Live Love Lacrosse (11 page)

“Are we going home, Mom? Home to Watertown?”
Home to Daddy?

Chapter 18

All About Balance

ADDIE SAT AT the kitchen table deeply focused on the list she was
making when Kimi knocked on the screen door.

“Come in,” Addie said. “You can help me with
my homework.”

“Homework? In August?” Kimi dropped her lacrosse gear on the front
porch and let herself in. She sat down next to Addie at the table. “How are you
feeling?”

“Much better, thanks.” Addie pushed her list toward Kimi so they
could both see it.

Kimi looked it over. “How did your counseling thing go this
morning?”

“Good. First I had a checkup at this weird walk-in clinic. The
doctor was nice, but my mom said we’re going to find a permanent doctor.”

“Are you staying in Syracuse?”

“I don’t know.” Addie wanted to ask her mother that same question,
but couldn’t find the courage. “Anyway, then we went to another building a few
miles away, and I met with Dr. Wright. She’s a psychologist and everything. I
asked her if I was crazy, if that’s why I had to see her, but she just laughed
and said, ‘Absolutely not,’ and then we talked about body image and all kinds
of things. I told her I was tired of being called fat and lardo and stuff. She
told me that we’re constantly told our bodies are inadequate. ‘Inadequate,’
that’s the word she used. She said that a simple diet can turn into anorexia if
it’s taken to extremes. I guess that’s what I did.”

Kimi nodded.

“And you’ll like this part, Kimi. We talked about lacrosse and how
I’m learning to play and how I almost scored a goal yesterday. Before I passed
out that is.”

“That was suh-weet.” Kimi laughed. “Almost scoring the goal, I
mean. Not passing out.” She laughed again. “So . . . when can you play again?”

Addie looked down at the list, not wanting to
make eye contact with Kimi. Kimi had just come from a practice session with
Brooke, and she smelled like grass and dirt and, well, she just smelled like
lacrosse. Addie bit back tears. She took a deep breath as she gathered herself.
Kimi seemed to sense that Addie needed a minute, so she busied herself with the
list.

“At least two weeks,” Addie said.

Kimi sat bolt upright. “Two weeks? I’d die if I couldn’t play for
two weeks. You’re going to miss,” she counted on her fingers, “three, maybe
four, games. I figured they’d move you up to the first team by next week and
then we could play together all the time, and you could score goals. You and
Taylor and Paige would be this big fierce scoring machine. Anne-Marie, too.
Zoinks, we were going to be unstoppable!”

“Easy, easy, Kimi.” Addie patted Kimi’s arm. “You really think I
could be as good as Taylor and Paige?”

Kimi nodded. “Coach Cairns thinks so, too. I heard her telling
Coach Marks that you were a diamond in the rough.”

“Wow.” Addie’s heart filled at the words. “The doctor at the
walk-in clinic said it’ll probably take a couple of weeks to get my body
chemistry and muscles healthy enough to play at that high level of activity.”

“Well, maybe you can come watch the games.” Kimi’s expression was
hopeful.

“I’m planning on it. So, uh, what did Brooke and everybody think
about me passing out like that?”

“Coach Cairns told everybody that you were severely dehydrated,
which is true, right? She never told them exactly
why
you were
dehydrated. She never said anything about anorexia or an eating disorder.”

“Dr. Wright said I was lucky we caught it in time. She said I was
heading toward a severe eating disorder, but I was in the beginning stages.”
Addie looked away. She knew she’d done a stupid thing by trying to basically
not eat at all. Kimi must think she was an idiot for trying.

“Hey, Addie,” Kimi said softly.

“Yeah?”

“I know why you did it. I know why you skipped meals and stuff.
But you know that’s not the way to lose weight or get in shape, right?”

“Yeah. I felt so horrible all the time, physically I mean, but I
kept thinking that if I could just be more disciplined and could eat fewer and
fewer calories that soon I would lose weight and be strong and everybody would
be so impressed and tell me how great I looked. Even Brooke.”

