This is so taboo, so far outside my comfort zone. The factors which gave me the idea are explained on the bottom. So… here we go! It's set somewhere in between series two and series three.
"MIIIIIIIIIIIIKE" Jody Jackson's voice sounded loud through the house of Ashdene Ridge. "I NEED CHOCOLATE! Have we got any biscuits?" Jody crawled up onto the kitchen counter and standing on her knees started opening and closing the cupboards in search for what she needed. "UGH! WHY HAVEN'T WE GOT ANY? FLOSS? DID YOU EAT ALL OF MY BISCUITS AGAIN? THEY WERE MINE! MIKE I'M GOING TO THE STORE" angrily, Jody jumped down from the bench and ran out of the kitchen just as the person shouted for came from the other direction and looked after her with a raised eyebrow before he shrugged and thought to himself that at least Jody was at this point old enough to know how to get to the store and back. And use her own money. So with that, he turned to the kitchen and started investigating the cupboards to find out what to have for dinner.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
Not a minute after Jody had disappeared from his sight Mike heard a blood freezing scream from upstairs. And he let go of the rice bag and hurried to the bathroom where it had come from, well. Just as well as everybody else in the whole house who were crowding outside the bathroom.
"Kids… go away." Mike tried to get the others away and then knocked on the bathroom door. "Are you okay? Can I come in?" Mike could hear the sound of footsteps, then the door opened just a little and while he squeezed himself through the doorway Jody sat down on the edge of the tub looking around nervously until Mike had closed and locked the door and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you o…"
"Mike… What if I'm dying?"
"What?"
"What if I'm dying?"
"Jody, why would you be dying?"
"I'm bleeding."
"Do you need a band aid or something?"
"Goddamn it Mike! There's blood in my undies!"
"What… Oh. Hold on a second Jody. I'll get someone to explain this to you. Explain what's going on." Mike suddenly seemed awkward and nervous, and then he took a few steps back and opened the door to face the other children. "Boys, Toni, Billie and Floss. Get out. Into the garden or out to town or wherever you want just get out. Carmen, Kazima and Tee stay in the house, don't go anywhere."
"Oh- oh." Tyler teased. "I bet Jody started her first leak week." Mike glared to the boy but Tyler just laughed and walked away still smirking, even though Mike couldn't see the middle aged man still knew that was what Tyler was doing for knowing him well. And that before he showed Jody to come after him and he looked around from one of the girls he last mentioned.
"Kazima, Kazima." The first girl that would have been through the same thing as Jody was now that Mike spotted was the African one. "Can you explain to Jody you know… girl's flu? Monthly? Whatever you call it?" Kazima raised an eyebrow, as if it took her a second to understand what he meant but then shook her head.
"They don't tell you much about that in Somalia. Sorry Mike. I would but I wouldn't be able to if I tried."
With that- whatever it was In the African girl's voice made Jody even more scared- and made her want chocolate even more and a lump was rising in her throat because she was scared and because she didn't have any goddamn chocolate. And then she was really angry when tears were starting to rise in her eyes and she didn't want to cry.
"Carmen…" Mike stopped the girl dressed in pink in the hallway. "Why don't you… explain to Jody you know… what do you call it? Aunt Flo and cousin Red?" Carmen raised an eyebrow and smirked at the middle age man in front of her.
"No way Mike." Mike grimaced. "I am not doing that."
Carmen walked away and Mike grimaced again while she walked away before Mike checked his watch to see how long it was until his employee would arrive and then sighed. Way too long, so he turned towards the room of the last one of the 'kids' he could turn to for explaining to Jody what was going on.
"Tee." Mike found that Tee Taylor was just on her way of going out. "Can you… I need someone to… explain to Jody you know, monthly… Monthly ehrm…code red"
"I would but… I'm going out to meet Johnny. Sorry Mike."
With that, the blonde and Mike's last hope for now walked down the hallway. Mike winced, but understood that he couldn't keep Tee from go meeting her brother for the first time in almost a month. Just as little as he could make Carmen or Kazima explain to Jody what was going on. And the younger girl was still jumping from one leg to another to try and stop whatever was bleeding.
"So… well..."
"I am dying aren't I?"
The very serious tone in Mike's voice had scared Jody. She didn't realize- didn't even know that that one had been there for the fact that Mike didn't know how to explain it more than anything else. Or because he didn't want to be the one explaining it to her. But she took it like he knew this was something very serious- something frightening.
"Hello-oh."
But Mike never got so far he had to explain to Jody what was going on. Just as he tried to make up his mind on how he was going to he heard the front door open and close and finally breathed out when he could hear May- Li's voice call out. And with that he showed Jody to come with him and hurried down the stairs.
"Where are the others?" May- Li sounded confused and then looked to Mike who looked kind of awkward and Jody who seemed scared out of her mind but had at least stopped jumping from one leg to another but was looking from Mike to May- Li and to Mike and back again. "What's going on?"
"I'm bleeding." Jody screeched. "I could be dying and he won't tell me what's going on." Jody angrily pointed to Mike. "He said you could and… you could tell me why I want chocolate. Because I want chocolate. I'm dying and I want chocolate."
It didn't take May- Li more than that and the way Jody was moving trying to keep it from bleeding to realize what was going on. And while Mike sneaked away mumbling something about paper work she smiled as comforting as she could at the younger girl trying to decide where to start.
"You're not dying Jody." May- Li said as if it was the least dramatic thing in the world. "First, go get some new underwear and trousers. If you wear dark- colored ones it won't show if it bleeds through again." Jody nodded nervously. "Okay, go off…. You know Mike." As soon as Jody ran off May- Li turned through the open door to the office and to her boss. "You're going to need to learn how to explain this yourself sooner or later."
"I'd rather do it later than sooner… and why? As long as there's someone here who can explain it better than me and got personal experience of it."
"But you know there's gonna be a period of time…" Mike burst out laughing at May- Li's bad joke. "And now… only because you won't take this seriously." May- Li put her hand down Mike's jacket pocket and pulled up his wallet. "You're the one that has to go to the store and buy Jody chocolate."
"Okay… Why?"
"And hurry."
"Why?"
"Because girls and women on their periods have got a natural NEED for chocolate. And Jody already thinks she's dying so you better not make it even worse with not letting her have that chocolate. And you better buy the right kind of it or…"
"Or what?"
"Or this period of time will be your very last."
Random fact
This idea may seem, oh well. It is for sure weird and random and… whatever you want to call it. If you wonder about where the idea came from- well, there is this Swedish book written by a girl named Clara Henry (look her up!) which is called (In Swedish though) 'Yes, I'm on my period. So?' and a few days ago I was reading it on the bus (it's written like half about what are periods and the history of periods and yeah all of that. Half what have made it such a taboo and what we could do to change it.) So I was doing a sort of experiment with bringing it and check if anyone would react.
Two girls further back in the bus did. Sitting their giggling, whispering to each other and looking at me. Then stopped once I'd put the book into my bag again so I know it was at that. But heck! I can read whatever goddamn book riding the bus, just so you know.
The second thing that gave me the idea started when a friend of mine on here, who is male. Asked me 'what is it with you girls and chocolate?' and I looked it up. Girls like chocolate more than boys because of something in chocolate working along with the hormones which have got to with the menstrual cycle so yes. Women who are PMS'ing and women on their periods DO NEED chocolate.
And then I was thinking about how much Jody's matured since Tracy Beaker returns, when I saw her in that episode with Sasha. And then I was thinking about how obsessed she was with chocolate in the beginning and… here it is!
