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Loosing For Love

Valerie Goodwine

    Judy leaned over and carefully stepped into the black swimsuit, Plus Size 28. Grabbing the swimsuit on each side with an iron grip she started working it up her body. Once she eased it over her butt, half the battle was over. With a little more effort, she stretched the suit up over her stomach and got her breasts into the cups.
    “I probably lost five pounds just getting this suit on,” Judy sighed.
    Gazing at her lumpy body in the dressing room mirror, Judy cringed. “Oh no, I look like a beached whale.” She couldn’t help but feel a wave of self-pity.
    The store clerk knocked on the door, “Everything OK in there?”
    “Oh, just fine. I’ll be right out.” Wiping a tear off her face, Judy quickly changed back into her own clothes, relieved to feel comfortable again in her oversized sweatshirt and black stretch pants.
    Judy decided to go ahead and buy the black swimsuit. It had the best chance to make her look. She was determined to go to the beach this year on vacation.
    At work the next day, Judy complained to her friend Sara, “These pounds stick like super glue.”
    “If I don’t loose weight now, when am I?” asked Judy. “I have tried diets and nothing works. I am just too scared to have any kind of surgery. I don’t know what else to do.”
    “If you are serious about this I know a hypnotist that helped my mom loose 50 pounds in only 3 months,” said Sara.
    “How much would something like that cost?” asked Judy.
    “It’s two hundred dollars a session, but it’s only once a week,” answered Sara.
    “Oh gosh, I can’t afford that!”
    “Well maybe you could go once and see if you like it, just to get you started,” suggested Sara. “I’ll get you Dr. Kroger’s number.”
    Josh strolled by saying, “Hey girls, how’s things?”
    Josh was a truly nice guy and good looking too. With caramel eyes and a lazy grin, Josh was well liked by everyone. Judy had a huge crush on him and fantasized that if she could loose enough weight he would ask her out.
    As soon as Josh was out of sight, Judy grabbed Sara’s arm, “Give me Dr. Kroger’s number. This is what credit cards were made for.”
    Judy’s first visit with Dr. Kroger went well. She slipped easily into a hypnotic trance under the spell of Dr. Kroger’s soothing voice. She felt herself relax completely and even though she had skipped breakfast and lunch, she didn’t feel any hunger pains. She just felt sleepy and peaceful.
    Inside Judy’s purse, her digital recorder registered every precious word of Dr. Kroger’s.
    Judy continued her sessions of hypnosis alone at home, using the recording of Dr. Kroger’s session. Each time she went into a trance she felt so good afterwards. She was relaxed and in control of her eating habits. Judy lost 10 pounds the first week with no effort at all.
    Judy decided to take her two weeks of vacation right away and use it to slim down before summer. She told everyone at work she was going away to visit her aunt in Maine so she wouldn’t be interrupted in her mission. She wanted her weight loss to be a surprise to everyone. Judy imagined the look on Josh’s face when he saw her slimmer body. She visualized him asking her out to the movies and how she would say yes, softly and sweetly.
    Two weeks of vacation passed and when Judy did not return to work, her boss alerted authorities. The police found her dead in her apartment, peacefully lying on the sofa. No signs of violence were apparent. It was as if she had drifted off to sleep and never woken up, said the Detective Lopez. The detective found a digital recorder on the end table but when he turned it on, nothing happened.
    “Bag this and get this to the lab. Let’s see what’s on it,” said Detective Lopez.
    Several days later, Detective Lopez was surprised to get the lab report. The recorder contained only a weight loss hypnosis session that was stopped halfway through. The battery on the recorder was dead. He surmised that Judy had used the recorder to hypnotize herself but when the battery wore out, Judy had not received the command to wake up. She had laid in a trance on the couch and starved to death.
    Detective Lopez murmured to himself, “This is one weight loss gimmick that cost way too much.”
    Judy’s funeral had a huge turnout. Friends, family and coworkers cried as they said their good-byes. Bouquets of flowers surrounded the coffin with color and scent. Judy looked beautiful and everyone remarked how slim she looked.
    Spying Josh, Sara wandered over to him. “Judy liked you Josh,” said Sara. “You were always kind to her and she appreciated that.”
    “You know something?” said Josh. “I always had a thing for Judy. I’m crazy about big girls. She was a whole lot of woman, but just too shy to talk to me. I wish I had known her better.”

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