Nature has the last say

Two like-minded young women end up on opposite sides.

      

NATURE HAS THE LAST SAY

The girl at the supermarket checkout looked inside the almost empty basket that Amaya and Grace placed before her. The contents were very revealing for anyone who cared to look. There were tea bags, packets of soup, and yogurts. There was no bread, cakes, or any other kind of ordinary food. How did they survive? You might well ask. Well the two young women wanted to be thin, and well-off enough to be able to buy all the good clothes they saw in the boutiques. No department store clothes for those two. They had arrived in Italy at the end of summer with jobs in tourism and would be there till the end of June the following year. They saw how well-dressed the locals were, and decided to be no less glamorous. Therefore, how to accomplish the look they so desired. The first thing was to lose weight, and so they began a draconian diet that would see them shedding kilos during the next nine months. The only food that would pass their lips would be that of a free meal paid for by some unsuspecting male. Each one took her measurements and wrote on a piece of paper what they ought to be according to her criteria.

Amaya was short and chubby, as her mother put it. That meant ‘fat’ to Amaya, and it was what she never wanted to hear again, and on that note she began her diet to achieve a sylph-like figure that some of her more fortunate friends had. Amaya’s mother was the type of mother who demanded that the plate be left cleaned of any trace of food. Amaya was one of six children and all of them were healthily chubby, a fact that Amaya’s mother was proud of. None of her offspring were skeletal, their bones were hidden underneath a light covering of fat. That fat was the enemy, and Amaya was going to make war on it and get rid of it for ever. After paying the rent on their flat, money was put into the kitty for extras such as soap, toilet paper, cleaning agents with their appropriate gadgets. The largest part of their wages was only to be spent on creating the body beautiful.

Grace was taller and slimmer than Amaya. She knew what she wanted, and that was a decent wardrobe in order to feel up to the social level of the people she had had to work with in London, who seemed to have had money to burn. The time in Italy was not to be wasted on travelling, unless it was for free, but to be spent on expensive clothes.

When they got to their flat, the pathetic shopping was put away into a kitchen cupboard. They went to their bedrooms and began workouts to make sure they wouldn’t get flabby. The initial outlay for the equipment hadn’t been too much, because they had got the things through a young trainer at the gym where they had gone for the first days. After having managed to get what they wanted, which was the equipment, they hadn’t renewed their monthly quota. That was how they started and how they were going to keep it up. The body beautiful came first, and then the clothes to enhance it with.

 The first weeks were the hardest when pangs of hunger were bad enough to tempt the strongest person to have something to eat, however light. But Amaya and Grace never gave in to any of those cravings. The war on fat had been declared and to be continued thus, till the desired weights were attained. While Amaya was of a square constitution, Grace was tall and stooping. She knew that the stoop had to go or she would end up with a hunched back. She did all the exercises to remedy her problem, and eventually would appear to be taller and slimmer. Grace’s idea was to resemble a model as far as possible. Amaya knew she had a long way to go before the dreaded chubbiness left her body for good.

At the beginning of their second month in Italy the girls went shopping for clothes and were delighted to find that they had lost some of the unwanted kilos. They started by buying glamorous underwear and worked their way up and out, till they arrived at the jackets and coats. It wasn’t difficult to see what the latest fashions were, as the shops stocked what the local people were wearing. Both Amaya and Grace were delighted with the fact that they were a size smaller than when they had arrived.

“I fancy buying a dark-green sheepskin coat lined with black fur. It’s not a thing seen in London as far as I know,” Amaya said to Grace as they were standing on the pavement outside a leather-goods store.

“If you are going to get dark-green, then I’ll go for something very different,” Grace said to her friend and accomplice in the diet game.

They walked into the store and told the assistant what they would like to see. For a good half hour, they stood in front of mirrors looking at themselves from all angles to see how well or badly they looked in the articles. In the end, Amaya bought a dark-green sheepskin coat lined with black, and Grace a light-brown sheepskin three-quarter coat with an enormous furry collar. The assistant also managed to get them to buy gloves and bags. The two diet-struck females left the store as happy as they had ever been. Back at the flat they took the goods out of the bags and spent the evening trying on their new rags.

