The Plan

Ella got back from her art class around five o’clock on the Saturday afternoon. She found her husband Steve in the living room, restringing his ukulele. 

‘How did the gig go, love? You didn’t break a string, did you?’ Ella asked.

‘Yeah, right in the middle of Bring Me Sunshine. Bring me a new ukulele, more like.’ He said.

‘Did you have a spare uke with you?’

‘Yeah, I had to use that. The sound wasn’t great but I think I got away with it.’ He replied.

‘Are we having a take-away tonight to celebrate your gig?’ Ella asked.

‘That sounds like a plan.’ Steve agreed, rubbing his hands together. 

As they got stuck in to their Chinese banquet at the kitchen table, Ella described the dream she’d had the night before, detailing the swirling colours and images that seemed so real, so vivid. 

‘It’s given me an idea for a new painting.’ She said.

Steve reached for another prawn cracker as he replied, telling her that her imagination is just astounding. Over the years, her dreams had given her some wonderful ideas for her paintings. She had even been exhibited in local galleries. 

‘Don’t forget, I’ve got my book club tomorrow evening.’ Ella said.

‘I thought that was Friday.’

‘No, Friday is my poetry reading.’ She said.

‘The busy life you lead. I’m surprise you can keep up with it all.’ Steve laughed.

‘It’s only like you, with your ukulele class.’ Ella said.

‘It’s not a class, Ella, it’s a group. We don’t practise, we play.’

Ella stuck her tongue out and reached for the dish of Sweet & Sour chicken in front of her.

That evening as they were watching television, Ella’s attention was gripped by an advertisement. This revolutionary new diet pill guaranteed results. The medication was scientifically proven to improve diets and help contribute to a healthy lifestyle. The people on the advert looked great, tanned, fit and healthy. Grinning widely, and clearly happy with the transformation, they enthused about the benefits of being on The Plan. Ella sat forward, eyes fixed on the screen. She gave Steve a nudge. 

‘That looks unbelievable.’ She said.

‘Yeah, unbelievable is right.’ He replied, giving her a look that said we’ve been here before.

‘I’m gonna look into it.’ She insisted.

Ella had struggled with her weight for years. Steve was what he referred to as a big eater. Food was just such a big part of their life. If either of them had a bad day, they would treat themselves with bars of chocolate. If they received some news, good or bad, they would either celebrate or commiserate with beer and a take-away.

Steve was happy with his larger build, but it always got Ella down. Steve did support Ella as best he could, but the truth was, he also struggled in his attempts to eat healthy, and who had time to exercise, these days? He was happy with the way he and Ella looked, but he knew Ella did not quite share his point of view. 

One Saturday afternoon, a couple of weeks later, Ella was sketching in her art pad, when there was a knock at the door. Debbie, a friend from the art classes they attended, was standing on the doorstep. She gave her friend a smile.

‘Debbie, you look amazing.’ Ella said.

Her friend had been transformed. She was tanned, her hair was now coloured and styled and the top and jeans she wore fit her slimmed-down figure perfectly. Ella showed Debbie through to the living room. 

Steve looked away from the American football game on television. 

‘Hey, Debbie. Look at you. You look like a different person.’ He said.

‘I feel it, too. I’ve been taking these diet pills. It’s called The Plan.’ Debbie said.

Ella gave her husband a nod, telling Debbie they had seen the advertisements. Debbie explained that you took these pills, two in the morning, and two more last thing at night. The pills are a blend of medication and herbal health supplements. 

‘What exactly is in these pills?’ Steve asked.

‘I’m not a chemist, but the results speak for themselves. I’m fitter, more healthy and active than ever. I’ve even joined a running club.’ Debbie said. 

Ella shot her husband a look that said she wanted to be part of this.

‘There’s actually a discount code too. I’ll text you the code. It gets you fifty percent off your first month. And if you know anyone else who’d be interested you can give them the code. My sister, our Lauren, she gave me the code.’ Debbie said.

And so, three days later, when Ella got back from her life drawing class, and Steve was back from rehearsing for an upcoming ukulele gig, they unpacked the first batch of pills. There was a small brown glass pill-bottle for each of them. Ella held the pill-bottle up to the light and studied it.

‘This feels like the start of something special.’ Ella said. 

‘And you’re sure about this?’ Steve asked.

‘I think it will do us both good. We’ll be healthier and happier.’ Ella insisted. 

Before they headed to bed that evening, Steve and Ella went to the bathroom. They each popped two pills out of their jar. They stared the small orange pills. Steve wondered what the pills contained, and if they would produce the results they promised. Ella grinned in excitement, and swallowed the pills. Steve nodded and did the same. 

