Slip Out the Back Jack by Willow Rose

Author:Willow Rose [Rose, Willow]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00X4MP696
Publisher: BUOY MEDIA
Published: 2015-05-02T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Forty-Three

December 2008

By the time Elizabeth turned six, she weighed close to 200 pounds and had diabetes, pulmonary hypertension, asthma, and sleep apnea. Her weight gain was so fast she would wear something twice, then outgrow it. At birthday parties, Dottie caught her stealing cupcakes. When the ice cream truck drove by on their street, it would result in the most outrageous tantrum from Elizabeth, as she screamed to get out of the fenced yard. Once, Dottie even caught her eating the dog’s food from the bowl, just shoveling it into her mouth and swallowing it without chewing. Dottie had contacted a nutritionist and tried to limit portion sizes and kept rigidly scheduled mealtimes. She took Elizabeth and her older sister, Anna, walking at a local track for exercise, and she got Elizabeth physical therapy. But she couldn’t seem to halt Elizabeth’s rapid weight gain. And, more than ever, she couldn’t escape her neighbors’ constant staring and her relatives blaming her for her daughter’s size. Even her husband James made his comments.

“You need to control her,” he would say. “It’s your job as her mother. She needs to learn self-discipline.”

But it was easier said than done. Dottie did what she could to keep Elizabeth out of the kitchen and out of the food and kept the entire kitchen on lock-down. Literally. She had a padlock on the refrigerator, no food in any of the cabinets, and the pantry door was always locked. One day, Dottie had made a pot roast and had turned her back on Elizabeth for a few seconds, and when she turned back, Elizabeth had eaten the pot roast and was choking on it. Dottie grabbed her from behind and managed to get it out, but from that moment on, she knew she had to keep a constant eye on her daughter. Elizabeth didn’t chew her food, she swallowed it. On top of that, she constantly acted like she was starving, like she was constantly craving food. It was all she talked about…when they were to eat the next time, how much she would have. It seemed to be constantly on her mind.

“I’m hungry, Mommy,” she said this morning on her birthday, like every morning when she opened her eyes.

Dottie smiled and kissed her daughter’s forehead. “We’re going out for breakfast,” she said and smiled. “It is, after all, your birthday.”

That made Elizabeth smile. She loved going out to eat. Dottie didn’t, but it was, after all, the girl’s birthday. She deserved it, didn’t she? Dottie was an optimist. All her life, food had meant joy and, in times of trouble, comfort. Denying her daughter a treat when it was her birthday felt like denying her the celebration. She feared that she was failing Elizabeth if she wasn’t allowed just a little fun. Yet, she was terrified at the way things were heading. With the way her daughter was breathing, she would probably die before next Christmas.

They went to Ihop for pancakes. Elizabeth was panting heavily from walking from the car to the front door.

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