My story begins with a confrontation with my mother in. I was a 200-pound embarrassment to her, and after dragging me to a diet doctor I became addicted over the next ten years to the amphetamines he gave me. Here’s an early excerpt from the Introduction:
“It was a crisp fall day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and there was just enough of a breeze to kick the fallen leaves up into the air. I could smell the apple orchard across the street. She was on time. My classes were over for the day, and I spent too much time primping for her visit. I couldn’t fit into pants anymore so I wore one of my long, flowing dresses that concealed my body nicely. I had raced over to the hairdresser for a quick blow dry before my ten o’clock seminar that morning and my hair looked good. But I think I had too much makeup on. Dang—an old habit from high school. I just wanted so much to look pretty for her. She really needed me to be pretty.”