“What if I don’t want to follow those rules? What if I like to eat unhealthy or I don’t like to exercise or maybe I want to be fat? What then?”
“Morgan, stop it!” She glanced at my brothers, who seemed very interested in our conversation.
I didn’t want to stop. I wanted things to be normal, like I was used to. I hated the way this society worked and how everyone was so worried about gaining an extra pound. I hated that we were so poor that I wasn’t allowed to bake any treats. And I hated that I didn’t know if I could actually get back home, to the world where I had come from.
“Fine,” I said instead, as I walked away in a sulk. I went back upstairs to my room, but this time Amy was there, doing something with her hair.
“Hi, Morgan,” she said, a smile on her face.
I tried not to scowl at her. After all, it wasn’t her fault I hated my life. “Hi,” I said, making sure my voice showed that I was unhappy.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, turning toward me.
“Nothing,” I said as I sat on my bed.
“Okay. Well, you can talk to me about it if you want to.” Then she turned back to the mirror.
Her sweetness was unexpected and I experienced a feeling of warmth toward her that I couldn’t remember feeling before. This Amy seemed more mature than the one I was used to. Maybe she’d had to grow up faster because of the way things were here, especially with Dad being taken away.
Maybe I needed to give her a chance, get to know her better.
“So, how’s school going?” I asked.
“It’s okay. It’s kind of hard being the new girl.” She set her hairbrush down and sat on the floor near me.
Wow, I thought. She’s probably experiencing the same things I am. Except for living in different universe, that is. “Are people being nice to you?” I asked.
“Yeah. But everyone seems to know each other, so I kind of stand out as different.”
“Me, too.” I paused. “I’m going to join the track team.”
“That’s cool. I wonder if they have anything like that at my school.”
“Aren’t you guys required to do a sport?”
“Well, we have gym every day, so we don’t have to join a sports team, but we can if we want to.”
“Well, I guess you can find out if they have a track team.”
“I will. Thanks, Morgan.” She stood and left the room, a big smile on her face.
Although I didn’t think I’d done anything worth thanking me, her happiness made me feel better.
For dinner we had a fat-free version of the lasagna I was used to eating in the other world. It actually didn’t taste too bad and I was able to eat the small serving Mom gave me, even though the cookies I’d had earlier had pretty much killed my appetite.
Saturday morning I was trying to sleep in despite the racket my brothers made as they yelled or ran down the hall. Then Mom came in and woke me up. This didn’t surprise me as she usually didn’t let me sleep in very late. “Morgan, I have to go to work.”
Opening one eye, my curiosity got the better of me. “What do you do at your job, anyway?”
She looked at me kind of funny, like the answer should have been obvious. “I help the patients on my floor.”
“Oh, so you’re a nurse,” I blurted out without thinking.
Leaning towards me, she pressed the back of her hand to my forehead, obviously thinking I had become delusional with fever. “Do you feel okay?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah. I was just having a weird dream. That was a dumb question. Nevermind.”
Looking relieved, she straightened. “Okay. Well, I need you to get up so you can watch your brothers.”
Frowning, I turned my head away so Mom wouldn’t see my dismay. “Okay,” I muttered into my pillow.
Mom walked to the door and paused. “Now, Morgan. I need you to get up now.”
Sighing to show my displeasure, I threw back the covers and sat on the edge of my bed, then looked at Mom.
“Thank you,” she said, a smile on her face.
She left the room and I could hear her telling my brothers she was leaving for work and to behave themselves. Like that would happen.
I glanced around the room, wondering where Amy was. Sighing dramatically, I stood and then got dressed, not wanting to bother with a shower, then headed downstairs to see what was going on.
The television was on and blasting some dumb cartoon. I looked at the couch and frowned when I saw Brandon sitting upside down, with his feet on the couch cushions and his head on the floor. Zac was stretched out across the length of the couch and Amy was curled up on the recliner, a book in her hand.
“Is that comfortable, Brandon?” I asked, wondering what all that blood rushing to his head was doing to him.
He didn’t respond and I realized he was mesmerized by the animated figures moving across the screen. My gaze went from his face to the show they were watching and I stared at the screen, my eyebrows drawn together as I listened to the happy song the characters were singing.
Good health, good health, it makes you strong
You will live longer if you follow this song
Veggies and fruits. Veggies and fruits.
We all love to eat veggies and fruits.
You are what you eat and you know that it's true
Eat healthy and exercise, it's what you must do
Veggies and fruits. Veggies and fruits.
We all love to eat veggies and fruits.
Lame. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned violence? Then I saw that this show had plenty of that too. As the animated children strolled along singing their song about the wonders of produce, a hideous creature jumped out in front of them.
“It’s the sugar monster!” the cartoon children screamed as they turned to run. But then a whole gang of the terrible sugar monsters appeared, surrounding them.
“Oh no, what should we do?” they asked, clearly terrified.
Suddenly a tall stalk of celery and a muscular broccoli appeared. “We’ll save you.”
