Placebo

Act 2 Scene 5 - Placebo

(The Smoker sits in a wireframe chair, sipping his least favorite carbonated beverage)

C: Is that a Diet Pepsi?!?
TS: (sighs) Actually it's a Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi.
C: Why the hell are you even drinking that?!? Just to get that extra dose of phosphoric acid? I hear it does wonders for teeth enamel.
TS: Actually, I've found that I feel a placebo effect of Caffeine, despite the fact that I'm fully aware there is none in here. Weird, huh?
C: More than a little...
TS: Yeah, it's like the total opposite of my experience with Nicotine.
C: Whaddya mean?
TS: Well, when I first started smoking, I actually believed that Nicotine was added in to the tobacco, by the cigarette companies, and that the tobacco itself was just there for flavor.
C: Are you serious?!?
TS: Yeah, well, I wasn't too big on thinking, back then. So, anyways, when I first started rolling my own cigarettes, I thought that the phrase "100% tobacco - No Additives" meant that there was no Nicotine. So I would chain-smoke these hand-rolled cigarettes, and then convince myself, that I was Niccing. I would seriously start shaking, and become disoriented if I went more than a day without a "real" cigarette.
C: That's some crazy shit.
TS: Yup.

(The Smoker drags long, and deep, savoring the warmth, before grinding Cigarette out.)