“Brooke? What’s she got to do with it?” Kimi picked up the pencil
Addie had been using. She added a few more items to Addie’s list.

“I don’t know,” Addie said. “Brooke just kept saying stuff like,
‘she’s fat,’ or ‘she’s out of shape,’ or ‘I’m embarrassed to be seen with
her.’”

“Yeah, I know, but Brooke is all about Brooke. I’ve known her long
enough to know that she has absolutely no filter on what comes out of her
mouth. It was shocking when I first met her in third grade, but I don’t pay her
any attention anymore. And neither should you. It’s all about how you feel and
your energy level, you know?”

“I think I’m figuring that out.”

“So tell me about this homework of yours.” Kimi added
quinoa
to the list and put a check mark next to it.

Addie wrote French fries followed by a big X. “After meeting with
Dr. Wright alone, I went to another office in the building to see Dr. Mitchell.
She’s a nutritionist and was so cool. She said I was malnourished from not
eating and that led to fatigue and probably depression. We talked about
carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, calories, and all kinds of
stuff. I’d never really thought about food that way. Food tastes good. That’s
all I ever knew.”

Kimi laughed. “All I know is that I’m usually
starving after lacrosse, so that means I’ve used up the energy from the food I
ate earlier in the day. My body’s telling me it’s time to eat again.”

“Oh, yeah, Dr. Mitchell said I need to get proper energy from my
food. My mom made me eat breakfast this morning before we went, so I had Frosty
Rings—” Addie put both hands up at Kimi’s disapproving face. “I know, I know.
Dr. Mitchell made the same face this morning. Anyway, we looked up the
nutrition facts on her computer and she showed me how much sugar was in it. She
also showed me some of the good stuff that was in it, like vitamin A and
vitamin C, but she said all that sugar is tough on a body to process.”

“Aha, so that’s why you’re making this list. Dr. Mitchell wants
you to write down foods with carbohydrates and put a check next to the ones
that are good for you.”

“Yep, and an X next to the bad ones. This week it’s carbs and next
week it’s protein. After that fats and vitamins and minerals and . . . There
were more, but I can’t remember the other ones. It was a lot of information. I
never knew food could be so complicated. Dr. Mitchell said our sessions will be
like a nutrition class for me. She wants me to recognize good foods without
having to think about it. She wants to make healthy eating automatic for me.
Kind of like it is at your house.”

“My house?” Kimi added
legumes
to the list.

“Yeah, your house. And what the heck are leg-umms?”

Kimi laughed. “It’s pronounced leg-yooms, and they’re just beans.”

Addie frowned.

“Pinto beans, chick peas, lentils, navy beans, kidney beans, black
beans.”

“We eat baked beans sometimes.”

“Those are probably navy beans. See? You were eating legumes all
along and didn’t know it. So what were you saying about my house?”

“Just that you and your mom seem to know all the healthy ways to
eat and live.”

“Mom says it’s all about balance. Not too much
of any one thing.”

“Dr. Mitchell said the same thing. She said, ‘All things in
moderation.’”

“My dad hasn’t learned that yet,” Kimi said. “He still wants to
eat junk food and stuff.”

“He has to ‘unlearn bad habits and learn good ones.’ That’s what
Dr. Mitchell said. Like I now have to take a multi-vitamin just to make sure I
get proper nutrition.”

“That’s a good thing, I guess. Maybe I should start taking one,
too. I’ll ask my mom about it. She’ll probably say we get all our nutrition in
the foods we eat.”

“Dr. Mitchell said that’s the goal, but she said it’s really hard
to do. She also said that we’re not going to discuss a healthy goal weight for
me until much later.”

“Not until you get healthy and master all this homework, right?”
Kimi ripped two blank pieces of paper off the pad and started two more lists.
On the top of the first, she wrote, “Carbs: Veggies are Our Best Friends.” On
the other she wrote, “Carbs: Fruits are Our Other Best Friends.”

