Fat Ban

"Pssst! Hey kid!" Linda whispered fervently while motioning the thin little girl whom she assumed to be about 12 years old over to her open car window. The little girl pointed to herself and mouthed the word me questioningly with raised brow and then looked around the gas station parking lot.
"Yeah!" Linda said a little louder than intended "I- I have a question for you" she quickly recovered with the whisper. Linda could feel the panic start to rise up into her chest. She had been sitting here for over an hour now waiting for the right child to come along. Last time she hadn't picked so wisely and was ratted out by the boy within two minutes. Luckily she had parked in a inconspicuous spot where she could see the gas station attendant in the store through the reflection in another car's side window. She had sworn out loud when she saw the boy turn and point out to the area where Linda was waiting with both trepidation and anticipation for his return. She threw the car into reverse and had peeled out of the gas station parking lot through a back alley nearly hitting another car as it was turning in.
She tried to swallow the lump in her throat and then force a smile as the girl hesitated and looked into the gas station and then back a Linda. Finally the little girl shrugged her shoulders and trotted over to Linda's car. Relieved Linda's smile gave way to a full on beam.
"Hi, my name is L-Jan" Damn! "Jan! My name is Jan. W-what's yours?" Linda knew her face was starting to flush a little and her palms were definitely sweating. She hoped that she hadn't already blown it.
The little girl hesitated and again looked behind her at the gas station. She shyly turned back and said her name was Mckenzie.
"Mckenzie! What a pretty name" Linda cooed. "Well Mckenzie, I have a favor to ask of you...you see, my foot is broken," Linda lied and pointed over to the crutches sticking up on her front seat "and it is very difficult for me to walk. My son, he is probably about your age, really wants some Doritos. He is sick you see and this would really brighten his day. So I was wondering if you would be so kind as to take this 10 dollar bill and go into the store there and buy me the biggest bag of Doritos oh and a king size Snickers as well?"
"Oh!" Mckenzie said obviously relieved at the seemingly innocent request. "Sure, I can do that!" She snatched the ten dollar bill from Linda's hand forgetting all shyness and turned to run into the store. "This...is for your son and not you right?" Mckenzie asked as a second thought slowly. Linda started to feel anger rise up in her, anger that she has to degrade herself to this. Anger that she has to be questioned by this, this Mckenzie girl who will probably never understand what it's like to be is this situation.
"Yes, yes of course it is" She was lying through her clenched smiling jaw. "Look at me, I certainly wouldn't be able to qualify to eat that food!"
"Ok, as long as it's for your son...I'll do it."
"Remember, Doritos and don't forget the Snickers- the largest one they have!" Linda called after her and immediately regretted it. A slender woman who was walking into the gas station store looked over at her and furrowed her eyebrows. Linda rolled up her window and tried to shrink as far back into the seat as she possibly could, embarrassed because she knew there was no way to shrink her large frame. Thankfully, the woman just continued on her business.
As Linda waited for Mckenzie to return with her caloric bounty she couldn't help but feel ashamed. A feeling she become accustom to ever since last fall when the Mayor of her progressive town passed the 'Fat ban.' Mayor Payton had seen how well the the smoking ban had worked and decided that in order to get re-elected he needed to keep up his drastic political change appearance. Linda could hardly blame him, she had voted for the smoking ban, welcomed it even. She along with the rest of the voters had thought they were doing society a great service. Smoking kills. Second hand smoke can kill too. It seemed like a no brainer, of course we should ban it.
This fat ban was different though. It felt like a personal attack on her. She is a thirty-eight year old woman and what she eats or doesn't eat is of no consequence or harm to others. Alas, the great city of Denton begged to differ and so the next thing she knew Linda, along with all of the other citizens deemed as having too much excess adipose tissue were being subpoenaed to appear before the 'Fat Marshal.' New driver's licenses were issued with the standard birthday, address, photo but now with a color coordinated body mass index class. Linda's is Orange meaning that she has a BMI of 32 placing her in the second to highest class and thereby marking her as obese. A 'Oranger' as she has come to be known, is banned from all junk food, soda, fast food, pizza and anything containing high fructose corn syrup. If she should ever venture out to a restaurant again (which is very doubtful based on the last humiliating experience of being carded over a cheeseburger) she is only to order from the orange menu each and every restaurant, fast food joint and bar is now mandated to carry. Should the day come when she can drop her BMI down to below a 30 and sustain it for two months she will then become a 'Bluer.' Being a Bluer is not much different than a Oranger but at least she could have soda again albeit diet.
Linda craned her next around to try to see what was happening in the store. She turned just as the slender woman was walking out and made eye contact. Scared, Linda started her car. Soliciting a minor for the banned food comes with a hefty fine and possible incarceration in a 'fat jail.' Think Biggest Loser on Steroids. Linda was attempting to peek through her rear view window when she was startled by a knock on the window. She realized she was still slouched and looked very guilty. A wave of relief washed over her when she turned to see Mckenzie standing there smiling with her bag of Doritos and a Snickers. It wasn't a king size but she didn't care at this point.
"Hi Mckenzie! Thank you so much!" Linda's heart was palpitating and as she grabbed the goods she saw the woman on her cell phone looking at her and Mckenzie. "Ok now be a good little girl and run along. Thanks again!"
"Wait, I have some change!" Mckenzie called as she was digging in her front left pocket.
"Keep the change! Step back!" Linda yelled the last bit as she peeled away from the scene. She looked back in her mirror to see a perplexed Mckenzie standing there with her arm out with some crumpled dollars stuffed in her hand. As she turned around the corner she saw the woman run up to Mckenzie no doubt to get the scoop on what had happened. Linda could only hope that she didn't get her plate number but she could worry about that later. Right now all she could focus on was the elation of finally getting to eat some 'real' food!