The Notebook
IV
As another lunch period slowly ticked away the five seniors were very quiet around the circle of desks. Scott Hansen and Anna Marie Zelman exchanged looks and other non-verbal communication between one another while Bert Girard stared at Rosa Garcia eating her salad. Every time she turned her rounded oval face in his direction, he looked away nervously as if the 339-pound Hispanic had seen him. For his part, Todd Walker was poking his trash almost showing how bored he truly was.
Todd
shook his head as did Bert while Scott and Anna Marie just looked at one
another. Getting her thick body up from
the desk,
Bert said, “Besides my report on studying those rules, not really.”
The
339-pound young woman shifted her body out of frustration. She then watched Anna Marie stand up from her
desk. The 288-pound dark auburn haired
Goth was dressed in a pair of black jeans that emphasized her buttocks, hips,
and upper thighs compared to a small paunch.
The three young men got to their feet as well when into the classroom came Sarah Wu, the sixth member of the council, with two sheets. “You won’t believe it. The Bear Truth is saying that two students that have been in long relationships are cheating on their significant others with one another.”
“Any names?” Todd asked looking interested for the first time.
“No, but they’ll name names before Christmas Break,” Sarah said handing the printout around.
Anna Marie grabbed her backpack before saying, “Well, until then the website is going to be getting a lot of hits. I wonder if speculation is going to becoming in our direction,” she looked at her boyfriend.
Scott’s facial expression of disinterest at latest update of the gossip website before he said, “Well, after the report that Alexia and I were cheating with one another I wouldn’t be surprised, but it implied two long relationships.” After grabbing his backpack he continued, “I need to head to the front office before Trig & Pre-Cal and get that senior paperwork done,” before giving Anna Marie a kiss on the cheek.
“Same here,” Bert said and followed after Scott.
Scott and Bert made good time from Mr. Hick’s classroom to the front office. They were quiet most of the way until Scott asked, “When do you want to work on translating again?”
“This weekend,” Bert responded, “I’ll have access to a new translating program my father was able to buy for the linguistics department. It won’t magically decode everything, but it could help me find vowels so I can figure out words quicker.”
“Interesting, but how will that help you translate to English?”
“It’s complicated to explain, but the program will identify how many different characters are in a language then try to find English equivalent, which will most likely identify vowels. Overall the program uses studies of other extinct languages that have been deciphered and translated into English.”
“I guess if the program shows any words like karmic or pounds or anything like what’s with the other rules, things will get easy,” Scott said.
“It would be miracle if the program were to get one of those words by random guessing, of course that’s if the language has the same number of characters as English, but I’ve counted only 24. My hope is that the language in the notebook is related to another known language that the program will detect, which will help me tremendously because I’ll have a starting point at least.”
A couple of students then passed by in a loud conversation. “The woman from the school board is interrogating anyone she can talk to in the cafeteria,” a female sophomore told her girlfriend.
“Seriously?” the other student responded.
“Yep, she’s the one that gets on Mrs. Carter’s nerves all the time.”
Scott and Bert looked at one another, shrugged, and decided to see what was going on. They walked towards the front office until they turned down the hallway that led to the cafe. As they approached the two sets of open double doors leading to the cafeteria they saw Mrs. Nelson talking to students after grabbing a hold of them, while more fortunate students rushed by while they could.
Mrs. Nelson released a student then glimpsed Scott and Bert standing in the doorway. “Running a little late aren’t we?”
“We’ve already ate,” Bert replied.
“I have been in here the entire period and have not seen either of you.”
Scott didn’t care to respond, but Bert feeling brave being next to him just blurted out, “We brought ours from home and ate in Mr. Hick’s classroom.”
Mrs. Nelson put her hands on her hips and said, “They let you run wild? What the hell is the administration thinking?”
Bert looked at Scott when the end of period bell rang. Scott shook his head and said, “Guess we’ll do those papers later.”
Bert nodded and they went their separate ways as Mrs. Nelson tried to grab students hurrying past her headed for class. The cafe incident was the talk of all the students in every class. Scott and Bert told their friends about what they saw and were asked. Once the teachers gave their opinion, if asked, it was time to get to learning.
After
the end of 3rd period, Anna Marie headed for her locker to get her
books for the next day. After trading
things from her locker and backpack, she was ready to head home. Then
Surprised Anna Marie replied, “Sure.”
Once
Rosa suddenly looked at her then replied, “You’re the only person I can talk about this with,” she glanced around one more time before continuing, “It’s dealing with being a newly expanded fat person. I know you like your results, then again so would I with that butt and those hips then add getting a boyfriend out of it. However, before we got fat we were totally opposite. I was a cheerleader, sought out and joined the popular clique, and actively flirted and flaunted my body. You didn’t want to be apart of the ‘in’ crowd, you dressed how you liked regardless of fashion and if you thought guys would think it would be sexy, and if anyone tried to make a joke at your expense you stood up for yourself against them. And while I’m trying to figure out how to be a fat girl, you just continue on as if everything is the same.”
