My Secret Daddy
Copyright© 2025 by CreepyUnclePete
Chapter 7: Age 13, part 3
There were four big grocery bags on Dave’s kitchen table, next to six cartons of cigarettes I hadn’t seen before. I picked up a carton and asked, “What are these? What’s the weird writing?”
“Cigarettes from India, ‘Precious New Flower’ brand.”
“Sounds pretty. What are they like?”
“I don’t smoke, so I haven’t tried them. Let me check the letter from the company. Where did it go?”
I saw the corner of a piece of paper sticking out from under a grocery bag. “Is this it?”
“Yeah. Hmmm...” He read from the letter, “Precious New Flower are menthol light cigarettes 156 millimeters long, double the length of regular cigarettes. The target market is girls twelve to sixteen. Some countries don’t have age requirements to smoke or buy cigarettes.”
I opened a carton and was quite surprised at the length of the packs. “Wow! These are huge!”
“Actually, it says here the diameter is two-thirds usual size, slender and extra long.”
I pulled my lighter from my purse and said, “I wanna try one.”
“Okay. Let’s go to the basement.”
I sat in his lap on the old sofa downstairs. I opened a pack and took one out. He explained, “The company will start selling them in Southeast Asia next month. That’s why they need pictures for an ad campaign. The words on the packs and cartons are in Thai, Lao, Indonesian, Vietnamese. I’m not sure what languages they use in Malaysia or Cambodia...”
I showed off some of the mostly useless stuff the teachers crammed into our heads at school. “Malay and Khmer. Can I try some?”
“Wow! Beautiful AND smart!” He kissed my cheek. “Since Julie and Renee are grounded, the cigs and model fee are all yours. I just need to get a few photos of you for the ad.”
I smiled and corrected him. “You mean a few thousand trillion gazillion?”
“Hahaha! Well, probably a few hundred. No more than a billion, I swear.” He held up three fingers, like a boy scout.
I giggled along with him. “Hehehe! Okay.” I sniffed the very long all-white cigarette. There were strong scents of tobacco and menthol, plus a bit of something spicy. I inhaled deeply through my nostrils, detecting hints of clove and cinnamon. “Smells nice. I think I’ll like these.”
“Good. They sent five pages of ideas and suggested poses, but I’m pretty sure we can figure it out ourselves. There’s just a couple little things, requirements in the letter. They want a blonde, so Julie was going to bleach her hair. Umm and...”
“And what?”
“And they want the girl wearing pajamas, holding a teddy bear while she smokes.” I didn’t know why he blushed and started to perspire.
“A little weird, but no big deal. Okay.”
“Umm ... a pajama top, miniskirt, and uh ... panties. I hope you don’t mind?”
“Panties are like bikini bottoms. Okay.”
He re-read the papers and said, “They don’t specify with or without makeup. How about we try it with makeup today, and without tomorrow?”
“Two whole days of pictures? You sure you’re gonna take under a billion? Hehehe!”
He giggled along with me. “Hehehe! Pretty sure. I love taking pictures of you so much, my beautiful Secret Sweetie.” Until that afternoon, he’d always called me his Secret Daughter. He kissed my lips in a different way than before, not like family at all. It made me happy but quite nervous.
I wanted some space from the uncomfortable feelings, so I said, “I’ll go get ready. Bring out your thousand cameras.”
He looked disappointed and slightly offended. “Twenty-three, only Twenty-three cameras.”
As I climbed the stairs, I chuckled and said, “Hahaha! ONLY!”
He reminded me, “Don’t forget to color your hair blonde. The box is on the kitchen table.”
I briefly worried about what my family would think about me changing my hair from medium brown to honey blonde, and decided they wouldn’t even notice, since they didn’t seem to notice or care about anything else I did.
When I walked downstairs, Dave poured on the compliments. “Wow! With lipstick and blonde hair, you’re gorgeous! So pretty! Your eye makeup is amazing, too!” I ate it up, and was happier than I’d been in months.
The first dozen or so pictures he took were totally innocent, just me sitting on the couch in my regular pajamas with a teddy bear in my lap, and no cigarettes in sight. Around photo number 20 he had me light up, then I smoked at least a full cigarette for each pose.