7.6 Pounds
Doyle Bohr
I am far too hungry and thirsty to sleep. My stomach growls again, louder this time. My eyes have been closed for at least an hour, but sleep has yet to find me. There are some leaves blowing against my basement bedroom window and a cricket is playing some instrumentals somewhere in my closet. Normally I don’t hear these sounds, but tonight everything seems to be keeping me awake. I am far too hungry and thirsty to sleep. I sit up in my bed and reach blindly for the television remote that sits on the window sill. There is no light in my room to see the buttons, but it doesn’t matter; I know the position of every last rubber protrusion. As the screen lights up, I deftly press the one key, followed by the three. KCII radio has a channel on TV and it is the easiest way for me to see the time, 2:17 a.m. and 36 seconds. 37…38…39. I have to be up in a little less than four hours and the seconds are ticking away, mocking me. It is Friday morning, and I have only one more day to get my weight down to 103 pounds. After wrestling practice last night, I weighed 106.6 pounds. That means another night with no dinner, but more importantly, another night with no water. My salivary glands can’t even produce enough liquid to keep my tongue wet. On Saturday, my team will be participating in a tournament, and my coaches and teammates expect me to win. Three-and-a-half pounds never seemed like a lot before now. I angrily throw my covers off of me and swing my legs over the edge of the bed. My parents decided not to carpet my bedroom floor, as the basement is prone to flooding, a fact that I am quickly reminded of as my feet touch the glacial concrete floor. With the TV on, there is just enough light to make out a pile of dirty laundry that Mom has been nagging me to pick up. I can smell the sour odor of my workout clothes and decide that she might be right, this time. I leave my room behind and head toward the stairs. I think I will torture myself by checking out the fridge. As I open the door to this culinary treasure chest, I can almost hear angels playing harps and babies giggling, until I remember that I can’t have any 91