Enter: Dot

I sit up in my bed and twiddle my thumbs. You wont believe how boring hospitals are. Not to mention uncomfortable. The feeding tube is attached to a little machine filled with something not unlike baby food. It pumps the stuff into me constantly. The clear plastic tube goes over my ear, in through my nose, all the way down my throat and ends in my stomach. Sounds nice, huh? I can feel it in there every time I swallow. There is also an IV going into my wrist that pumps some sort of heart medication in.

There is a little TV set up in the corner, but I'm not allowed to watch it. Too many 'triggering' images, according to the doctor. Dr. Hark, as I found out his name was. He sent Yakko and Wakko back in a few hours ago, after he was done talking to them. Yakko had talked for a long time about my recovery, and how we were going to give home recovery a try. I was only half paying attention. I know I nearly died…but part of me just doesn't want to recover. I can still see excess fat around my stomach and on my arms, and as long as its there, I'll just never be cute. If I could just get rid of those last few pounds, everything would be perfect.

I'm scared though. Yakko means business; he made that really clear. And the other part of me, the one that does want to recover, is glad for it. Because that part of me is terrified of what happened. My two sides, I call them. It remains to be seen which one will become my only side…

Enter: Wakko

Boneless chicken breast

Eggs

Whole fat milk

Kraft American singles cheese

Whole wheat bread

Tortillas

Honey

Jam of any flavor

Flour

Sugar

Rice

Pecans

Peanut butter

Peanuts

Bagels

Butter

Pasta raw of any shape

Tomatoes

Onions

Olives

Salt

Pepper

Mayonnaise

Mustard

Olive oil

Fruit juice

The list goes on and on. I look up at Yakko who's picking out a scale.

"This is going to be tough…we've even got to weigh all of her portions…" I say, half to myself, half to him. He nods and continues reading the back of one of the boxes. We're at a local supermarket buying all new groceries and scales and stuff. Last night, after we met with Dr. Hark and went home to throw out all Dots magazines he sent us the email just like he said he would. We have to meet with him every other day and give full reports of everything, and Dot has to be examined by him once a week, on top of daily sessions with Scratchnsniff.

"Well, we're just going to have to be tough." Declares Yakko, selecting a scale and putting it in the cart. I think back to when caught up with her in Plotz's building. How she was holding on to the wall with one hand and clutching her chest with the other…gasping like a fish and then how she had just collapsed and I thought for sure she had died…

"Yeah." I agree and go back to the list. Tonight Dot comes home and we do dinner the 'recovery' way. Yakko looks at his watch.

"4:28. We'd better hurry it up. You've got to get started on dinner and I've got to pick up Dot at the studio hospital."

We wrap it up and get all the groceries and scales (one for food, one for Dot) into the tower. There's a lot of stuff! I get my workout for the week just carrying it in!

"Jeeze…it wouldn't kill you to get some excersize…" Snorts Yakko on his way out to go pick up Dot and bring her home. He's also got to pick up this stuff called 'Boost'. It's a special powdered drink that she's got to drink to help her gain weight and fight her malnutrition.

"Oh shut up…" I mumble as I get up off the couch and drag myself into the kitchen to get dinner started…

Enter: Dot

It feels so good to be back in the tower! The moment I set foot in it, I felt better. No more IV or Feeding Tube (though Dr. Hark said that if I refused to eat Yakko was going to take me back to the hospital and have it put in again) no more weird smells and no more boredom! I dive onto the couch and burry my face in the cushions. Ahhhh…

"Don't get too comfy, dinner's almost ready." I hear Wakko say from the kitchen. I feel a little pang of anxiety run through me. I know my brothers were given a (long) set of instructions on how to go about everything. Dr. Hark told me a few. How they've got to watch while I eat, I cant leave the room until I finish everything, no going out of the room for an hour after I eat so I don't purge, Yakko has to check my pockets for food… It's like they're treating my like a silly little baby, and I don't like it. Unfortunately there really isn't all that much I can do. I know I could flat out refuse to eat, but then that awful tube would go right back into my nose and I would be forced to 'eat' anyway. I decide to just go along with everything. For now.

"Alright Dot, at the table." Commands Yakko. I look over the back of the couch to see Wakko setting food-laden plates on the table. Chicken and Rice. The chicken looks ok, but the rice… "Come on Dot." Yakko is already using his 'I'm warning you' voice. I do a front flip off the back of the couch and plop down in my chair. The food smells pretty good actually.

"Hey, guess what I saw a preview for!" Wakko pipes as he takes a seat in his chair.

"A marathon of Don Knox re-runs?" I guess

"'The Day Yakko Took Over The World?'" Guesses Yakko. Wakko rolls his eyes.

"Pirates of the Caribbean 3!" That gets our attention. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies are some of the only ones we all cant get enough of. Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in loose pirate shirts…now if only they could get Mel Gibson in there…how perfect would that be…

"Ok, enough fantasizing about Mel Gibson in a pirate costume and finish your dinner." Yakko sounds serious but he's rolling his eyes. Meh. Boys just don't understand the attractiveness of pirate costumes. I look down at my plate. I've managed to nearly finish the chicken, but I still haven't touched my rice. Even though I can hear Wakko and Yakko arguing about the movie ("That swamp witches boobs were not fake!" "Yes they were!") I can feel their eyes on me. Problem is, I'm already full.

Somehow I get the rest of the chicken in, but the rice is a bit more difficult. It was one of my 'avoid at all costs' foods. I chew the first forkful for nearly two full minutes before swallowing. Its not that it isn't good; it is. Its got garlic and mushrooms…and I just can bring myself to like it. I take another bit, chewing mechanically. I feel so full I think I might puke. The amount of food on this plate would have normally lasted me an entire day or two, and my stomach just isn't used to this kind of abuse.

There are still a good five forkfuls on my plate. I don't think I can do it. I'm just about to tell them when I remember The Tube. I remember how it felt in my throat every time I moved my head, and how I looked a million times more sick with it in, looped over an ear and taped to the side of my face. I looked like I was about to die. And how I could feel it inside my nose…

I gather up my strength and the last few bits of rice disappear into my mouth. When I'm done I lean back in my chair and pray that it all doesn't come back up again. I worked too hard to get it down there…

"Alright Dot, you can go watch TV now. Just don't leave the room." Yakko says, once he sees I'm done. I slowly get up from the table and go over to the TV. I feel like a big fat cow…I'm just about to consider sneaking into the bathroom when I realize Wakko is sitting on the couch. The little snot has to watch over me! Grinding my teeth I sit next to him and commence watch TV while Yakko cleans up dinner. By the time the first cartoon is over I feel a bit better. Or, at least, I do until…

"Dot, come over here." Yakko is standing in the middle of the living room, and Wakko nudges me off the couch. I walk over and stand before him. "Turn out your pockets." He commands. I make a big deal of rolling my eyes and turning them out. Duh I'm not going to hide food in my pockets...at least not when I know you're going to check them… "Alright, good" Yakko rubs the back of his neck. He seems pretty relieved that there isn't any food in there, like he didn't want to dole out the punishment or whatever it was if there had been.

An hour later I'm allowed to leave the room. But I don't. All that talk of Pirates of the Caribbean made us want to see the first two. So we spend the next four hours watching them, back to back on the couch. Even though there are so many new rules…so many new things and consequences…Just sitting there with them, like old times…I haven't felt this happy in a long while.