Lauren didn't notice her mother Betty vanishing from the kitchen table this morning. She was also oblivious to the obese woman that materialized in Betty's place ...
... and to the hundred-plus extra pounds she gained beneath clothes that morphed from fashionable to dowdy. The cute splash of freckles across her snub nose faded away as she developed a prominent beak like her new mother's. Acne broke out on her cheeks. The fiery red of her hair became a dull brown with a few blonde highlights. Tangles and split ends multiplied. This Lauren no longer took care of herself. What would be the point? She felt hopeless. Genetically doomed.
Just like her best friend Gladys Brewer. Their classmates joked about the "Brewer-O'Brien Twins," calling them "BOB" in the hallway. Lauren wasn't looking forward to seeing them in a few minutes on the bus. When they weren't staring at her like some kind of circus freak, they were laughing at her behind her back or at least in their heads.
Lauren scooped up the last of a pile of pancakes that had been a single pancake only minutes ago. She stood up and sighed, dreading her trip to school. Would the creeps in her class joke about the bus being "weighed down" again?
"Have a good day at school," said her new mother. A smile spread across her double-chinned round face.
"I'll ... try, Mom." Looking at Mrs. O'Brien gave Lauren a bit of hope. Maybe she too could be married someday. But until then ... life would just be one long nightmare.
As Lauren grabbed her backpack, she noticed a metallic stone on her carpet. How'd this get inside my house? she thought. She picked it up and forced it down the pocket of her tight jeans.
Although she intended to drop the rock in her yard, she spotted the bus approaching her house through her living room window and changed her plans. She dashed out her front door, running faster than in any gym class she had ever taken.
The bus doors automatically opened. Drained, Lauren huffed and puffed as she walked up into the four-wheeled yellow torture box. She tried to ignore the insults. "Record time, O'Brien!" "You're not at the finish line yet!"
Lauren made her way to the very back of the bus where Gladys was waiting for her as usual. "Hi, Gla ... ouch!" She felt something on her thigh.
"Did you break something?" asked Gladys.
"No," replied Lauren. "I forgot I had this thing with me." She pulled the stone out of her pocket. "They just can't stop, can they?" Lauren could hear faint laughter from the front of the bus. Most of the kids in the back at least had enough class not to mock her. "How much longer will we have to put up with this?" asked Lauren. She squeezed the stone in anger. "I wish ..."
