Marilyn’s Appetite

Marilyn was hungry. All the time. She was not experiencing a normal appetite, the kind of appetite she had known all her life, because now she was literally starving almost all the time and she could not get used to the strangeness of her new addiction to food. Even if she had consumed a large breakfast earlier, she could not deny that she was hungry just an hour later. Her internal hunger compass was not just broken, it was spinning out of control, and nothing could modulate this yearning for food.

Marilyn thought about what she would eat next. A large bowl of cereal would do, the sugary kind. She fixed the treat, and balanced the bowl on the middle of her chest, which now seemed larger. In fact, her bosom had drawn appreciative glances from male visitors to her place of work earlier, although they had tried to level their eyes with hers when she looked at them, drawing their eyes up from her chest quickly. ‘My chest isn’t bigger,’ she mumbled to herself between crunchy bites, ‘that would be impossible.’

When her husband teased her about her growing waistline, saying, “Its about time you listened to me. You always were too skinny!” that Marilyn was struck with a jarring thought. What if she was pregnant? She ran down to the convenience store on the corner and purchased a pregnancy test. Soon, she was staring at the test, waiting for it to detect her condition. After a brief wait, Marilyn had her answer.

“It isn’t fair,” she groaned, “I was never destined to be a sick, fat pregnant woman.” But, pregnant she was, and she knew her husband would be over the moon when he found out. And she was happy about the idea of being a mother, she knew it would all be worth it in the end. Chewing on a chocolate bar, Marilyn decided to keep this sub rosa for now. She would tell him over dessert tonight and they could celebrate all evening, and another appetite of hers could be satiated in his arms.

Written in response to Pick 3 #3

Your inspirational list for this week:

• Sole
• Strangeness
• Draw
• Visitor
• Sub rosa
• Knew (know)
• Literally

• Earlier
• Fair
• Destined
• Appetite
• Unwittingly
• Theater
• Calling

• Brief
• Internal
• Middle
• Chest
• Level
• Modulate
• Detect

Pick 3 #3 This week’s new list