Live Love Lacrosse

by Barbara Clanton

  “Yes. A gallon and a quart, give or take.” Kimi’s mother called into the house, “Makoto?”

  “Yes, kanai?” came the immediate reply from the open kitchen window.

  “Would you bring out a thermos of water for our guest?”

  He laughed. “I will, but start her slow, kanai. She’s probably not used to drinking so much liquid.”

  “All things in moderation, hazubando.”

  “Good words to live by,” Kimi said and bounded down the back stairs. A huge bite taken out of what looked like a peanut butter sandwich.

  “That was fast,” Addie said.

  “Turbo fast because banana boats are coming,” Kimi growled. She took another bite of her sandwich and bugged out her eyes, making Addie laugh. “Hey, do you want a sandwich?” she said with her mouth full, making Addie laugh even more.

  Addie shook her head. She’d had dinner at home before Kimi’s parents picked her up for the game. Her mother had made baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and baby lima beans. Addie loved the lima beans. She’d had no idea that a fuzzy green vegetable could be good.

  “Light that fire, Akimi,” Kimi’s father said as he headed toward them with a tray filled with four long foil-wrapped objects. “We must set these boats ablaze.”

  “You got it, Dad.” Kimi reached for the long lighter and clicked the button a few times until a flame finally danced out of it.

  “Get under the kindling and light the paper,” Kimi’s mother instructed.

  “I know, Mom,” Kimi said as if she’d heard this a thousand times.

  “Light the other side, too.”

  “I will, Mom.” Kimi groaned, but smiled at Addie to let her know she was kidding.

  “Your water, young lady.” Kimi’s father handed her an aluminum container. “You just push the button and the top flips open.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Takahashi.” Addie opened the container as instructed and took a sip. It was weird drinking water when she really wasn’t thirsty.

  “Now you only have twelve more gallons to go, right?” Kimi’s father teased.

  “And how about you?” Kimi’s mother said. “You wouldn’t have so much trouble in the bathroom if you’d drink your weight in ounces of water.”

  “Ahh.” Kimi groaned and put her fingers in her ears. “No bathroom talk. We have company. Zoinks!”

  “Addie needs to hear these things. She’s developing a new relationship with food.” Kimi’s mother turned to Addie. “Did you know that more than half your body weight is water? And if you don’t replenish it, your body won’t work efficiently.”

  Addie looked at her legs and arms. Shouldn’t she slosh or something if more than half of her body was liquid? “Half my body is water?”

  “Most of your blood is water,” Kimi said. “Water helps in digestion, too. It carries digestive stuff around.”

  “Enzymes. They’re called digestive enzymes,” Kimi’s mother amended. “Water flushes out your kidneys and also helps you have smooth poops.”

  “Mom!” Kimi put a hand over her eyes. “Sorry, Addie, my mom can’t help it.”

  Addie laughed. “That’s okay. I’m learning. Water helps you sweat, too, right?”

  “I did a lot of that in the game tonight,” Kimi said. She reached for her water bottle and took a long swig. “Sweating helps cool your skin. It tries to anyway.”

  “Water helps your joints move smoothly, too.” Kimi’s mother made a point of looking straight at her husband. “But when you don’t get enough water, sometimes you grunt when you get out of a chair because your joints are all rusted up.”

  “Point taken, kanai. Point taken.” Kimi’s father took a big long swig from his water bottle and said, “Ahh,” when he was finished as if that was the best thing he’d had all day. “How’s that fire, Kimi? Ready for boats to blaze?”

  “Yes, sir. Can Addie and I do it?”

  “Absolutely.” He handed the tongs to Kimi and held the tray toward her.

  Kimi gingerly picked up one of the foil boats and placed it near some coals on the side of the pit out of the direct flames. She placed a second one and then held the tongs out for Addie to take. Addie placed the next two boats along the edges just like Kimi had done.

  “And now we wait,” Kimi’s father said. “Five minutes.” He set a timer on his fancy watch.

  The sky had darkened considerably and bright stars were popping out one by one overhead. It was so nice. Addie wished she and her family did stuff like this. All they ever did was watch TV.

