Anna slid a plate onto the table before Jennifer, and the hungry young girl tucked in immediately into the roast chicken and bacon she'd spent so long preparing. As she poured out two glasses of soda, she wondered why she bothered spending long preparing meals; it often seemed like her daughter ate it too fast to notice the taste anyway. Maybe she should just order take-outs in future; it would make things easier, for sure.
Across the table from her, Jennifer was eating at an impressive rate. The plate of food she had placed on the table would have been a large, filling meal for most 8 year olds; to Jenny, however, it didn't even come close to filling her gut, stretched as it was from years of constant snacks and oversized meals. Anna, despite her good intentions, didn't know much about nutrition, and wasn't very good at saying no. Whenever Jennifer had cried as a toddler, her first resort was always to try and feed her, and later on the expanding girl had discovered that, if she whined enough, she could get her mom to give her nearly anything. Anna had also enforced a rigid 'clean plates' policy for years, and several times had fed her daughter way past her capacity in order to never "waste" food.
As a result, Jennifer was soon pushing away her plate away from her, everything eaten except the untouched pile of broccoli in the corner.
"More please!" She said, mouth still full. Anna glanced at the vegetables left on the plate.
"Eat them first, then you can have seconds."
"But mom, I don't like them." The chubby 8 year old complained.
"Jennifer, you're too old now for this nonsense. Just eat the broccoli, then you can have some more." Anna tried to sound firm.
"But I hate broccoli! Can't I have seconds anyway mommy, pleeeease?"
Anna rubbed her temples; she was too tired for this.
"Fine." She relented, and took Jennifer's plate. Over at the counter, she piled another large portion onto the cheap piece of crockery, then brought it back and put it on the table. The moment it was within reach, Jennifer began stuffing food into her mouth so fast it was as if she thought it would vanish if it wasn't finished that very minute. As she watched her daughter gorge, Anna suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, Jenny, you've got an appointment with the doctor tomorrow after school, okay?"
Jennifer looked quizzically at her mom, but couldn't speak due to her mouth being full of food.
"It's only a checkup; the nice doctor will just look you over and make sure you aren't sick at all, and then we can come home."
With an effort, Jennifer swallowed her mouthful of food and looked up.
"Why do I need a checkup?" She asked, frowning.
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