“Well, you’re right about our outlooks before the notebook, but don’t think my lower half is all that is cracked up to be. I’m finding myself noticing how tight my butt is squeezing into chairs with arms or how much they overlap armless chairs, and I take up more space on couches. There are stares by guys looking at my butt while some women just stare because they can’t believe I’m proud of my body,” Anna Marie said.
“Well
at least you have something to be proud of,”
“Not really,” Anna Marie said, “Are yours?”
“My father isn’t, he just treats me like before. My mother, on the other hand, is almost the same but its moments here and there that make me think, especially when it comes to volunteering. I never volunteered for any of her organizations or charities when I was a cheerleader nor did she asked or hinted that I should like she’s done after my blimp up. Then she sometimes looks at my hair and plays with it, almost as if she wants to suggest another style or something. It’s so complicated that I’m finding it hard to explain.”
Anna Marie nodded. “That’s weird. But maybe that notebook’s power, along with not making the world realize you’ve suddenly gained weight, gives people altered memories like some sort of personalized alternate history that each individual is given that is close to what actually happened.”
“Could
be, I mean who knows what those unknown rules cover. One could state that we could make someone’s
gain realized by everyone,”
“Why did you dye it at all?” Anna Marie replied.
“I wanted to be ultra fashionable and trendy, fitting the stereotype.”
Before
Anna Marie could reply she heard someone talking from around a nearby
corner. She thought the voice was
familiar, but couldn’t tell. Putting her
hand up to her mouth, she stopped
“I can’t believe how perfect this sets up next week. The food’s health value is questionable to begin with so pursuing the board won’t be that difficult and to make sure the students eat it, I’ll get the board to ban lunches from home as well as forcing the students to only eat in the cafeteria because of some safety issue. The board wants easy fixes and so after showing them how reasonable our company’s prices are we’ll get the contract and make a killing.”
Anna
Marie and Rosa glanced at one another as Mrs. Nelson listened to the other
person before saying, “Have you seen some of the heifers in the student body,
one of them might be dating the wrestling star but I’d suspect that she’ll be
getting pregnant soon since she must have to put out almost everyday to keep
him. Hell, that little whore made the
school counselor resign and Carter allow what she did to go unpunished. But tomorrow, I’m going to confront Carter
and the fool won’t know she’s playing into my hands,” then changing tones said,
“Let’s meet Saturday at Books-A-Million near the new age crap as usual.” She listened to the reply before saying,
“Right, as usual.” With a smile on her face Mrs. Nelson hung up and walked down
some stairs on the dock, she walked towards the parking lot on the far side of
the delivery entrance as a silent Anna Marie and
“Just a little,” Anna Marie uttered before continuing waddling along the outside of the building.
As
she drove away from the
In a cheery voice she called out, “Mommy’s home!”
Suddenly two happy four-year olds whose shouting voices filled the air dashed into the room and hugged their mother. After they excitedly talked to her, Henrietta said, “Wait until daddy gets here, so you can tell both of us everything.” The twins readily agreed before she continued, “It’s almost time for Elmo, by the time you’re done daddy will be home.”
The two children raced off in the direction they had come passing a chubby young woman with light red hair who smiled as they went. “Hello Mrs. Nelson, everything going well at the high school.”
Henrietta’s smile all but vanished as she said, “Yes it did. The children behave?”
“No problems not even at nap time.”
“No sugar treats or anything else not on their diet,” she asked looking at the chubby young woman opposite her.
“Only the items you listed.”
“Good,” Henrietta said then looked around the kitchen and said, “Any call from Dr. Nelson on if he’ll be late?” She got a shake of the head then said, “Ok, Gina. Get started on supper, I’ll change before Mr. Nelson arrives. If he calls saying that he’ll be late, adjust your cooking accordingly.”
The chubby young woman nodded and Henrietta headed upstairs to her bedroom. Once there, she released her shoulder-length black hair from a tightly pulled bun. Taking off her shoes she carefully removed her heels before taking off her pantsuit and blouse. Once she was down to her undergarments, she looked at several pieces of clothes in the floor-to-ceiling length three-sided mirror in a corner of the room.
On observing the three reflections of Henrietta as she tried to find an appropriate outfit one would find it hard to believe she was in her mid 30s and a mother of two. Her oval face was nearly flawless, only light touches at the edges of her mouth and eyes seemed to hint at her age. Henrietta’s 38C breasts had been enhanced by her pregnancy and looking as firm as ever above a nearly flat stomach. Her defined waist that was parallel to her shoulders while her butt was shapely before flowing smoothly into trim thighs and shapely calves. A 137-pound body any mother of two would desire and Henrietta loved to flaunt it when not doing business.
Deciding
to be somewhat conservative, Henrietta put on a pair of trendy, tight white
pants and a form-fitting light blue, long sleeve shirt to show off her
body. Deciding to leave her hair down,
she put on a pair of stylish shoes and headed down the staircase. Once at the foot of the stairs, she glanced
into the family room to see that her children where watching
Sitting down at the kitchen table, Henrietta acted like she was reading the mail before turning to her laptop. All the while she kept an eye on the young woman who was performing the duties she had convinced her husband they need help with. Henrietta looked at Gina who was preparing their dinner and couldn’t help but think that the chubby young woman should be used as an example for her daughter of not what to become.
