Mini-diary by Theo van der Schaaf: Addicted
It is a little after eight in the morning at Schiphol. I have some time left and I want coffee. It's too busy for me at the Deli France. I know a better place on the way to my gate. When I get there I'm right; there is hardly anyone.
While I'm ordering, a tall, pretty woman comes and stands next to me. She waits for the waiter to return. In the meantime I see her gaze go to the cigarette machine a little further on. She has her wallet in hand and starts to lay out coins.
After she has ordered two (unfortunate) coffees, she walks to the machine and pulls out a pack of Marlboro Light. When she's standing next to me, I say, "It's hard, isn't it, stop?"
She looks at me in surprise, a little taken aback, and says, "Well, you know, they're so expensive in England."
I smile at her and say nothing.
She pays for the coffee and then says: “But how did you know?”
“I can't really explain”, I say, “but, addicts among themselves I think, something like that?”
We chat a bit while I drink my coffee. If hers is about to get cold, she has to go. When I walk to the gate, I see her sitting at a table out of the corner of my eye. She points to me. Her partner follows me with a grumpy look…
Submitted by Theo van der Schaaf