Stacy Matthews - Dear Mary 01 - Think Twice Before You Order by Stacy Matthews Page B

neighborhood used to tell the little kids that she weighed
six hundred pounds. She never used to come out of her house, so we all believed
them. Well she doesn’t weigh six hundred pounds anymore and she was sitting
right there on the couch.
    I was just standing there staring at her. I felt like an idiot. It was
the very same feeling I had when I was in third grade and collecting money for
muscular dystrophy. I had knocked on her door and heard her say, “Come on
in.”  I was actually going inside the house and was going to get to see
her. I was scared and excited at the same time. I walked through the door,
turned to my left and there she was, kind of lying on the sofa. I had never
seen anyone that big before. I was just standing there with my mouth open
staring at her. She was very sweet about it then and just as sweet about it
this time. She stood up and came over to give me a hug. I prayed Marple and
Fletcher hadn’t been telling her about today. They had told her something about
today, because she asked how my head was. Knowing those two, it was probably
the same story they gave the hospital. There was no way they were going to
share their mystery with anyone else. After Mrs. Fisher hugged me we all sat
down, and she told me how she lost all the weight.
    She didn’t have the bypass, but had one of those lap bands put on. With
exercise and better eating she has lost a total of two hundred and fifty pounds
so far. She really does look great. She said she does yard work and walks a
mile every day. She would like to lose another hundred and fifty pounds, then have the surgery to remove the extra skin. After all of
that is done, she will buy new clothes. Until then she is wearing sweat pants
and tee shirts. Her goal is to buy an expensive dress and have Mr. Fisher take
her to dinner and then dancing. If she keeps on track she thinks she will reach
her goal by next summer. We talked until it was time for Mr. Fisher to come
home, and she had to go fix dinner. She said he had also lost some weight
because she refused to make two different dinners. If he wanted to eat he would
have to eat what she fixed. My head was really starting to ache and I made a
mistake and rubbed it. Of course, Mrs. Houtz jumped up and said it was time for
me to go back to my room and lay down. I was having a nice time talking to Mrs.
Fisher, but I was ready to lie down.
    As I walked back to my room I couldn’t help but remember when I was in
the third grade. Mom and Dad took me to the State fair in Topeka, and I paid a
dollar to see the “Worlds Fattest Man.”  I felt like an idiot then too.
You walked in one door and to the right they had an area roped off. There he
was, the world’s fattest man, just sitting in a chair. He didn’t talk to you or
anything. You just stood there, looked at him for a few seconds and then left
out the other door. I was really disappointed. He wasn’t nearly as fat as Mrs.
Fisher. I told Mom and Dad I wanted my money back. Dad said they wouldn’t give
me my money back just because I had seen someone bigger than him, and they both
thought it would be best if I kept my idea of Mrs. Fisher doing that job
instead of him to myself. I have to admit it has been fun talking to everyone.
    I must have fallen asleep because I woke up as Mrs. Houtz was putting my
dinner tray on the bed. We had meatloaf, green beans, mashed potatoes and
gravy, bread, and chocolate pie for dessert. It was the cutest thing. They
brought in TV trays and had dinner in my room to keep me company. I guess they
had decided to wait and grill me in the morning. The dinner conversation turned
to sports. They wanted to know what I knew about any of it. They told me which
ones their grandkids play, and I did my best to explain each of them in a way
that would be easy for them to remember the differences between them.
    They were also trying to figure out what to do about three of Mrs.
Edmonds children, and their children, and both of the Houtz children