I watched in fascination as the vegetables took out a pair of guns, yes guns, and blew the sugar monsters to bits.
I guess sugar is worse than violence here, I thought, disturbed by the message this show sent.
“Isn’t there anything else on?” I asked, but no one answered. My gaze went back to the program. A jumbo cup of soda wandered to the cartoon children and bent its straw toward them, trying to entice them to have a sip of the sugary drink. One of the children stepped forward, about to take a sip, but then the celery stalk jumped between the child and the soda shouting “No! Don’t fall for his tricks!” A look of gratitude appeared on the child’s face as he said, “Thank you, Mr. Celery. You saved me.”
I rolled my eyes, not able to believe that this was a show children were actually entertained by. But when I looked at my brothers I saw that they were completely immersed in the storyline. That bothered me more than anything. Where I came from, they would have laughed at this program as if it were a joke, but here it was taken seriously.
I stepped toward the television and turned it off. “Okay, that’s enough TV. Let’s go play outside.”
“Aw, Morgan,” Brandon said as he got up from his upside-down position. “I want to watch TV.”
“Nope. I’m in charge and I say we’re going to go outside and play. Let’s go.”
“Do we have to?” Zac whined.
“Yes.”
“You’re not in charge of me,” Amy said, looking up from her book. “I’m staying right here.”
“Fine,” I said.
“That’s not fair,” Brandon said.
“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you want to kick the soccer ball around?”
“I guess.” Brandon said.
“Okay,” Zac said. “Plus Mom said we need to get in our exercise.”
Wow, I thought. It’s hard to get away from this food and exercise obsession. At least it was better for them to play then to wa
tch that bizarre cartoon.
A few minutes later I had gotten them involved in kicking the ball around. They insisted that I join in so I did and found that I was actually enjoying spending time with my brothers.
Chapter Eighteen
Monday morning as we recited the pledge I glanced at the other students and noticed that though some said it with vigor, others were obviously just going through the motions. I found it interesting to realize that not everyone bought into the propaganda. I didn’t know most of the students, but one person who did recite the pledge with energy was Lori. Then I remembered how upset she’d been when I’d taken my home-baked cookies out of my backpack at lunch the previous Friday.
Obviously she really believed in this “Healthy me, healthy world” stuff.
That afternoon I went to the girls’ locker room and changed into the clothes I’d brought for track, then went out to the field where practice would be held. As I approached the other members of the track team, Lori motioned for me to join her. Everyone was stretching out, so I began doing the same.
“I’m so glad you decided to join track,” she said as she bent down and easily touched her toes.
“Me too,” I said, although I wasn’t really sure if I would enjoy the running as much as the chance to get to know Connor better.
“So, are you going to join our relay team?” she asked.
“If the coach says I can, then I will.” I wasn’t certain if he would think I was fast enough to be part of the relay team. Honestly, it didn’t really matter to me what events I did. I wasn’t afraid to admit that the only reason I’d chosen track was because Connor had encouraged it. “Where’s Connor?” I asked, deciding to get busy on my true purpose.
“Oh, he couldn’t make it today.”
“What? Why not?” When Lori narrowed her eyes at me with suspicion I added, “I mean, after he practically forced me to come today, why wouldn’t he even bother showing up?”
That seemed to turn her attention away from me and the distress I had shown at the news.
“I’m not sure, but I heard that one of the guys he works with is being taken away today to a F.A.T. center and they needed him to fill in at the last minute.”
“Oh.”
“I think it’s disgusting how people let themselves get so fat, don’t you? I mean, can’t people control what they eat? Don’t they realize the pain it puts their families through when the government has to step in and help them get back to a healthy weight? It’s so selfish.”
“But Lori, why do you think it should be up to the government to decide when someone is too fat?”
She stopped stretching and stared at me. “Are you saying you think it’s okay for people to be fat?”
The way she said it with such disgust, plus the look on her face, made me feel like I should agree with her, like I shouldn’t make waves.
“I don’t know,” I said, not able to hold back my opinion. “It just seems like the government is getting a little too involved in people’s lives. Like they think they know best.”
“Are you a sympathizer?” Lori asked, looking horrified.
“A what?” I asked, not sure what she was talking about.
“Come on, Morgan. Don’t play dumb. I can tell you sympathize with those people.”
“What people? What are you talking about?”
“Those people who are taken away. You act like it’s not their own fault that they found themselves in that situation.” She paused. “You know, the government is only doing it for their own good. Not to mention the good of everyone.”
“A healthy me is a healthy world, right?”
She nodded. “That’s right.”
Not wanting to get drawn into a conversation about the evils of obesity, I said, “I’m going to see if I can find the coach and talk to him about being on the relay team.” Then I stood and jogged away.
When I found the coach and made my request, he agreed without even seeing how fast I could run. I guess they needed anyone they could get, which didn’t exactly boost my confidence. Then he had us run laps, which I hated for the first ten minutes, but then I started to get in to it and found it wasn’t all that bad.
