FICTION

AS YOU LIKE IT

Anonymous

As I paused for breath and leaned against the wall of the high school practice room, I saw that Barbara was deep in a grimace that seemed to start from sheer frustration, the same frustration that I was feeling.

Barb and I had been dating since she had moved into our neighbor- hood two years before. Though I stood five nine in my stocking feet, Barb was about an inch more than that. Barbara was aggressive and frustrated at the same time. Not that she had to have her own way all the time but she had the ability to promote her own ideas against heavy competition, at least she could prevail against me.

Two years before I had had serious case of mumps. Not only did I spend some weeks at the hospital, but the convalescing took several months. Our mothers became good friends and somehow Barbara adopted me to nurse. Though she was strong, she was also very tender, and I really enjoyed the body-rubs that mother allowed her to do. As a matter of fact, when Barb substituted one of her lotions for the stinky hospital issue, I began to enjoy them. As I grew stronger, Barb still babied me, and with mother's insistence, she began a program of walk- ing and dancing to rebuild my strength.

It was Barbara who convinced mother that I should wear a corset to strengthen my back. And it was Barbara who somehow always was the one to check that the corset was particularly and increasingly tight at the waist.

Mother was amused at this "maternal" complex that Barbara was developing. Though I complained at the start about wearing the ladies corset, mother told me that I was fortunate that I had such a nurse and that I would do Barb an injustice if I did not cooperate.

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