Juicetopia!

“Is she okay?”
DL gives Penelope that worried look, her eyes magnified big and round behind her steamy glasses.

The woman in question has been giving soft moans as she moves slowly in front of one of the jets of the hot tub. It could be pleasure. It could be pain. It could be nothing.

But a moan is a moan.

“You okay?” Penelope calls out to her, eyeing DL for support.
Another moan. This one sounds like a mix of pleasure and pain. “Oh, ooohhh….oh…..ahaaa….mmmmmmm……”

Penelope waits for a few seconds, then gets a response in words, “I’m okay. It’s just my back. My scapula. Since the accident I been in so much pain, but today I ordered me up a Juicer. And oh I just can’t wait. I’m gonna get me some spinach and some kale and some berries and juice juice juice.”

Penelope and DL both grin broadly. She’s okay. Just dreaming of her juicer evidently. Penelope hopes that she doesn’t combine all of the listed ingredients in one smoothie. Spinach? Kale? And berries?
Gross!

“I’m like a kid with a new bicycle,” Juice Rapture Woman continues. “I can’t wait for that juicer to get here. I gained all this weight. Over 100 pounds. The doctors. They just wanta throw pills at you for the pain. But I had enough of that. I’m gonna get me this juicer and I’ll show them. I gotta get this weight off.” She smiles serenely, visions of spinach and berry juice floating over the hot tub.

“That’s so great!” Penelope grins while DL nods, enthusiastic. “And looks like you’ve been swimming too!”

“Oh yeah,” JRW nods, her round soft face beaming. “I just started that in August. Then they closed the pool and I said oh no not that! But now it’s open again and I’m starting up.”

“Swimming is the best!” Penelope preaches.

“It is. I was just lying around all day. Depressed. My therapist telling me this and that. And I tell her this and that and then I think, Why am I paying you to talk about this? I’m just gonna go out and do something. I’m gonna turn this thing around. After the accident, I worked for the Telsa Plant in Fremont and hurt my back in 2003 and 9 years it’s been 9 years and I gotta turn this thing around. That juicer. I tell you. I gonna get me some Anika Berries. They make you lose weight I heard and some spinach and kale and mix me up some juice and I wonder if it comes with a recipe book?”

“Most things like that do,” Penelope interjects.

JRW nods, “Yeah, you’re right. Most things do.”

“Or I’m sure you could find some recipes on the internet. Google has everything.”

Snorting, JRW nods, “That it does. That’s one good thing about life today. You can find almost anything on the internet. I need to get me some recipes offa the internet. That’s a good idea.”

She moans again, shifting back and forth in front of the jet. “That feel so good.”

“The healing power of the water,” Penelope offers.
“You said it. That it is.”
“And juice,” Penelope adds.
“I feel like a kid with a new bike.”
“It’s Christmas in October!” Penelope jokes and they all laugh. DL, JRW joining in Penelope’s silliness.

And all is okay. With JRW. With DL. And with Penelope.
As long as she doesn’t think too much about what spinach and kale and berries juicetopia would taste like.

That would not be okay. At all!