The next morning they continued taking the pills. Two in the morning, and two last thing at night. It quickly became part of their routine.

A few days later, one of their friends invited them to the pub for the weekly quiz night. There were a few of them going along, and they would be having a meal in the pub, before the quiz got under way.

‘Do you fancy it?’ Ella asked Steve.

‘I’m up for the quiz but I really don’t want to eat out.’ Steve replied.

‘I feel the same. We could have our dinner before we go and meet them for the quiz. They could save us a couple of seats.’ Ella said.

‘Agreed. And about our dinner, I was thinking, do you fancy having salads for the rest of the week? I could pop for some bits on the way in from work.’ 

Steve just didn’t feel like the pub grub. Normally both he and Ella would relish the thoughts of a meal in a pub. It would have kept them going all week, with them both perusing the menu in the days leading up to the night out. Steve would be usually drooling at the thought of pies, burgers, pizza, fish and chips, and then a dessert of sticky toffee pudding. But right now, he just didn’t want to eat that kind of food. And it seemed that Ella felt the same. He smiled to himself. Maybe there was something to these little orange pills after all. 

A week later, Steve was driving home from work when he saw a couple out for a run. The man and woman were side by side, in running gear, both breathing hard, red in the face. Steve nodded to himself. He and Ella should do some exercise, a bit of cardio to help with the diet plan and the pills.

As they dined on their evening meal of steamed vegetables, Steve brought up the subject of exercising to complement the diet and the pills. 

‘I was thinking the same, love. I was going to suggest we join a gym. There’s one before the motorway, that’s supposed to be good. A few of my friends go there.’ Ella said. 

By the time they joined the gym that weekend, they were both already looking and feeling so much better. They had lost weight, felt more in shape and were sleeping better too. It just went to show that if you take care of yourself, your life will improve. Diet and exercise, Steve said, it’s hard work, but it’s actually not that complicated. 

Joining the gym gave Steve and Ella the chance to work up a sweat on the wide range of equipment. Steve loved the treadmill and the cross-trainer while Ella preferred the exercise bike, clocking up the miles, pedalling away. As well and the machines there was also the classes included in the membership. There was always some class or other going on in the studio. From the very first class she attended, Ella was hooked.

They would head to the gym most evenings after work, before arriving home late, happily exhausted after burning themselves out. 

On the same complex as the gym was a tanning salon and hairdressers. Ella took the opportunity to try tanning for the first time in her life, and also had a haircut and blonde highlights in her dark hair. 

The first time she came back with the tan and new hair-do, Steve was shocked by the transformation. Coupled with the weight they had both lost, she really did look like a different person.

‘You look fantastic, love. Such a transformation.’ He said. 

Of course with this healthy new lifestyle there had to be compromises. Steve no longer had time for the ukulele group. He had explained that he was getting his act together and being healthier so the weekly meetings in the pub had to go. He told his friends at the group that he would still be playing the uke at home, when his exercise regime allowed. The guy who ran the group jokingly asked if he was in training for the Olympics. 

Their new physiques also allowed them to treat themselves to a new wardrobe. For the first time in her life, Ella was suddenly enjoying trying on and buying new clothes. She would spend any time when she was not at the gym, clothes shopping at the Trafford Centre mall. She would pick up clothes for Steve that she thought would suit him.

Ella also found that there just was not time for her book-club. The members of the book-club had hugged her and congratulated her on the transformation. Neither was there time to paint and draw as she once had. There was always a gym session, exercise class, or shopping trip to do.

The next time he went to get his hair cut, Steve asked for something different. The barber gave him a trendy cut, with a fade, shaved at the back and sides, and gelled and styled on top. 

They still saw their friends socially but would make excuses for any meals they were invited to. When they did have a night out they would sip diet cola. When his friends asked why he wasn’t having a pint of beer, Steve would reply that it was a waste of calories.

‘You’ve changed, mate.’ One lad said.

‘Yes,’ Steve replied with a grin, ‘yes, I have.’

The weeks turned into months. Steve and Ella were almost like the poster-boys and girls for The Plan. They would tell anyone who listened about how the pills had helped them turn their lives around, to get them out of their ruts, and transform them into the glowing, healthy people they were now. 

Just after two o’clock in the morning, Ella woke and headed to the bathroom. As she entered the room, she caught her reflection. She looked great, so slim, tanned and healthy. She looked like a picture from the magazines she used to read.