“We’re going to cause a sensation when we go to work wearing these clothes,” declared Amaya.

“We shan’t be able to wear the sheepskins yet, it’s still too hot,” said Grace, gazing at her reflection in the mirror.

“I’ve got a date with that boy we met the other day at the disco, and if we eat anything I’ll bring you something back,” Amaya told her friend.

“Fine, you do that. Do you realize how long it is since we ate anything solid?”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to, the diet’s the most important thing and the clothes for the new bodies, don’t you agree?” Amaya answered.

“Yes, of course I do, so do try and bring something back,” Grace pleaded.

“OK, if it’ll make you happy,” Amaya said laughing.

Amaya’s date with Claudio was at a very nice restaurant. Amaya was dressed in her new finery and she looked stunning. Added to the clothes was expensive make-up, and she looked more like a model, in spite of not being very tall and still a little chubby.

“You’re very pretty,” Claudio said to Amaya as they met at a small bar near the restaurant. He wondered whether he would be able to afford such an expensive-looking girlfriend. He soon found out just how expensive Amaya was.

Claudio’s idea was to have a drink and something light to eat, but when Amaya saw the menu she began having hallucinations about food. She was hungry. Claudio quaked in his shoes as she stated to the waiter what she wanted to eat. Dish after delicious dish was taken to their table and Claudio saw his lovely, slim-looking companion swallow everything down, as if it were nothing. What he didn’t know was that the sight of food had wakened Amaya’s appetite, and she was enjoying herself, after the strict diet she had imposed upon herself. Claudio went out to make a call on his mobile, and it was then that Amaya got out her doggy-bag and stuffed the rest of her dinner into it, which then went into her handbag. Claudio returned to see Amaya sitting in front of an empty plate. The other serving dishes were also empty. She hadn’t left a morsel.

Grace was sitting on the sofa watching television when Amaya got back. Although it was past midnight, she said without preamble, “What’ve you got for me?”

“Here you are. Take this,” and Amaya handed over the doggy-bag.

Grace ran into the kitchen and took a plate out of the cupboard and put the food onto it. The plate then went into the microwave. When the bell rang, Grace sat down at the kitchen table and ate the leftovers, as if they were the most delicious dishes she had ever tasted.

“Oooh, that was wonderful. Let’s hope it hasn’t ruined our diet. We’ll have to do this more often,” Grace said, sitting back and relishing her full stomach after punishing it for the previous two months.

When Grace had gone to bed, Amaya went into the bathroom and took some laxative, she wasn’t going to have her slimming regime lost just for a free dinner.

Grace met up with another young man she had chatted up in her office. His name was Tano, and he worked in the bank nearest to the tourist office. He told Grace he wanted to practice his English, and she agreed to have lunch with him, but he wanted more than that, and after the lunch Grace had to recognise that Amaya would not be getting a doggy-bag. Tano fancied Grace, and the only way she could be rid of his unwanted attentions, was to go to the ladies and climb out of the window into a rather dirty and unpleasant side street. That was goodbye Tano.

“I think things aren’t going to be as easy as we thought, the men here think women are easy prey,” Grace said to Amaya on arriving back at the office.

“I don’t mind not having a doggy-bag, but we’ll have to be careful who we go out with, after all we don’t want a queue of frustrated men standing outside the flat,” Amaya said.

“I’ve got an idea! When winter’s passed, maybe we could rent a place on the beach, and then there would be more pickings for us,” Grace said, feeling tired and irritable for having gone out with such a loser as Tano.

 

When Christmas made its appearance, holiday time came and went in a flash. The two friends went down the coast to see who or what they could get.

“Money’s getting a bit tight for this holiday, we need to get a man from somewhere to pay for an evening out. Now we’ve lost so much weight someone might take pity on us,” Grace commented to Amaya.

