A Different Hunger
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series II Cycle B
Marsha and Richard had a beautiful home on a wooded lot just outside the suburbs. They worked hard to keep it to their standards and they entertained often. A large staff maintained the grounds and the house. Everything ran quite smoothly.
Marsha was a director of a hospice agency; Richard was the president of a prestigious bank. They had a comfortable life although they didn't spend much time in their home. They preferred to be on the go.
Vacations were usually trips to the Cayman Islands, the French Riviera, or Spain. Richard loved the nightlife in Acapulco and the deep-sea fishing in Hawaii. But Marsha's favorite was Paris. She could shop to her heart's desire and they could stroll for hours down the boulevards. And the jewelry bargains were impossible to pass up!
Richard loved to golf and often made time for it on the weekends, except during the summer when he frequently took the yacht out. They loved to have friends on their boat and throw lavish parties. Richard and Marsha enjoyed their life. Both came from middle-class families and both were determined that their children would never feel a hunger for anything.
Their three daughters were very successful. The girls weren't each other's best friends, but they got along whenever the family was together, which was rarely.
Each had her own interests and her own set of friends. Each had her own life. The oldest was a first-year resident at a major hospital. The middle daughter had just started studying communications at an Ivy-league school, and the youngest was a junior in high school and an accomplished pianist.
Debra, the youngest, played piano from the moment she got home from school until suppertime. Nothing made her happier than playing. And being thin. She loved it when people would say, "You're so talented -- and thin!" She loved it when she could brag that she had to shop in special boutiques which carried size one. She looked at herself in the mirror everyday. She would never allow one ounce of fat on her body. She would never want to lose her figure.
She was a beanpole, her best friend would tell her. Tommy had loved Debra since fourth grade and they were each other's confidants. They would share details of dates with each other and try to solve each other's problems. They were inseparable. Tommy loved being with Debra -- she made him feel needed. But he hated her obsession with thinness. She talked about food and dieting constantly. She was becoming a bore. She was also making Tommy nervous.
She didn't look right lately. She seemed different, as if she were gasping for air sometimes. She didn't have energy to do anything but play the piano. And those fingers! They seemed to be a mile long, they were so bony!
Debra died just before her seventeenth birthday. She was alone in the house, playing the piano. The doctors told Richard and Marsha she had died of a heart attack. She had starved her heart for too long. The daughter who would never hunger for anything never ate anything. She weighed only 83 pounds when she died.
Marsha was a director of a hospice agency; Richard was the president of a prestigious bank. They had a comfortable life although they didn't spend much time in their home. They preferred to be on the go.
Vacations were usually trips to the Cayman Islands, the French Riviera, or Spain. Richard loved the nightlife in Acapulco and the deep-sea fishing in Hawaii. But Marsha's favorite was Paris. She could shop to her heart's desire and they could stroll for hours down the boulevards. And the jewelry bargains were impossible to pass up!
Richard loved to golf and often made time for it on the weekends, except during the summer when he frequently took the yacht out. They loved to have friends on their boat and throw lavish parties. Richard and Marsha enjoyed their life. Both came from middle-class families and both were determined that their children would never feel a hunger for anything.
Their three daughters were very successful. The girls weren't each other's best friends, but they got along whenever the family was together, which was rarely.
Each had her own interests and her own set of friends. Each had her own life. The oldest was a first-year resident at a major hospital. The middle daughter had just started studying communications at an Ivy-league school, and the youngest was a junior in high school and an accomplished pianist.
Debra, the youngest, played piano from the moment she got home from school until suppertime. Nothing made her happier than playing. And being thin. She loved it when people would say, "You're so talented -- and thin!" She loved it when she could brag that she had to shop in special boutiques which carried size one. She looked at herself in the mirror everyday. She would never allow one ounce of fat on her body. She would never want to lose her figure.
She was a beanpole, her best friend would tell her. Tommy had loved Debra since fourth grade and they were each other's confidants. They would share details of dates with each other and try to solve each other's problems. They were inseparable. Tommy loved being with Debra -- she made him feel needed. But he hated her obsession with thinness. She talked about food and dieting constantly. She was becoming a bore. She was also making Tommy nervous.
She didn't look right lately. She seemed different, as if she were gasping for air sometimes. She didn't have energy to do anything but play the piano. And those fingers! They seemed to be a mile long, they were so bony!
Debra died just before her seventeenth birthday. She was alone in the house, playing the piano. The doctors told Richard and Marsha she had died of a heart attack. She had starved her heart for too long. The daughter who would never hunger for anything never ate anything. She weighed only 83 pounds when she died.