Something else occurred to her. It didn’t look like her. 

They next morning, as she’s doing her hair and make-up, with Steve beside her styling his hair with gel, the incident in the night was still on her mind. She had caught her wonderful reflection, perfect almost, but it had startled rather than impressed her.

In the morning light, she looked at their reflections now. The same thought stuck with her. They no longer looked like the people they had been. They looked like completely different people. She stopped dragging the brush through her hair.

‘Steve, is this okay?’ She asked, pointing the brush at the mirror in front of them.

‘What’s that?’ Steve replied.

‘We don’t look like ourselves.’

‘We feel fantastic and we look great. We’re in the best shape of our lives.’ Steve said. 

‘I don’t feel like myself.’ Ella said.

‘Don’t over-think things, love. You’ve got the figure and the healthy-lifestyle you’ve always wanted. Try and enjoy it.’ He said.  

Ella nodded. Surely Steve was right. Ella had been aspiring for years to be healthier, to have a physique she was happy with and to not be ashamed of her appearance. Now that she had the look she wanted, she had to change her mind-set, to stop and say, this is me, I’m happy with it.

On the way home from work one evening, Ella passed a billboard poster for a new art exhibition. Thomas Cooper, one of her favourite artists, was holding a new exhibition in a city-centre gallery.

At one time she would have been beside herself with excitement over the exhibition, eager to go along, and possibly even meet the great man himself. Now though, she felt nothing. She was more interested in hitting the treadmill, and her shopping trip with her friends at weekend. She turned her attention to getting to the gym to burn off the calories from the avocado she had eaten for lunch. 

She told herself that Steve was right, this was the new and improved versions of themselves. They just had to adjust to their new lives, the new Ella and Steve, that was all. 

When he arrived home from the gym that evening, as they sipped their green tea, Steve asked if she had seen the adverts for the exhibition. 

‘Oh yes, I saw the posters. I’ve got a shopping trip with the girls at weekend so I’ll have to give it a miss.’ Ella said with a shrug.

‘But Cooper was always one of your favourites. I thought you’d be well up for the exhibition.’ Steve replied.

‘I suppose my tastes and my priorities have changed.’ She said.

Steve nodded, fair enough, but it still did not sit well with him. 

As he lay in the darkness of their bedroom that evening, the lack of interest Ella had shown for her favourite painter still troubled him. Perhaps Ella’s concerns had been right. What were they doing with their lives? Okay, they looked a certain way, slimmer, dressed in great clothes, but what did it all mean?

It was empty, worthless. Where was the joy in anything? He and Ella had always had pastimes and hobbies that they really enjoyed. 

He used to be passionate about the American sports and always tuned in to the big games, often recording the matches, because of the time difference. These days nothing seemed to matter apart from the gym, getting the results on the scales, and buying new clothes to show off their new figures.

The following morning, as she handed him a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice, Steve tried to explain his concerns.

‘You don’t draw any more, Ella. You don’t paint. You used to get such satisfaction from your art.’ He said.

‘I don’t get the ideas anymore.’ She replied.

‘You even used to get ideas in your dreams.’ Steve said.

Ella thought for a moment, then turned to her husband.

‘I can’t remember the last dream I had. I don’t dream these days.’ She said.

‘Those pills have done something to us.’ Steve said. ‘I don’t like it. We should stop taking the pills.’

‘We shouldn’t make any hasty decisions. We’ll have a think about it, okay?’ Ella said. 

Steve nodded in agreement, still really unsure about continuing.

‘You have to admit, we look great. When I look in the mirror, I still can’t believe it’s me in the reflection.’ Ella said. 

That evening, Steve headed to the bathroom before bed, as usual. He brushed his teeth and opened the bathroom cabinet.

The two brown pill bottles were next to each other on the shelf, his and hers. He reached for his pills and cracked open the lid. He tipped two pills into his palm and ran the cold tap. He was about the take the pills when something stopped him. 

No, he had to stop taking these pills. He tossed the pills into the flow of the water and watched as they went disappeared down the pug hole.

He screwed the lid back on the jar. As he crossed the landing to joined Ella in the bedroom, his gaze wandered to the spare room. Where his ukulele had previously sat proudly with his chord books and tuner, his dumb-bells and weight training gear now lay. There were weights at the gym, but Steve also loved training at home in spare moments. 

The new diet pill may have given them the physique and healthy lifestyle they had always wanted, but, he wondered, at what cost?

The next morning when he woke up at the alarm, he felt more awake than he’d felt in a long time. He couldn’t quite explain it, but he felt more like his old self. Was this because he had skipped taking his dose of pills?

