Read Fit to Die for Free Online Page B

muttered.
    Inside, the space was divided into the office section in the front, where four cubicles had been constructed out of sleek gray materials, and the exercise room in the back. Here Veronica had arranged a group of folding chairs in the middle of the floor with an aisle going up the center. Gillian waved James and Bennett over to the two seats she had saved for them. Lucy and Lindy also smiled and greeted their friends, and although James could sense no animosity coming from Lucy, he felt agitated all the same. In addition to the members of the Flab Five, at least twenty other people with an evident love of food had gathered in the room. Avoiding their own reflections in the wall-length mirror opposite them, the men and women fidgeted nervously or attempted to strike up conversations with those seated next to them.
    Abruptly, the lights in the room were dimmed and then turned back to their full brightness. Upbeat dance music began to play from a boom box set up in one of the rear corners of the exercise room. The crowd immediately fell silent.
    Once again, Veronica displayed her gymnastic talents by doing two cartwheels and a roundhouse on the empty space of hardwood floor in front of her future clients. Several of these people clapped hesitatingly as she completed her routine and gave a short, stiff bow.
    “Welcome to Witness to Fitness!” she beamed. “I’m Veronica Levitt, but since you and I”—she pointed at people randomly as she spoke—“are going to be very close in the next few months, you should call me what my friends do, and that’s Ronnie.”
    “I wonder how many friends she’s got. I mean, who could tolerate all of that perkiness?” James muttered under his breath and Gillian shot him an admonishing look.
    Ronnie ran a hand over her hair, which was pulled back so tightly into a high, bouncing ponytail that it seemed like the woman had just had a brow lift. “All of you sitting before me are brave and intelligent people. You have made the choice to live a better, healthier life and I plan to reward you for the decision. You see, right now you are all like a bunch of caterpillars. You are overweight and you spend too much of your time eating. But inside!” She reached out to an overweight teenage girl in the front row. “Inside of each and every one of you is a butterfly. Something beautiful and new and filled with energy is just dying to be let loose from its shell. You are holding yourself back!” Ronnie pointed to Lindy next.
    James turned and was surprised to see Lindy nod in silent agreement. Gillian was dabbing tears from her eyes with a pink and purple tie-dyed scarf. Lucy’s face was blank and Bennett simply appeared amused.
    “Quite a show,” he whispered to James as Ronnie skipped around the room.
    “Quite,” James agreed.
    “Now, in the next six weeks, I am going to get a little bit tough with you, because that’s the kind of help you need.” Ronnie grabbed the shoulder of a fleshy man sitting near the aisle. “But you’ll have lots of loving support, too. How many of you out there have tried other diet plans?”
    A dozen hands rose into the air. Ronnie stared down at the man whose shoulder she had clamped onto until he raised a trembling hand.
    “And here you are, back in bad shape. After six weeks on my plan, I will have taught you how to eat and exercise so that you can continue changing your life on your own. I will help you break out of your shell!” she exclaimed gaily. “My friends, you will fly like a butterfly and begin living the life that has always been confined to your dreams!”
    Several women to the right of James broke out in sporadic clapping. One of them was Twix Lady from the discount warehouse. She sat with a look of rapt fascination as she watched Ronnie’s every movement. Her hands were clutched together as if in prayer.
    “That’s the spirit, ladies. Now, you can’t do Witness to Fitness as a piecemeal plan. You must eat my food, keep a food