Chapter 9: "A Key to the Kingdom"
A routine Friday. After morning weeding in the Asylum's gardens, and afternoon reading in the library, I returned to my room to await Nurse Dot probably bringing me an extra bowl of rice and beans. She did arrive as usual, and reminded me to show up in the medical center Saturday morning for my one-month checkup. It was what happened after my checkup that made the day noteworthy.
The doctors wanted a quick check of my statistics after one month of being stuffed full of rice and beans from the Asylum and chocolate and treats from Professor Dodgson. The two men in the medical center left when I arrived to let Nurse Dot take all the measurements. First thing Nurse Dot wanted was for me to strip to naked except for socks. She circled me with a clipboard in hand and scribbled down some general comments.
"You look better," she said. "Your ribs don't show as much and your stomach no longer looks caved in." She pinched me in a few places and commented. "You've even got a tiny bit of flesh to pinch in a few places. Now onto the scales."
She offered me the option to turn around and not see the number generated by the sliding weights on the scale, but I chose to face the scales. I had been 85 pounds at the beginning of the month. Now the scales indicated 102.
"You've done well for the first month. You don't look like you could keel over and die at any moment like you did. You're still thin, though. Too thin to be released."
"Everyone still wants me to fill this dress, hmmm...?"
"I think so."
"I just want my face back. I used to be really cute. I had cheeks like a little girl. I haven't felt glamourous for a long time with this pinched face."
"You don't see any difference in your face in the mirror?"
"Nope," I said. "None at all."
"I see a little difference. Not much."
Nurse Dot took my measurements. Up three inches in the chest although I was still flat as a board. Up three inches in the waist. Up four inches in the hips. I was starting to show a slight rounding in the hips. I still had bones sticking out, but they weren't as obvious as before. The most obvious difference was that all my hollowed-out spots were filling in. I was starting to look human again. My upper arms and thighs still looked like twigs, though. No obvious muscles anywhere. I wondered about the other human cadavers in the Asylum being starved simply because they were friendless and had no one to check on them and keep the administrators honest. Nurse Dot took a few more tests and scribbled a bit more.
"By the end of next month, I want to see some jiggle on you somewhere. A completely solid body in a young woman is considered a sign of grinding poverty."
There I stood with my flat chest, nearly straight hips, and no ass. She told me she wanted to see something jiggle. With a completely straight face. I began to sing.
"All I want for birthday is a wee bit of jiggle,
A wee bit of jiggle,
A wee bit of jiggle.
All I want for birthday is a wee bit of jiggle.
God please send me tits."
"I ain't askin' for much.
I ain't askin' for a pair of bowling balls.
Just a nice, normal-looking pair of B's.
Just enough to avoid looking like a boy in a dress.
Is that too much?"
"All I want for birthday is a wee bit of jiggle,
A wee bit of jiggle,
A wee bit of jiggle.
All I want for birthday is a wee bit of jiggle.
God please send me tits."
"And an ass big enough to bounce."
Nurse Dot winced a little. She led me down the corridor toward the stairway. As I passed by the administrators' office, I noticed that it had the same kind of lock that my little room had. I looked straight at Nurse Dot and she nodded without saying anything. Somehow, I knew that my key would fit that lock. I couldn't test it then because there was probably at least one person in the administrators' office. I knew that I would be visiting that office in the middle of some night when some idiot orderly was neglecting his duties. I wondered what I would find there.
End of Chapter 9
This story is based on the characters created by American McGee. EA (Electronic Arts) owns the copyrights.