Having showered as usual, he proceeded to flush the morning dose of pills down the sink. He would see what happened now he had stopped taking the pills and tell Ella when he knew more about what was going on.

He found Ella in the kitchen, she handed him a glass of orange juice and pecked him on the cheek.

‘Good morning, love.’ She said. ‘I’m off to the gym. I’ve got a class before work.’ Ella said.

Steve told her to have a good day.

As he drove to work he wondered if he should get the ukulele out of the loft. He could have a bit of a strum for half an hour that evening, while Ella was training. Yes, he decided, he would enjoy that. And he might see about catching the American football highlights later on too. It had been ages since he’d caught up with the NFL. 

When he arrived home that evening, the house was in darkness, but Ella’s car was parked on the drive. Had had she gone out somewhere? Maybe she had decided to go for a run, or maybe one of her gym friends had picked her up to go to a fitness class.

He went through to the living room. He gasped. His wife was simply standing in the middle of the room, a far-away, glazed over look on her face. The room was in darkness. He flicked the light on. Ella blinked and turned to face him. She smiled.

‘Hey, love. How was your day?’ She asked.

‘What were you doing just now?’ He asked, trying to keep the worry from his voice.

‘I will make a start on dinner.’ She said, heading for the kitchen.

The way she had just been standing there, motionless, vacant, in the dark room was really unsettling. Was he being paranoid to think this was because of the pills? Maybe the diet medication was turning them into mindless zombies. Okay, they looked fit and healthy, but what if it cost them who they were as people? Surely it was not worth that. 

A while later, Ella went to get changed, ready for bed. She usually changed into her pyjamas and dressing gown, before having an hour in front to the television prior to going to bed. Steve noticed she had been gone for longer than usual. He went up to their bedroom. She was simply sitting there on the edge of the bed, staring into space. She had the same spaced-out look on her face as earlier.

‘What are you doing, Ella?’

His words seemed to snap her out of her daze.

‘I’m just coming.’ She said, getting to her feet, knotting the dressing-gown around her waist.

‘Are you okay, Ella? I’m worried about what is happening to us.’ He said.

‘Don’t be daft. Come on, you can make us a nice green tea.’ Ella said. 

‘We need to stop this. We need to stop taking the pills. I’m serious.’ Steve said.

‘It’s late, Steve. I’m tired. We’ll talk about this tomorrow, okay?’ Ella said.

Steve had no idea just yet of what was going on, all he knew was that he would be taking no more of the pills, and in the morning, he would try and convince Ella to do the same.

In the kitchen the next morning Ella handed him his orange juice. As he sipped the juice he explained that he did not like what the pills were doing to them. They both looked great, but at what cost? 

Ella reminded him that he had told her not to over-think things. 

‘Look at us, we’re in the best shape of our lives.’ She added.

‘I really don’t like it. I think we should stop taking the pills, just for a while.’ Steve said.

Ella said nothing.

‘It feels like we’ve sold ourselves, somehow. It’s like we’ve become clones. Where have we gone? Where is our creativity? This isn’t us, love.’ Steve said.

Ella topped up Steve’s glass with fresh orange juice. She checked the time on her watch.

‘We don’t have time for this now. We’ll talk about it tonight, okay? Think on it throughout today. If you still want to come off the pills tonight, we’ll stop taking them. How’s that?’ Ella said.

‘Agreed, but I don’t think I’ll change my mind.’ Steve admitted. 

‘If you still feel the same tonight, we’ll stop. We can continue the good work under our own steam.’ Ella agreed. 

Steve nodded, glad that she was listening to his concerns. She pecked him on the cheek, telling him to have a good day. Steve finished his orange juice and left for work. 

By the time he pulled up to the office, his mind had gone blank. What was it that he should be thinking about today? He had been unhappy about something, wanted to change something about the way they were living? Something had been troubling him? What on earth was it?

He shook his head. If it was that important, it would come back to him. He decided then that he would go to the gym on the way home. There was a new fitness class he wanted to try. A good work-out would sort his head out. It would help blow the cob-webs off. These new pills they were taking were working wonders. He had always struggled with diet and exercise, and found it hard to stay motivated, but The Plan really seemed to have focused his attention. 

Back home, Ella rinsed out the juice glasses under the tap. She was glad that Steve hadn’t noticed the pills she had added to his drink. She told herself it was for his own good. The Plan was working wonders. Ella grabbed her gym bag for her class after work and left for the office.

By Chris Platt

From: United Kingdom