Chapter 5: "The Reverend Returns"

Nurse Dot woke me knocking on my door.

"Alice, you had a visitor yesterday who wanted to see you, but the administrators thought you looked to bad to be seen. A famous children's author. He paid for you to get the better meal plan. Poor fellow actually thinks you'll get meat, fish, and vegetables. He's paying for that, but what you get is this: three bowls of rice, beans, and some pieces of bacon. It's not great, but it's an improvement over those three bowls of porridge you were getting. You'll be taking breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the small dining hall at the far end of the corridor behind the double doors. I'll also be bringing you two bowls of rice and beans to your room an hour before bedtime. I'm instructed to stand over you to make sure you eat it all before you go to sleep."

"The administrators think I look like I'm starving, do they?"

"I think that's it. They're embarrassed to have your visitor see you looking like this. Your visitor also left you a box full of treats and two pinafore dresses."

Nurse Dot plopped the box in front of me. I noticed that it had been opened.

"I watched the administrators root through the box. They did not remove anything. Not with me standing there." Nurse Dot grinned at me. She was unfailingly honest - unlike the administrators who pilfered funds that were supposed to be used for taking care of the patients.

There were all sorts of expensive treats in the box such as chocolate and biscuits, and two pinafore dresses at the bottom.

"Is there any chance that you could get me a lock on my door and a key? This stuff will get stolen before sundown if I leave it in my unlocked room."

"Look on your door, dearie," said Nurse Dot. "I can't protect you from theft by the staff, but I replaced that old broken lock with a new one and took one of the keys for you. I know about that incident with the orderly. The administrators have the other key. That means those two idiot orderlies will still be able to get into your room whenever they like. Other patients, however, will be locked out. The lock is a good one. You can't pick it with a needle. You can use this as a keychain."

Nurse Dot handed me a small metal keychain that had room for maybe three keys. I looked at the new lock installed into the door. Not a padlock on the outside. I realized that I might actually be able to keep stuff in my room and not have it stolen within a day.

"Go ahead and try on one of the new dresses."

Nurse Dot had seen me dress many times before, and I changed my lingerie in front of her and put on one of the new pinafore dresses. A chill of recognition swept over me. It was the same dress I remembered putting on in my dream of the Gnome Seamstress' house. The dress was exactly the same. I could even seal the pockets. I was swimming in it.

"It's way too big," I said.

Nurse Dot smiled. "It's supposed to fit in three months. I saw your medical records. Your new diet of five bowls of rice and beans per day and all of those treats that you will be getting in those boxes every week are supposed to make you fill that dress in three months. The administrators are nervous about your exposed ribs and that caved-in stomach just below your ribs. They want to make you presentable."

"I'd be presentable if they spent the food budget on food for the patients."

"I agree, but what's done is done. Your friend arrived just in time. I was beginning to think that you'd be the next patient here to starve to death."

"So now they want to stuff me like a goose."

"That seems to be the plan. My orders are to put at least three stone on you in the next three months. You may not like that, but the reward is that your friend wants to take you out of here. The administrators won't let you leave until you look like a well-fed child of the upper middle class. They're terrified of that friend of yours. They've seen how large the two pinafore dresses are. Your friend just assumed that those two dresses would be about the right size for you."

"I was chubby as a small child. He probably thought I was still chubby."

"You're actually wearing the smaller dress. The other dress is a size larger. The smaller dress was made in the United States and is an American size 12. That's a British size 14. The larger dress is a British size 16."

"The administrators want to turn a walking skeleton into a fat girl in three months?" I was being sarcastic. I knew very well that three stone wouldn't be enough to make a walking cadaver like me fat.

"You wouldn't be fat, you'd just be a lot bigger than you are now. To a young woman as painfully thin as yourself, normal looks huge. I'm a size 16 myself. I'm very typical for middle-aged women. What would you want for yourself if you could choose?"

"If I could choose? That's easy. I want my bones covered up. Every morning when I get dressed I see my own body. I see my bony arms and legs. I see my rib cage. I see my hipbones sticking out looking like they are begging to break. I'm thankful not to have a mirror in the room. To see my bony, narrow, long face would kill me. I used to have such a pretty face. I had plump, full, rosy cheeks. All my facial features were soft and rounded. I was cute. Now I look like I'm only fifteen missed meals away from a coffin. I want my entire body soft, rounded, and smooth. No sharp edges. No hollowed-out spots. You want me to eat? I'll give you no trouble at all. I'll eat anything and everything you shove in front of me."

"You almost sound as if you want to be stuffed like a goose."

"I do. I want my bones covered up. I want to look like a child of the upper-middle class again. I want to be pretty again. Damn it! I want boobs!"

"We'll try to fill you out enough to satisfy the administrators without turning you into a plump matron like me."

"I'd be okay with getting plump if it meant having breasts." I looked down at my completely flat chest. Nurse Dot burst out laughing.

"Be careful what you wish for, dearie, you may get it!"

"I won't give you any trouble about eating. I just hope I don't throw anything up."

I sat down on the edge of the bed and finished off my first bowl of rice and beans for the day. The bacon gave the dish some flavor and made it a bit salty. It dawned on me that the bowl of rice and beans was a lot more food than the bowls of porridge. I actually felt a bit stuffed after finishing it. It was edible. The saltiness of the pieces of bacon made it almost tasty. Two bowls of this stuff before bedtime? I doubted that I'd be able to finish that much. I panted a moment and rubbed my stomach. I turned to Nurse Dot.

"Bring me another bowl of rice and beans and I'll finish it, too."

Nurse Dot looked astonished at me. "Are you serious?"

"Bring me another bowl and I'll eat it."

Nurse Dot complied and brought me another bowl. I wanted to see if I could stuff in two bowls in one sitting. It took some time, but I could.

"I didn't think you'd be so eager," she said. After that Nurse Dot often sneaked an extra bowl of rice and beans into my room after I had had a meal in the dining hall.

After eating, I prepared myself for my morning workshift in Rutledge's vegetable gardens full of delights that the patients never ever saw in their meals. Weeding and picking bugs off the plants was drudgery, but I was happy to be outside in the sun. Nurse Dot and I left my room together. I turned the key in my new door lock and headed down the stairs toward the garden.

End of Chapter 05

This story is based on the characters created by American McGee. EA (Electronic Arts) owns the copyrights.