Another Way to Stay Skinny
It was a late afternoon at Wonderland. They were having game night at the club, and the whole family had gone over there to join in the festivities.
Having seen Regina in one of her Lilly Pulitzer dresses, I figured that, for once, she must be going over with them.
This left me alone in the house—always an intoxicating experience.
I figured it was a good opportunity to check out Forrest’s desk. Maybe I’d find a receipt from some restaurant meal, a lock of red hair. A book of matches, even—the kind of thing Nancy Drew would come up with in the novels I’d loved when I was younger.
I heard an odd, muffled sound coming from the bathroom. This went on for a few minutes.
I tiptoed down the hall. If it was a raccoon or a possum—animals I’d observed a number of times on my bike rides around the back roads of Lake Catherine—I wasn’t sure I wanted to confront it. On the other hand, I was in my investigative mode. I needed to know what was going on.
The sound was coming from the bathroom at the end of the hall. The door was shut. I hid in Jilly’s room, thinking of what to do next.
Then came the sound of the toilet flushing. A few moments later, the door swung open. Regina came out. She didn’t spot me. She was holding a towel to her mouth.
I’d heard about this from girls at my school. Overheard, mostly, because I wasn’t one of those girls other girls told things to. I just knew this was what some girls did who wanted to stay really skinny. Usually the ones who were already skinnier than anyone else in our class.
Regina hadn’t left the house after all. She’d been here the whole time, and she had just made herself throw up. She had taken off her Lilly Pulitzer dress for this. She was wearing her slip.
From my hiding place around the corner, I watched Regina walk slowly back to her bedroom. A moment or two later, she emerged, wearing the Lilly Pulitzer dress again, along with a pair of pink shoes I’d learned to call ballet pumps.
She headed downstairs. I heard the front door close, followed by the sound of her car—the Jeep—starting up. She was off to join the rest of the family at the country club, I figured. As if everything was normal.