Chapter 5: Danielle: Home Again

It was the second Thursday after Labour Day, and Danielle Winter sat in the airport, on her way home from the treatment centre. She had a medical escort who would see she got on the plane OK, and two pieces of paper, one detailing the date of the appointment with her psychiatrist and the other a prescription for zinc supplements were in her pocket. She was feeling much better about herself than when she entered treatment for the eating disorder. Her parents had caught the symptoms nice and early before it had developed into full-blown Anorexia Nervosa, and for once she could feel gratitude that her mother was such a busybody.

The treatment team at the centre had worked with her on her body image issues with some success. She now saw the issue as one of 'control' combined with the fashion media's standard of beauty, the emaciated and airbrushed stick-women who graced the pages of the fashion magazines. Essentially, like so many others had, Danielle had felt her life completely out of control, and had used weight as the one point she could control.

It was still hot and humid, and only the air-conditioning in the terminal made the trip bearable. As soon as she got home, she decided, she'd change from the jeans and peasant top and hit the pool. That would be nice.

The time finally came for boarding. Hugging her medical escort goodbye, she walked on board the small commuter jet and found a seat. Soon the air hostess was going through the preflight ritual familiar to commercial fliers the world over. Danielle briefly fantasized about how the air hostess would look and behave in the nude.

Before she knew it, the small commuter jet had delicately lifted off and tucked its landing gear up. In just a few brief hours, she'd be home.

Despite the fact every passenger got a window seat, it was a boring flight. For the restless 14-year-old, it was bordering on torture.

The flight got in at 7:00, just in time for a late dinner. The treatment must have been successful: she was hungry. The cabin door opened and a searing blast of heat invaded the formerly comfortable confines of the aircraft. Suddenly, being in the nude had a certain, infinitesimally small appeal to her.

At the gate, she was met by her parents and little sister. Quickly they hugged her, grabbed her carry-on luggage and headed through the evening heat and humidity for the air-conditioned comfort of the car.

When they got home, Danielle happily walked through the front door to housekeeper Christine's warm hug. Even if Christine was nude, because Danielle wasn't and because the housekeeper was so obviously happy to see her back, the hug wasn't so awkward as it might have been. Christine assured her, "Food's almost ready, you've got time for a quick dip in the pool first."

With a whoop of joy, Darlene dashed by, yelling at slowpoke Danielle. Although Danielle had been given special counselling about how to react with her family's new attire, it still startled her to see how quickly her younger sister stripped nude and dived straight in. She hadn't even headed to her bedroom first.

"Darlene, your clothes don't go there!" called Mrs. Winters, before giving up. "Danielle, go ahead and strip here; we'll take your clothes up to your room with Darlene's."

The moment of truth had arrived. "I'm not going to be wearing clothes again, am I?" she asked quietly, nervous. She closed her eyes and peeled everything off.

"OK now, into the pool and relax for a bit. We'll join you in a minute."

Just then the doorbell rang. Danielle squeaked in terror and hustled to the pool. Without even trying to acclimatize, she jumped into the shallow end and ducked down so only her eyes and forehead were visible.

Her mother walked out shortly, nude, with another women who was nude, and two girls her own age, also nude. Seeing her mother nude, as that was not something she was exactly used to, was harder on Danielle than seeing the other females nude. The trio looked familiar, somehow, although she couldn't place it.

"Danielle," said her mother, "I'd like you to meet Diane York, her daughter Rebecca and Rebecca's friend Linda Macintyre. These two girls will be your classmates starting Monday."

"Call me 'Becky', please."

Shyly, Danielle greeted the newcomers, as they slipped into the pool beside her. Christine brought out two towels apiece — one for swimming and one for sitting — and turned back to the barbecue.

"This isn't just a social visit, is it?" Danielle guessed shrewdly. "I mean, the timing is a little too perfect."

"Well," Rebecca replied, "We've had a number of kids transfer in this year, and where it was the parents' idea rather than their idea, there's been a tendency to freak out the first day. We're here to try to get you over the whole 'social nudity' thing before your first day."

"Yes, remember that one kid who transferred in on Thursday last week, his class has swimming that morning. He walks into the changeroom to get to the swimming pool, spots a naked girl, starts apologising for going into the girl's changeroom by mistake! He closed his eyes, got all red from embarrassment, hit his head on the door frame trying to back out." Both girls snickered.