  “You know, Addie,” Kimi’s father said. “You have to give the fire the right fuel. Have you ever seen those artificial fire logs?”

  “Yeah, they’re kind of stinky,” Addie said. Miss Sheila back home in Watertown burned them in her fireplace all the time.

  “It’s the same idea when it comes to your body. You have to put in the right fuel. Those artificial logs are like all that artificial processed food out there. You know, like—”

  “Like stuff that comes in a box from the store,” Addie interrupted. “Like frozen pizza or cookies.”

  “Sure, those are good examples. Or my favorite oatmeal cream pies they put at the end of the aisles in the grocery store so I can’t miss them.” His sigh was long and sad. “But anyway, that stuff is junk. It’s not good and is ‘stinky’ for your body.”

  “Stink in, stink out as Mom always says,” Kimi said with a laugh.

  “Nice one.” Kimi’s mother high-fived her daughter.

  “Dad’s fire pit philosophy,” Kimi added. “I like it.”

  “Anyway,” Kimi’s father continued after glaring playfully at his daughter, “if you put in too much wood, the fire goes out because it doesn’t have all the things it needs. Like kindling and paper and oxygen.”

  Addie didn’t say it out loud, but that was how she ate before she’d met Kimi. She’d eat so much she couldn’t move, and she’d eat all the wrong things. It was like she was trying to start her fire with plastic or something.

  “But if you don’t put in enough wood, the fire struggles to stay alive.”

  “Just like me lately,” Addie said out loud.

  Kimi’s father smiled at her. “Yes, honey, just like you. But now you understand that you have to find the right balance. Whatever that right balance is for you.”

  “All things in moderation,” Kimi’s mother added.

  “Except when it comes to banana boats,” Kimi blurted when her father’s watch alarm went off.

  Kimi pulled out one of the heated banana boats and put it on a sturdy paper plate.

  Addie leaned forward as Kimi teased open the foil. Addie’s mouth dropped open. Inside was an entire banana, peel and all,

  “Wait for the best part, Addie.” Kimi pulled back the skin of the banana to reveal perfectly melted chocolate and marshmallows inside a scooped out section of the banana. “Perfection, Dad. You outdid yourself!”

  “I did.”

  “Guests first,” Kimi said and handed the plate and a spoon to Addie.

  “Careful,” Kimi’s mother said. “It’s probably hot.”

  Addie ate a small spoonful. It was so good that she sighed. If this was healthy eating, she’d take it. “It’s so good.” She went in for another bite. After her third bite, she sat back and sighed again. “Thank you for all the advice, Dr. and Mrs. Takahashi. I have a lot to learn.”

  “You know what Coach Cairns always says, don’t you?” Kimi asked in between banana boat bites.

  “What?”

  “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”

  Addie hoped she was up for the challenge. If banana boats were part of the challenge then she just might make it. She just might.

  Chapter 20

  Smooth Poops

  ADDIE RACED DOWN the stairs, hoping her excited steps didn’t wake up her grandmother who slept in on Saturday mornings. In a couple of hours, she was going to walk down to Kimi’s house so they could walk to Kimi’s game together. It felt be
tter in her heart to think of it as Kimi’s game, since she was still on that stupid exercise restriction until Tuesday. On Tuesday she’d be able to warm up with the team, but still wouldn’t be allowed to play in the actual game.

  She opened the cereal cabinet and pushed the boxes of Frosty Rings and Frooty-O’s to the side. At first she didn’t see her personal box of Cheerios, thinking Troy had hid it or something, but then she found it behind Grandma’s breakfast bars. Grandma thought they were healthy, but Addie read the label, and they had a lot of sugar and processed oils. Addie thought better about telling her grandmother. No way. She was always in a bad mood, so why add to it. “Don’t poke the bear,” Addie said out loud, imitating what her father had said the night before.

  Daddy. A warm feeling radiated from her heart. He seemed so much calmer the night before when he took them out to dinner and the movies. And he even stayed to talk to Mom for a little while. Until Grandma ran him off, that is. She grumbled and growled about how late it was, and shouldn’t he be “making like a tree?” Addie ran to her father at that moment and wrapped her arms around him. She cried a little, but didn’t let anyone see. Grandma was just being mean. She wanted Daddy to “make like a tree and leave.” And he did leave, just like that.

