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staff for two more months of service?”
    â€œExcellent. Mr. Oliva.”
    â€œYeah, I got nothin’.”
    The class erupted in laughter.
    â€œNot good enough, Mr. Oliva. Find a reason.”
    â€œOkay, what about tourism? If summer vacations end, so does the tourism industry.”
    â€œEh. Weak, but I’ll take it. Mr. Dean, your turn.”
    â€œYeah. What about electricity and utility bills?”
    â€œI don’t know, Mr. Dean. What about them?” Mr. Williams responded, and the entire class laughed.
    â€œWell, all classrooms would need air-conditioning, and some are pretty old.”
    â€œGood point. Next!” Mr. Williams moved on until each student made an argument.
    â€œOkay, next topic. You have one minute to decide your position. Ready? Decide!”
    For the topic on whether smoking be banned in all public places, I hurried over to the “Strongly Agree” corner. This time, the class was more evenly divided among the four choices.
    Williams clicked his stopwatch. “Time! Ah, now we’ve got ourselves a debate. Okay, in my two ‘Strongly’ corners—I want to know if I’ve got nonsmokers in the ‘Strongly Disagree’ corner and smokers in the ‘Strongly Agree’ one.” He crossed one hand over the other as he pointed. “This makes for a more compelling argument.”
    A quick glance around the company in my corner told me we were all pretty much nonsmokers. Everyone was shaking their heads, pointing at each other. Except for Julie. She looked a bit sheepish. When I cocked an eyebrow at her, she shrugged. “Former, still-recovering smoker.”
    â€œOkay.” Mr. Williams clicked his stopwatch. “Strongly Agree, you’re up.”
    We all stared at Julie, waiting for her to step up.
    â€œUm. Yeah. I used to smoke in tenth grade. Until I got caught and was grounded. I was pretty much forced to quit. And I’m glad I did. The problem is that smoking is not just a personal choice. It affects everyone standing close to the smoker. So people who choose to smoke are forcing me to join them because I can’t exactly hold my breath while I’m at the beach or walking into a building. And for those of us who quit, sometimes that’s just way too tempting.”
    Mr. Williams applauded. “Well said, Julie! Okay, let’s hear from the ‘Strongly Disagree’ side.”
    One of the airheads spoke. “I don’t smoke, but I don’t think it’s fair that people who do are treated like lepers or something, forced to stand behind some wall with others of their kind. It’s a form of discrimination.”
    â€œThat’s lame, Ashley,” some guy from the “Agree” corner said. “They’re not segregated because they’re smoking. They’re segregated because the smoke was proven hazardous to those around them.”
    â€œYeah, so for the few minutes it takes for someone to finish a cigarette, people can move if they don’t want to inhale too,” Jeff added from the “Strongly Disagree” corner.
    â€œHow far?” I spoke on a sudden inspiration. “The chemicals in the smoke you guys exhale lingers long after you do. They’re still in the hotel rooms after you check out and in the rental cars after you return them. How far do I have to go to avoid your smoke when it’s so, so permanent?”
    I grinned when I felt a hand clap my back.
    â€œSo maybe you should just not breathe,” Jeff said, fist-bumping a guy who found the comment hilarious. “No big loss if you, um, die.”
    A morbid thought crossed my mind. If I died today, only two people in the whole world would mourn me. I couldn’t even count my own grandfather. An elbow jerked me out of that misery.
    Julie gave me a funny look. “Ignore him. He’s just trying to piss you off.” I managed a tight smile and a nod.
    â€œOkay, okay, let’s