“I feel I’d like to lose some more weight, if that’s OK with you,” Amaya said to Grace.

“That’s fine by me. I’ll try to keep you company, so you don’t faint like you did the other day.”

“I know! Why don’t we hitchhike?” Amaya suggested.

“All right, it shouldn’t be too risky as there are two of us,” Grace replied.

They stood out on the main road, the evening was getting dark and people were going to restaurants and bars, and home. Several cars passed by and didn’t even bother to stop. “You’re prettier than me, so you lift your skirt up, and show a bit of leg, and I’ll hide behind the tree,” Grace told Amaya.

Amaya walked out nearer to where the cars could not possibly avoid seeing her, and obeyed Grace’s instructions. She bent her leg and lifted the already short skirt even shorter and made the traditional hitchhiking movement with her right hand. After a couple of disappointments, a car stopped and Amaya spoke to the driver, who was out for fun. Grace made her appearance from behind the tree and jumped inside. Their lift was called Gino, who was chatting nineteen to the dozen as he drove. He offered to take them to a club. As he got friendlier they got a bit more distant. Long before Amaya and Grace had begun their life of dieting and free meals, they had invented a series of gestures or expressions to indicate to each other that they weren’t sure of the situation. The unsuspecting Gino drove along in blissful ignorance of what to expect. Gino put his hand on Amaya’s knee and as soon as they came up to a bottle neck, the two girls got out of the car and made a dash for it - leaving Gino wondering to make of them.

“Where are we?” Amaya asked Grace.

“We’re near that large junction where all the buses stop. Ccome on, let’s go and find the one we need.”

“Pity about Gino being so fresh, he seemed so nice when we first got into his car,” Amaya complained.

“Never mind that. We’ve lost him and his wandering hands. Thank goodness,” Grace replied.

 

The holiday continued in the same vain, meeting young men and getting a free meal out of them or a trip to more interesting places along the coast, until the night at a disco when Amaya fell for a good-looking Italian called Stefano. By that time, Amaya was incredibly thin. Almost transparent. Apart from her thinness, Amaya was no longer having her monthly menstruation, but felt all right, and she was able to go to the beach and the swimming-pool every day, and she also participated in tennis matches with Stefano. The two became very close, and Grace could see that her sojourn in Italy with her best friend was not only coming to an end, but their friendship too.

Now that they had achieved their super-slim figures, they were both very happy and content, and loved being praised for their shape and clothes. Amaya and Grace had gone to the best boutiques to get geared up with new clothes for summer. They loved being able to get dresses that looked no bigger than handkerchiefs, and as their legs were slimmer too, they wore high-heeled sandals that looked no better than death traps. Together they made a fetching pair as they staggered down the streets.

Stefano was besotted by Amaya’s looks, clothes, and her slim figure. After dating for two months he proposed marriage and Amaya, who fancied having a husband, accepted.

Grace realized that the day Stefano placed a gold ring on Amaya’s left had, she would have nothing to do in Italy, so she began to make enquiries about jobs back home.

Once the date for the wedding and the honeymoon had been decided, there was only the reception and the clothes to be left to organize. Amaya went all-out, and bought a magnificent dress and new clothes for the honeymoon, with no expense spared. Grace was the matron of honour, and Amaya’s family flew out from England to meet Stefano and have a short holiday. If they were bemused by Amaya’slim body, the only one to say anything was her mother, when they were alone and out of hearing of anyone else. “What on earth has happened to your lovely chubby cheeks and your bust? You don’t look as pretty as you used to before coming here. Still never mind, when you get pregnant you’ll put it all back on.”

“Mum, I’m not thinking of getting pregnant soon, so don’t get thinking about grandchildren yet. OK?”

Amaya’s mother wasn’t convinced by her daughter’s remark and said no more on the subject.

 

Grace felt really out of things as she stood in the church as matron of honour. She knew what people thought - that she was the single and frustrated one. Grace didn’t mind what people said about her. She and Amaya had spent a good nine months away from home and had enjoyed every minute. If either of their families got to know what they had got up to, there would have been a lot of nagging about how they had been brought up to behave better than that.

