In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I'd share a fun short story written by my mom. No doubt, a tribute to me, her No. 6. Or at least I like to think I was her inspiration... Happy Mother's Day to all; especially to my Momma.
Another in a continuing
series of dramatic vignettes…
Tulip Toad - Saga Six with Streit
Written By
Georgia H. Nichols
Her mind wasn’t on the
outdated “People” magazine she was idly thumbing through as she waited for her
turn to see the doctor.
“I’ll kill myself if I’ve
gained any weight this time. I haven’t
even had an appetite, and the rabbit food I do eat sure can’t produce any
pounds. Let’s see, I wore the lightest
weight clothing I own and made sure I went to the bathroom first. Plus I haven’t had as much as a drink of
water in the last 22 hours. Maybe I even
lost”
“Tulip Toad? This way please.” The nurse led the procession of two to the
weigh-in room.
Tulip exuded confidence as
she stepped onto the scales. But her
momentary elation was short lived. The pound
weight pushed the bar down at 134, 135, then 136. The nurse flicked it a few more increments
and it rose only a fraction before the weight bar balanced. “One thirty six and three quarters.” Four pounds in three weeks—again!
The dazed patient reeled as
she stepped backward off the scales.
“Impossible,” she wanted to scream.
“A recheck, please!”
But she had seen the scale
herself. Could it be that there was some
kind of conspiracy to make her depressed every time she visited the
doctor? A four pound jump every time was
beginning to sound suspicious.
Tulip was numb as she
followed the nurse down the hall to the examining room. Where had those pounds come from? She was still numb as she stumbled onto the
table and mentally reviewed the weight progress in the five previous
pregnancies. At this present rate she
could top out at 180 pounds and be a blimp for the rest of her life. Before, she had been upset with a weight gain
of a pound or two and an occasional jump of five pounds but this was too
much. She thought of her husband’s
attempts to console her.
“Don’t worry. I’ve head all of this before and the weight
has just dropped off after the baby is born.
It will again.”
But things were different
now. She was 36—and over the hill. An old woman.
Tulip ruminated over the two
alternatives she might employ to get rid of the hated pounds: never eat again
or take a knife and cut out a pound of flesh here and there. Neither sounded like a plausible solution.
Her thoughts were still
picturing herself in the before photo of an Ayds ad, when Dr. Streit came into
the room and began checking uterus size and listening for the baby’s
heartbeat. “Just about right for 20
weeks,” he announced when he had finished.
“Everything seems fine.”
“But I’m not 20 weeks. I’m only about 14,” Tulip intercepted.
“Hmmmm.” The doctor looked at her chart again. “Let me take another check.” This time the probing was more intense.
“Maybe there really is some
reason I’ve gained so much weight,” Tulip silently hoped as she waited for the
doctor’s second observation.
“First of all,” the doctor
began, “an oversized uterus is not uncommon in pregnancy. It doesn’t mean twins, or even that you’ll
deliver early. It’s just a condition we
see from time to time.”
“But I also weigh more at
this point in any of my previous pregnancies.”
Tulip seized on that thought hoping it clarified the situation.
“Doesn’t mean a thing. See you in three weeks,” the doctor reminded
her as he left the room. The door
closed.
She’d heard it all
before. So she was just fat after all. It didn’t seem fair. It wasn’t fair, she was starving! Another agonizing three weeks ahead of
her. “Yeah, and since I’m going to weigh
145 pounds by then I intend to eat hearty and enjoy myself.” Her words bounced off the walls.
Tulip couldn’t resist a
wicked glance at the scales as she walked to the receptionist’s desk. Two could play the weight game as well as one
could. Next time there would be a reason
for the four pounds. Already she was
beginning to look forward to supper.