  With a sigh, Addie snagged a banana off the counter to go with her cereal. Troy came bounding down the stairs just as she finished peeling her banana.

  “You’re always eating, like, fruit and stuff,” Troy said. He pulled out the box of his beloved Frosty Rings. At least he was talking to people these days.

  “Did you know,” Addie held the banana up in front of her, “that bananas have a lot of potassium?” Without waiting for her brother to respond, she added, “Your body needs potassium to build proteins which make muscles. It breaks down carbohydrates which we use for energy. Potassium even helps control the electrical activity in your heart. Bananas have vitamin C which helps the immune system, iron absorption, and healing.”

  “Stop.” Troy put his hands to his ears. “You sound like a walking encyclopedia. I feel like I’m in school.” He poured a heaping pile of Frosty Rings in his bowl and then filled the bowl to the rim with chocolate whole milk.

  Addie took a small bite of her banana and poured skim milk over her Cheerios.

  “How can you eat those, Addie?” Troy pointed to her Cheerios. “They’re boring.”

  “You know, ever since I’ve been eating less sugary stuff, food tastes different. It tastes better, actually. Here, look.” She swiveled the box of Frosty Rings so the nutrition label faced them. She did the same for her Cheerios box. “Dr. Mitchell says kids our age really shouldn’t have more than twenty five grams of sugar a day. See the sugar amounts? Cheerios has one gram per cup and your stuff has thirteen. And look how much you’ve got in that bowl. That’s at least two cups. Troy, you have twenty-six grams of sugar in the cereal alone. That’s already more than you’re supposed to get in one day. And look at the whole milk label.” Addie pulled the carton closer. “Eleven grams of sugar in one cup. You’re up to thirty-six grams of sugar at breakfast. I used to eat that stuff all the time, and with that much sugar we’re heading for diabetes for sure. That’s what Dr. Mitchell said, anyway.”

  “That sucks.” Troy sat back in the kitchen chair for a moment like he was thinking. Without speaking, he got up and opened the refrigerator and pulled out the skim milk. He ran his finger down the nutrition label. “Hey, Addie, your skim milk isn’t that great either. Check this out.” He brought the carton over to her. “Look. Yours has eleven grams of sugar in one cup, too.”

  He looked as stricken as Addie felt. “It does? I didn’t realize.” She wondered how much sugar was in the sweet banana she’d just finished. She bolted to the counter to get the book about nutrition facts that Dr. Mitchell had given her. “Yikes, Troy, check this. Bananas have about fourteen grams. That’s a lot.” Addie sighed. This nutrition stuff was harder than she thought. “Well, like Dr. Mitchell said, there really is no perfect food, but if you continue to read the labels, you’ll figure out what foods are better than others nutrition wise.” She was curious now. “Hey, read the orange juice carton. How much sugar in, like, a cup?”

  He got up again and opened the refrigerator. “Whoa!” Troy looked back at Addie in disbelief. “Holy crud, Addie. One cup of OJ has—are you sitting down?”

  She nodded.

  “One cup of the OJ in this carton has . . .”

  “Say it, already, dork.”

  “Twenty-two grams of sugar. In one cup!” His voice had gotten so high, that Addie almost laughed. “I’m not drinking that anymore.”

  “But look at the vitamin C, Troy. How much?”

  “Wow. It has 120 percent of what you need in a day.”

  “Do you see how hard it is to figure out what to eat that’s healthy for you?”

  “So if you need vitamin C, like bad, then OJ would be a good way to get it, right?”

  Addie nodded.

  “You have to take the bad stuff along with the good stuff, I guess.” Troy put the OJ carton back in the refrigerator and pulled out the skim milk.

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “We’re gonna be eating more fuzzy green things, aren’t we?” Troy asked, his voice glum.

  Addie nodded and to her amazement, Troy picked up his over-full cereal bowl and dumped the entire contents down the food disposal in the sink. He flicked the switch and the sugary mess went down the drain. “Don’t tell Grandma I wasted food, okay?”

  Addie crossed her heart and held up a hand. She didn’t need to say the accompanying words, “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” The cross-my-heart oath was a serious one between them.

