Accessory Wars

Chapter 38-Ki

            Come on. Come on! Move! The numbers flickered back and forth. Flicker. Flicker. Flicker. Two hundred. Dammit! I stepped off the scale and stepped back on. The numbers bounced between one hundred ninety nine and two hundred. Up, down, up, down, up, down. Stop at two hundred and no new car!

"Come on," I growled at the scale. I tried a sixth time. Then a seventh. On the eighth try, it bounced up to two hundred and one. "Fuck you."

For the love of everything in the universe, why could I not break two hundred! I had been sitting on the boarder since January. It was now mid-March. I should have seen some weight loss. This wasn't my first weight loss plateau but it was the most infuriating one since it was so damn close to being where I wanted it to be. Gah!

I gave up on the scale and stormed back to my room. I was going for a walk. A long walk. Maybe then the scale would cooperate with me. Jay was busy studying at the kitchen table so I let him be. As soon as I opened the door, I found Kami standing at the steps of my porch with her parasol propped on her shoulder. She waved.

"I was going to see if you wanted to go for a morning walk," she offered with a smile. I knew that smile. I was the one I saw whenever she predicted what I was thinking.

"Funny, I was on my way out myself," I replied flatly. I shut the door behind me and we headed back down my driveway. "How has your week been going?"

"Excellent! I have everything wrapped up and I'll on the plane home this afternoon. What about you?" she asked.

"Good. Emotional but good. We're flying back late tomorrow morning. The neighbors want to take us out for breakfast."

"Sounds delicious."

"I think I'm sticking with oatmeal and fruit."

Kami patted my head. "You'll get there, Ki."

"I know. I wish I would be there already," I sulked, shoving my hands into my pockets. We turned out onto the street. "It's been three years. I'm tired of diets and moping around food. I would kill for a cheeseburger with fries, a million fixings and six desserts. Heck, I'd be happy not have to buy fat free anymore."

"Where do you want to be?"

"Twenty more pounds. That's it! I accept the fact I'll never be skinny again. I accept that even at one eighty, I'm still not at a "healthy" weight. I don't want to be skinny. I want to be a better me. I already cured my sleep apnea, my borderline diabetes and my knee pain. That's good enough for me." I didn't mean to explode at her but the plateau had me beyond frustrated.

Kami hummed. "I know what you mean. It's hard to have a positive attitude about your body when everyone says slim is the only way to be."

"Exactly!"

"You know, it's funny. People tell me all I need to do to slim down is do a little more exercise. Then when I tell them I'm a tournament fighter, they stand there stammering because tournament practice is some of the most intense exercise out there." Kami patted her hip. "My body was meant to be curvy. Not only that, building muscle makes you bulky. They only way I'd slim down is if I ate nothing but grass."

"Oh, but Kami, wheat grass is all the rage right now. It'll slim you down by drinking twelve shakes a day by boosting your metabolic cells," I said sarcastically. We both burst out laughing.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Allow me to drink nothing but cellulose and chlorophyll for the rest of my life," she said in the same sarcastic tone.