Grace said goodbye to her best friend just before Amaya and Stefano left for their honeymoon. There were no tears, nobody had died, but they knew their friendship had received a blow that they had known would arrive one day, but not quite so soon.

 

Some time before the newlyweds got back from their honeymoon, Grace had left Italy. She had taken a job in freezing cold Scotland in as remote a place as possible, to begin a new life from zero.

Grace had forgotten how cold England could be, but Scotland was even colder, and even more so after sunny Italy, and for a few days she felt like looking for another job elsewhere. The population where Grace was working was very small. The majority of the people were farmers of one type or another. The only life in the area was to be found in the pubs where the men spent their free time. The men were not like Stefano with his black hair, dark eyes, and flashing smile. Grace was rather dispirited about everything. She began to eat porridge for breakfast so that she was able to work. The ice on the window panes made her shiver more than she would have liked. Grace’s wish was to escape to warmer climes.

Meanwhile back in Italy, Amaya and Stefano were getting on very well - except for the fact she wasn’t getting pregnant. Stefano couldn’t understand why Amaya didn’t have a monthly cycle, and took her to a doctor who was a specialist in such matters. Stefano was getting frantic, and Amaya never let a morsel of food enter her mouth when Stefano was out of the house. Amaya found it very hard to imagine herself losing her figure so that Stefano could be a father. In spite of her being crazy about him, her figure and clothes still came first in her life.

Grace was putting on weight and looked a lot better. She had regained her pre-diet figure and was a rather healthy young woman. The problem about finding young men in her age group was temporarily solved when there was a grand dance organized by the local villages. Grace couldn’t wear her Italian clothes, so opted for something warmer. During an interval in the music, everyone went to the bar for a drink, and a rugged bright-eyed Scot went up to her and started chatting. When the music was back on, they danced together. He told her he was working up there on an engineering project for a new motorway to be constructed. His name was Robin, and they were determined to see more of each other. Right through Grace’s Scottish winter, she and Robin were always together, in and out of bed, and everyone thought it was very nice for her to have the attention of a young man.

As winter turned into spring, Grace discovered she was pregnant, and told Robin, who reacted, “Why didn’t you take precautions? I thought you were a sophisticated woman, having travelled and lived in another country. What were you thinking of?”

“I suppose I thought we might get married, or at least live together and bring up the child. Well, what do you think?” Grace asked him.

“I think I’m out of here. I’m a married man, and I’m not getting a divorce to marry you, whom I considered as ‘good fun’. Now I discover you’re like all the rest, keen on nabbing a man permanently. Sorry, Grace, but the fun’s over. It was good while it lasted.”

For the first time since she had left her home to go to Italy with Amaya, Grace felt like bursting into tears. What an idiot she had been.

 

Stefano was getting desperate with their childless situation, and suggested IVF to get the desired baby. Amaya was still adamant that she didn’t want to lose her figure. Her mother didn’t make it any easier, she kept on about having grandchildren. Amaya felt torn between two forces that were driving her crazy. What was wrong in not wanting to get pregnant?

Amaya and Grace had kept in touch through phoning each other when they felt nostalgia for their old freewheeling days. When Grace told her about the baby she was expecting, Amaya wondered how her friend would cope on her own.

 

As time passed and Stefano was getting to the end of his tether with Amaya, and Grace was on the point of being a single mother, Amaya made a decision to leave Italy and Stefano for good.

She arrived back home when Grace’s baby was three days old. Grace was at her mother’s house and sitting in glory with her daughter in a Moses basket.

“What’s her name?” Amaya asked her friend.

“Clelia, after the girl we worked with in Italy. Are you staying over here long?”

“Yes, I’ve decided to help you bring up Clelia for a while, at least till things are put into perspective.”

“I thought you didn’t like babies and children,” Grace said.

“I don’t mind them. I just don’t want to carry them and give birth - that’s all.”