“Ooh, ooh! Guess what?” Addie gushed.

“What? What?”

“My dad is coming down so he and Mom can go with me for a family
session with Dr. Wright tomorrow. And then, guess what?”

“What? What?”

“Then my mom and dad are going to have a couples counseling
session with Dr. Wright right after. Mom asked and Dad said he would. Isn’t
that awesome? Maybe they won’t get a divorce now.”

“Addie, that’s great. I hope it works out, but then that means
you’ll go back to Watertown.”

“Oh, yeah.” Addie was quiet for a moment. She
hadn’t thought of that part . . . leaving Kimi and not playing lacrosse. “Um,
well, maybe we won’t go home until after lacrosse season.”

“Maybe.”

With less enthusiasm than before, Addie and Kimi went back to
their growing lists.

Chapter 19

Banana Boats

ADDIE NEVER IN a million years thought that sitting, just sitting,
would be a hard thing to do, but watching Kimi and the rest of the team play
against the DeWitt Diamonds was nerve-wracking. It had been exactly one week
since her glorious collapse, and she felt great. Her check-up that morning with
the same walk-in clinic doctor went great. He said her blood levels were good
and he couldn’t find anything wrong with her. Frustratingly, he said that Addie
should wait at least one more week before exercising. Addie wanted to tell
those doctors to go away so she could put on her gear and get in the game, but
the only thing she could do was sit next to Kimi’s parents in the extra fold-up
chair Kimi’s mom brought for her.

Addie followed the action on the field, mesmerized. Taylor’s quick
movements, Paige’s sneaky fake outs, and Kimi’s smart play were awesome to
watch. She drank it in, desperate for a chance to join them.

“I’m glad you’re coming over for fire pit night, Addie,” Kimi’s
mother said.

Addie winced when Kimi got slammed by a player on the other team.
“Hmm?” The official tossed the opposing player a yellow card and then play
continued.

Kimi’s mother cleared her throat. “I see that Kimi was
successful.”

“At what?”

“Getting you to love lacrosse. You want to get in that game don’t
you?”

“Desperately.” Addie grimaced.

The Owls were leading by a score of 7 to 5 with only two minutes
left, and if this game had been like the last one, maybe Coach Marks would have
put her in. Kimi would have passed her the ball, Addie would have faked right
and then gone left past a defender, stopped short to let another defender run
by, and then she would bolt toward the goal and shoot. But this time her shot
on goal would go in and everyone would cheer for her.

“We have to learn from our mistakes, don’t we?” Kimi’s mother
said.

Addie nodded, feeling her cheeks get warm.

“And you’re learning that you need a balance in all things. In
food, you need a balance of carbs, fats, and proteins.”

“Tomorrow I see Dr. Wright and Dr. Mitchell again to talk more
about being healthy.” Addie sighed. “It’s a lot to learn. I don’t know if I
can.”

“You can.”

“I kind of don’t know where to start.”

“What’s overwhelming you?” Kimi’s mother shifted in her fold-up
chair to face Addie.

“Like how do I know what food is good for me? And what if I get
hungry? Dr. Mitchell said I’m supposed to eat when I’m hungry, but what do I
eat? I need vitamins, good carbs, protein, minerals.” Addie sighed and flung
her head back. “It’s too much.”

“You learned how to read, right?” Kimi’s mother said with a grin.

“Read? Of course. I’m trying to read all the science fiction books
on my grandma’s bookshelf.” In fact, ever since she had been on exercise
restriction, she had finished the Voyager book about the Borg. Apparently you
never actually defeat the Borg, you just figure out a way to deal with them
without too many losses. And that’s exactly how Addie felt about her issues
surrounding her weight and eating. She had to find a way to deal with them
without getting hurt.

“Did you learn to read in one day?” Kimi’s mother asked.

“No, I learned my ABCs first.”

“You took small steps at first. So, just like learning to read,
you’ll learn about nutrition in small steps, but once you learn something,
you’ll know it forever, right?”