When the coach had us practice the relay, I did better than I had expected to and felt my confidence grow.
After practice, I changed back into my school clothes and started the long walk home. I heard a horn honk and turned to see Connor pull up next to me.
“Need a ride?” he asked.
My lips turned up into a wide smile, and not only because I wouldn’t have to make the long walk home. “Sure,” I said.
I climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door, then Connor pulled away from the curb.
“How was practice?” he asked.
“Great. I noticed you weren’t there.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I wished I had phrased that differently. I didn’t want him to know I was watching his every move.
“You noticed, huh?” he said with a grin.
I felt my face redden, but pretended I wasn’t embarrassed. “Lori said you had to fill in at work.”
“Yeah, but then someone else came in, so I was able to leave.”
“Lori said one of your coworkers was taken away to a F.A.T. center?”
“Lori talks a lot,” he said, a frown on his face.
“I noticed.”
He laughed, which made me feel good.
“She got pretty upset when I told her I didn’t think the government should decide how much people weigh,” I said.
“Well she would.”
My eyebrows drew together in question. “Why do you say that?”
“Didn’t you know?”
“Know what?”
“Her dad’s the head of the local F.A.T squad.”
I almost asked what the F.A.T squad was, but decided I would look it up later, certain Connor would think I was an idiot if I asked. “Oh,” I said instead, like that explained everything. “I hadn’t realized that.”
“Yeah, so she gets pretty worked up when people start criticizing the government.” He glanced at me. “I liked the cookies you brought yesterday.”
“Thanks,” I said, smiling at the compliment.
“Do you have any more?”
“What about the refined sugar?” I asked, a bit of sarcasm in my voice.
“Yeah, I don’t really care about that.”
Thrilled to hear he wasn’t the fanatic so many seemed to be, I felt my heart warm. “I’m afraid I don’t have any more.” Then I had an idea. “But if I could get the ingredients, I could make more.”
“What ingredients do you need?”
I listed off the items I would need, then added, “It’s too bad I didn’t have any chocolate chips. That would have made them even better.”
“I’ll make a deal with you. If I get you those ingredients, you make the cookies and give me half.”
My eyebrows went up. “You only want half?”
“Well, you’ll be doing all the work.”
It sounded like he hadn’t spent much time in the kitchen and I decided not to tell him how easy it was to make cookies. I wondered how hard it would be for him to get the ingredients. And how expensive. But I decided to let him worry about that. “It’s a deal.” I held out my hand to shake on it and when he took my hand in his, my heart raced at the contact. He released my hand and smiled, but I wasn’t sure if it was from touching me or from excitement over getting the cookies.
“You may not want to say anything to Lori and the rest of them about our little deal,” he said, one eyebrow raised.
I laughed. “You just don’t want to have to share.”
He grinned. “Maybe that’s part of it, but now you know how Lori is when it comes to people eating anything that might put them over their approved weight.”
“I’m learning.” I rolled my eyes at the memory of Lori’s comments earlier. “And yesterday Jen got pretty upset when she found out the cookies were made with real sugar.�
�
He nodded. “Some people go a little overboard.”
We pulled up to my house and I reached for the door handle.
“When I get those ingredients, I’ll bring them by,” he said.
“Sounds great.” I climbed out of the car. “See you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Morgan.”
Closing the door, I smiled at the sound of my name coming from his mouth. I hoped I would hear it a lot more.
Chapter Nineteen
As I walked into the house, I enjoyed the solitude. After spending all weekend with my siblings, I didn’t mind the quiet. I’d found out that Amy and the boys stayed after school for a school-sponsored exercise program, and then the bus brought them home, which is why they usually got home so late.
To my surprise, Connor came by later that evening with the ingredients I had told him I would need.
“I hope I got everything,” he said as he stood on the porch.
“Do you want to come in?”
He shook his head. “I’m on my way to work for my regular shift. I just wanted to drop these by.”
Though disappointed that he was just there to drop off the goods, I smiled, glad he had actually come. “Okay.” I dug through the bag, then looked up at him and saw him grinning. “Connor! You brought chocolate chips!”
“Yep.” He looked like a little boy on Christmas morning.
“Were they hard to find?” I paused and frowned a little. “Or expensive?”
“Don’t worry about that. You just keep your side of the deal and we’ll both be happy.”
I smiled. “If I don’t get them done tonight, I’ll definitely get them done tomorrow afternoon.”
“Great. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
“Bye, Connor.” I closed the door and carried the bag into the kitchen.
“Who was that, Morgan?” Mom asked.
I hadn’t had a chance to explain my deal to her, but I couldn’t see how she could object. After all, I wouldn’t be using her ingredients.
“It was a friend of mine from school,” I started.
Her eyebrows went up. “It sounded like a young man.”
I couldn’t keep the smile from my face. “Yes, it’s a boy.”
Gone (Parallel Trilogy, Book 1) Page 13
