cigarettes, to which I replied 'don't worry about it', and turned to leave.
On a whim I turned back to the girls and said 'you don't smoke do you?', the younger girl replied 'er, no...does it show?'. I said 'would you like some guidance?'. They looked at each other and did not answer. I suddenly thought about how the situation must seem, a man not far off old enough to be their father (I was 33) offering to take them to who knows where to teach them to smoke, I quickly added that I wasn't trying to hit on them and that I was thinking about the little bar near the harbour, which would be reasonably quiet at that time of day. They had a little discussion about it and decided it would be OK.
We chatted on the way to the bar, about 5 minutes walk, the elder girl was nearly 18 and called Melanie, the younger girl was her 15 year old sister, Lisa, and they had arrived in Malaga that morning, on a two week holiday with their mother.
At the bar I ordered three bottled beers and I started instructing my two interested students. Over the next three hours, with 12 beers between us and the girls smoking five cigarettes each I taught them how to smoke. We got on famously, Lisa was a real flirt after the first couple of beers and Melanie seemed shocked at her sisters behaviour!
As we chatted they explained that it had transpired that their mother had smoked when she was younger and had given up when expecting Melanie, then due to various reasons, mainly financial, not started again. Their parents had separated 10 years previously and after some lean periods their financial position had recently got a lot better due to being left a sum of money in the will of a close relative and their Mum had just started a new job with much better pay. Their Mum had decided that a holiday was needed, their first for 10 years.
Much to Melanie and Lisa's surprise their mum had bought 200 cigarettes on the flight out and when they asked why, she had told the girls that she was going to start smoking again. She had also said that if they wanted to smoke that was ok, but if they did not then she would respect that and only smoke in her bedroom or the garden, not in the rest of the house.
Later that evening the girls left me at the bar and headed off, their cigarettes and my lighter in hand, both smoking as they headed back up toward their hotel. I sighed at the beauty and innocence of youth, had a last cold beer and headed for my apartment for a shower, something to eat and to decide which club to head for.
I saw the girls twice during the next couple of days, once with a couple of boys headed for the beach and again in my local store, they were buying cigarettes. We did not speak but they smiled and waved.
The next day I had the particularly tough job of replacing some leaking pipes on the roof of one of the apartments I was working on. I was sweaty, grimy and wearing a grubby tee-shirt, shorts and a pair of trainers. As I was closing the boot after struggling to get a load of old pipes into it, I saw the two girls across the street, standing with an attractive woman in her thirties, who I assumed to be their mother. She had shoulder length light brown hair, she was wearing a pair of shorts and a simple white blouse. Melanie was pointing straight at me and talking to the woman. I watched with some trepidation as the woman walked across the road toward me with quite a stern expression on her face, she stopped about two paces off and put her hands on her hips and said 'are you the man who is supplying cigarettes to my daughters?'
I was speechless for a moment and then mumbled something inane like 'they said you were ok with it...' which of course they would have said anyway. I was kicking myself for being so naΓ―ve and could feel myself turning red with embarrassment and no small amount of anger. The next thing that happened totally surprised me, she started laughing and said 'your face - you look like you are going to burst!' Then I noticed Melanie and Lisa further down the pavement laughing their heads off!