Mother, Daughter Exchange Encoded Menstruation-Related Message Over Dinner Table

SCRANTON, PA–Jodi Eckhardt, 15, and her mother Colleen covertly communicated a top-secret menses-related message across the dinner table Monday, averting the suspicion of the three male Eckhardts seated at the table. “What’s wrong, Jodi?” asked Colleen, noticing her daughter’s uneaten chimichanga casserole. “Does your stomach hurt this week?” “Yeah,” Jodi replied sullenly. “And we’re in our swimming unit in gym, too.” Colleen excused her daughter from the table and, getting her purse from the counter, produced a bottle of pills, stealthily shielding the label from Marc, 14, and David, 11.