This is quite a strong memory for me; I was either six or seven years old & living in England. One Sunday morning my parents had decided to take me to an adorable little tearoom in one of the neighbouring villages for a slice of chocolate fudge cake. We were sat at a table in the corner of the room when my parents began whispering to eachother: this is when I heard the word “anorexic” (of which I didn’t yet know the meaning) for the first time. In a hushed voice my mother told me they were talking about the lady behind me, & that the word meant that she didn’t eat anything.
I turned around to face a sullen-looking woman with long, dirty blonde hair & a very large hat. I don’t remember thinking her particulary thin, just that she looked a little sad. Her gaze was lowered & she wore a grey tweed jacket. She quietly sipped her cup of tea, her sharp elbows pressed into the tablecloth. I didn’t think about it again.The second time I heard the word mentioned was whilst watching a bad sit-com on the telly a year later. A girl in a university cafeteria has only two carrots on her tray. The woman next to her frowns & inquires worriedly, “Two carrots, dear?”. The girl grins enthusiastically & responds, “It’s my birthday!”.
At the time I looked upon anorexia as being a purely physical illness; the lady in the tearoom must have been told she couldn’t eat by a doctor, or had trouble swallowing her food. I didn’t know enough about eating disorders to understand their psychological implications; I must have discovered these later thanks to the ‘real life stories’ shown on daytime television or in glossy magazines, & eventually, from my own personal experience.