  He brought his bowl back. “Can I have some of your Cheerios?”

  “Sure.” She handed him her coveted box. “Let’s put blueberries on them.” She raced back to the fridge and pulled out the pint carton. “Blueberries have vitamin C and, get this, they have lots of antioxidants. I think that’s what you call them.”

  “Okay, smarty pants, what are antioxidants?”

  Addie dug deep in her memory. “Antioxidants help protect cells from free radicals. And before you ask, free radicals are bad molecules or something. They steal electrons from good molecules. You get ’em from bad food, and cigarette smoke, air pollution, UV rays from the sun, even stress can cause them in your body. Your body makes some of them naturally, but when you have too many, they get out of control. It’s, like, an imbalance in your body chemistry or something and antioxidants help fix that. Kimi’s mom says nutrition is all about balance, so maybe today we have the cereal and milk with all this sugar, but tomorrow we go for something with a little more protein.”

  “Scrambled eggs!” Troy announced. “And toast. What’s toast?”

  “You mean, like, is it carbs or whatever?”

  Troy nodded.

  “Bread is carbohydrates, but Mom bought me wheat bread which is the good kind of carbs. It has whole grains–”

  “Which do what?” Troy ate his Cheerios slowly. Addie could tell that he really wasn’t a fan. Not yet, anyway.

  “Whole grains have lots of fiber which help you digest your food. Beans and veggies and fruit have lots of fiber, too.” She held up her empty banana peel. “Kimi’s mom says you have to have enough fiber every day so you don’t strain while . . . you know, while you go to the bathroom.”

  Troy’s spoon clanked in his bowl. “Really? You and Mrs. Takahashi talked about pooping? Really, Addie?”

  Addie giggled. “I know! I know! She talks about pooping all the time.” She told Troy about Kimi’s mom’s comment about smooth poops, and they giggled even more. It wasn’t long before breakfast was forgotten and they were clutching their stomachs trying to catch their breath from laughing so hard.

  “What is going on with my children?” Their mother stood in the kitchen doorway. She had both hands on her hips; her bathrobe zipped to the top. Her grin told them she wasn’t mad about them d
isturbing the Saturday morning peace.

  Addie giggled a few more times and caught her breath. “You don’t want to know, Mom.”

  Troy shook his head in agreement. “Really, Mom. You don’t.” He snorted a laugh, which began the giggle fest anew.

  “You two are in rare form this morning. Just don’t wake Grandma.”

  They both sobered up at that moment.

  “Okay, Mom,” Addie said and quietly finished her breakfast. Troy did the same.

  Once their mother was out of earshot, having taken her precious cup of coffee into the living room to watch TV, Troy whispered, “Hey, I know you’re not supposed to exercise or whatever until your new doctor says it’s okay, but . . .” His cheeks turned the cutest shade of pink.

  “But what?”

  “Do you want to have a catch out back? You have your own stick, but you still have Kimi’s extra stick, too. I can use that, and Grandma’s back yard is huge. She’s still in bed, so as long as we’re pretty quiet . . .”

  “Let’s do it.”

  They cleaned up after breakfast, changed out of their pajamas, and headed to the back yard. It was weird teaching Troy how to use the stick to catch her passes and how to throw. He was a fast learner, though. Or maybe she was a good teacher.

  Addie had been a little nervous exercising before she was officially allowed to, but she didn’t have any shaky muscles or heavy legs. Not once. In fact, she found she wanted to run even faster, but Troy kept telling her to slow down. Maybe he didn’t want to get in trouble if she collapsed again. She was feeling so good that after they were done playing, she was going to break out a rake from the shed and make Grandma’s front yard more presentable. Raking would help keep her arm strength up. Hopefully Mom wouldn’t make her stop. And as an added bonus, Daddy would be happy that Grandma’s yard looked nice.

  They took a water break and sat on the ground against the rusting shed doors.

  Addie took a big swig. “Mom seemed happy when she was talking to Daddy last night.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m happy she and Dad talked to Dr. Wright on Tuesday. They had their session right after mine. When I was in Dr. Mitchell’s office talking about nutrition–”