"Cindy! Over here," Kate leaned on the driver's door and yelled out to her friend who was about six cars ahead in the queue.
Cindy was startled and looked up from the steering wheel, recognising her name, but not knowing the source of the voice.
"Cindy! Coffee time?"
Cindy's eyes searched around and eventually located her friend waving from afar. The moms were going through the motions of their daily school ritual and the cars shuffled through the drop-and-go zone as children leapt from the back doors and ran to the front gate.
Cindy gestured to Kate with an expression that said, "I can't really make it today." But Kate was an older and more experienced mom and she knew that when coffee time came calling, you couldn't refuse. The pair were good friends and often ended up one or the other's house for some early afternoon wine therapy.
Kate could tell that Cindy had something on her mind, but pressed ahead with her invitation, instructing, "I'll see you at my place!"
Kate's car crawled forward toward the front of the queue and she watched her daughter Lilly meet Cindy's daughter at the gate, hold hands and enter the grounds together. She felt a tingle of satisfaction, mainly because it was pleasing to see her daughter happy at school, but from a selfish perspective it meant that the rest of the day was hers to pursue her own agenda.
Cindy completed the short drive and rolled into the driveway just behind Kate's car. The women converged on the front porch, offering each other a kiss on the cheek and a solid hug, pressing their breasts together in a sensual sign of close friendship.
"What's wrong honey?" Kate asked Cindy, inquiring of her reluctance to meet up.
"I'm just feeling really flat and low on energy," Cindy replied.
"Oh no!" Kate sympathised as she led the way through the front door to the common area by the kitchen. "How's your diet? Getting exercise? Sleep? Sex?"
"It's all OK, I guess," mused Cindy. "Good food. Regular gym. Sex with Jeff once a week." Kate raised her brow. "I don't know. Ever since we came back to the States, I've just felt - how would you call it -
meh
"
"How are your movements?"
"I can move fine. What do you mean?"
"No I mean, down there, in your tummy," clarified Kate.
"Well I'm regular. I can't believe I'm telling you all this. But consistency is not always great. And I'm feeling bloated all the time. Just look at this!" Cindy lifted her blouse to reveal a fulsome tummy. To emphasise the point, she tensed her abdominal muscles to thrust her gut outwards like a pregnant belly.
"Very funny Cindy," laughed Kate. "You're looking good. But it sounds like you've got some issues on the inside. You know about gut health right?"
"A little."
"I've been getting right into it. There's a bunch of great podcasts I've been listening to. I'll forward them to you. The latest research is amazing. They've discovered that gut health drives everything."
"Really?" Cindy asked sceptically.
"Yes, it's fascinating," Kate continued with growing animation. "I mean I can understand that it's important for getting nutrients into your body. But they've discovered tonnes more. Like it affects your mood. Intelligence. It can even drive your behaviour. And they way you look and feel."
"I wish I looked and felt like you Kate," mused Cindy, gazing over Kate's toned body, which was on display in tight black leggings and a gym top. Cindy was pretty too, but as just demonstrated to Kate, she was carrying some softness all over.
"Cindy, you're looking great. We've got young kids remember - it takes a little while." Kate concentrated pressing icons on her phone and scrolling. When she finally found the podcast that she'd been searching for, she held the screen up to Cindy.
"Here's the best podcast to start. It tells you how they worked out how the gut - all the microbes - synchronise with the place where you're living. Like the particular food in Asia suits one type of tummy culture, and the food in the US is another. I don't understand the chemistry, but it's amazing science."
"Too bad for me," sighed Cindy. "I've got an Asian gut on the wrong continent!"
"Are you interested to fix it?" Kate quizzed with a serious tone.
"Sure. I'd do anything to get the old me back." Cindy's face conveyed regret. "I've tried a course of probiotics, and maybe it helped for a little while, but it was no silver bullet."
"Wrong biome maybe," Kate mused.
"What do you mean?"
"The probiotics from the jar have a generic biome. It's not customised to the person or the location," Kate said, and with the next idea her face lit up. "But you know they do faecal transplants?"
"Say what!?" Cindy exclaimed with surprise.
"Yes sure. It's the most efficient way. You get culture from a healthy gut that's attuned to the local nutrition, and transplant the culture into another gut. It'll just take off because it's getting the right food."
"And what exactly are you thinking?" Cindy wasn't sure where this was going.
"You can get a transplant from me! My gut health is fine. You want to look like this bad girl, right?" Kate put on an exaggerated pose.
"Whoa. How does that work? We roll up to the doctors together and they do some transplant magic?" Cindy was intrigued.
"I don't think we need to be that formal," replied Kate formulating an idea. "Home remedies are always the best. We can just do it here. It won't take long. What do you think? We'll do it right now, before coffee."
"Well, I guess -," Cindy stuttered while her mind raced on exactly how this would play out.
"Great!" Kate clapped enthusiastically. She was a woman of action, and now she had a mission. "Come over to the living room. If you shift that occasional table, I'll just grab some towels and a few supplies. It won't take us long."