Addie nodded. “That makes sense.” Maybe learning about eating and
good health wasn’t going to be so hard after all.

The whistle blew for the game to continue and unfortunately for
Brooke, the DeWitt Diamonds managed to score another goal on her. Thank
goodness time ran out and the Owls barely won by a score of 7–6.

Addie leaped up from her chair to join the final team meeting on
the field. Kimi sat and stretched like she always did as Coach Marks outlined
what the team would be doing during next Saturday’s practice time. Apparently
he thought the team didn’t have enough depth in the attack positions and they
were going to pay special attention to that. Even though she wasn’t allowed to
play yet, Addie decided that she would go to the practices anyway.

“I can’t believe we almost let that game get away,” Kimi said when
the team meeting was over. She plopped down on the grass in front of her
parents.

“You played well, Akimi,” Kimi’s father said. He stood up, folded
his chair and attempted to slide it into its carrying bag.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“No one can catch you,” he added, still struggling to fit the
chair in the bag.

“I wish that was true, but thanks.” Kimi took the chair from her
father and slid it into the bag easily. She handed it back to him just as her
stomach growled loudly, causing everyone to laugh.

“Hungry, daughter?” her father said.

Kimi’s eyes grew big, and she nodded her head vigorously.

Kim’s father laughed. “After your post-game
sandwich do you want fire pit granola apples? Pecan peaches? Cinnamon pears?”

“I think we’re out of pears,
hazubando
,”
Kimi’s mother said.

“Banana boats,” Kimi blurted. “We have bananas, right?”

Her mother nodded.

Addie was confused. “What are banana boats?”

“Only the best dessert in the world,” Kimi said. “You’re still
coming over for fire pit night, aren’t you?”

Addie nodded.

“Good. Dad’ll make you a banana boat, too. Right, Dad?”

“
Hai
.”

“That means ‘yes,’” Kimi said.

“Am I allowed to have that?” Addie had gotten herself so turned
around about food that she wasn’t sure what she could eat or not eat. She
looked to Kimi’s mother for guidance.

“Addie, eat whatever you want. It’s not so much what you’re
allowed and not allowed to have, just make sure you’re guided by nutrition and
health. Banana boats have good nutrition for a dessert.”

Addie gasped. “You guys eat dessert?”

Kimi and her parents laughed.

“Of course,” Kimi said. “Life’s not worth
living unless there’s dessert.” She finished changing from cleats to sneakers,
stashed everything into her bag, and stood up. “C’mon, parentals, let’s go home
and show Addie how to have real dessert!”

It was just getting dark when Kimi’s mother pulled into their
driveway. Addie followed Kimi and her family into their house and then helped
Kimi’s mother get the backyard fire pit ready while Kimi ran up the stairs to
take a quick shower. Addie hadn’t noticed the fire pit in Kimi’s backyard
before. Probably because they practiced lacrosse in the side yard. The fire pit
was made up of big gray stones laid out in a circle, standing about two feet
high. Inside the stone structure sat a giant metal bowl where, at Kimi’s
mother’s instruction, Addie put loosely rolled newspaper on the bottom. After
that she helped carry small branches from an enormous pile of wood stacked
along the fence. The small branches were called kindling and she put them on
top of the paper. Apparently this was going to help the fire get going. Above
the kindling, Kimi’s mom arranged several narrow logs like a teepee.

“That’s to let the fire breathe,” Kimi’s mother said and sat down
in one of the six chairs surrounding the big fire pit. “We’ll wait for Kimi.
She always likes to light the fire.” She took a sip of water from a thermos.
“Addie, when was the last time you had some water? I noticed that you didn’t
have anything to drink during the game.”

“I wasn’t playing, so I didn’t need any.”

“Ahh, but you do. Every day you should drink your weight in ounces
of water. So, I try to get 155 ounces of water or juice every day.”

“Really?” Addie did a quick calculation. “That’s over a gallon of
water every day!”

“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.”