Though Henrietta could only guess Gina was around 165-pounds, the 5’5” redhead had a little belly and thick torso that couldn’t be hidden from Henrietta’s critical eye with a large sweater. The college student’s jeans were a size Henrietta would have been horrified to even approach wearing. Seeing how they were very snuggly fitting Gina made Henrietta believe that her domestic helper was sporting a muffin-top. The fact that Gina’s upper thighs were pressing against one another, was just as revolting to Henrietta.
Deciding to assert her authority, Henrietta stood up from the table and walked over to the counter to look at Gina work so far. The young woman worked around her employer, but Henrietta then stated, “That is low fat margarine you’re using correct?”
“Yes, Mrs. Nelson.”
Before Henrietta could continue her power trip, a loud masculine shout almost made her jump, “Where are the munchkins?”
Suddenly her children raced through the kitchen shouting, “Daddy!”
Henrietta looked out of the kitchen towards to the door leading to the garage to see the twins jumping up into the arms of their father. A brown haired man of average build in his late 30s hugged the twins close lifting them up off the floor. A minute later, he set them down and walked into the kitchen with a smile on his face as the children ran back to watch their program.
Henrietta forced a smile as she pecked him on the cheek, he gave her a kiss. Then going over to the counter to observe what was for dinner before asking, “The kids behave themselves?”
“Yes, Dr. Nelson,” the young woman replied before asking, “Was it a good day?”
“It was fine, found a few cavities here and there but nothing serious. Tomorrow though I’m going to be late, a lot of people coming to get work done.”
“Sorry to hear that dear,” Henrietta said, “We’ll start fixing dinner later so we have everyone here.”
Looking at the time Dr. Nelson replied, “Order pizza or something, I’ll grab a few slices when I get in.” He kissed her on the cheek again, as she faked appreciating it before heading upstairs.
Henrietta looked at Gina and decided the young woman could wait as she followed her husband. She found him in their master bath, removing his five o’clock shadow with an electric razor. “Dear, we can’t give the kids junk food. They need to learn responsible eating habits.”
“Honey, having some junk food on the rare occasion isn’t going to hurt them. We can let them have it two or three times a year.”
“Tim!” Henrietta exclaimed then in a hushed voiced, “Have you seen Gina? Her parents didn’t instill in her good eating habits and I don’t want our children to look her or some of those students at the high school I saw today.”
Tim Nelson’s face looked less than pleased as he walked past his wife to their bed and took off his shoes. As he put on more comfortable footwear and Henrietta decided to continue her argument, “I’m not saying that in the future when they’re older that we can’t get pizza for the Super Bowl. But we have to be firm or they will be flabby, statistics for obesity.”
“Hetty!” Tim snapped cutting her off, “You know I don’t like hearing you talk like this. There is concern and there is superficiality, about five minutes ago you ventured into the latter. You’re a smart woman that’s why people voted to put you on the school board, but don’t act such a small-minded politician.” He got up from the bed and went to leave the room, “I want my wife, not a member of the school board.”
Henrietta watched him leave with a glare before turning away from the door. “Enjoy the kids while you have them, dear,” she sneered, “When I’ve got a big enough bank account thanks to the fools on the school board, I’m kicking your talent wasting butt out of my house.” She then forced a contented expression on her face and went to join her family.
As
usual the student body and the faculty of
As
the hallways cleared, Anna Marie brought up what she and
Scott
remained silent as they arrived at Anna Marie’s locker alcove. He stayed outside and admired his girlfriend’s
wide hips and prominent backside swaying from side to side as she waddled over
to her locker. As he waited,
“Yeah,” Anna Marie said closing her locker, “But he hasn’t agreed or disagreed to what I’ve thought.”
Scott though didn’t say anything, mulling over what the two young women were telling him. As they approached another alcove suddenly screams and laughter exploded from inside, getting their attention. A young African-American woman emerged covered with a dripping, glistening substance on her face, hair, shirt, and backpack. Almost on her heels came Alexia and her cheerleading posse, laughing and giggling loudly.
“Michelle,
you don’t have to bring work with you to school.
Some
other students in the hallway started laughing to while Anna Marie, Scott, and
Alexia smiled and said, “Don’t worry Michelle, the porkers will clean you up, they don’t want to miss their afterschool slop session.”
Karen
Sager joined Anna Marie and
“Oh god,” Michelle said as she, “I knew it smelled familiar,” then started to whimper then cry.
“Why would Alexia even target you?” Karen asked, “You’re just a sophomore, its not like you could offend her in any way.”
Michelle shook her head as the three seniors wiped off her face, as the young student silently cried.
Karen then added, “It’s not going to matter anyway, my sister went to find a teacher or principal, Alexia is getting something for this,” Karen then looked at both Anna Marie and Rosa with a hopeful, yet worried expression on her face that was mirrored on their faces.
Out in the hallway, the cheerleaders had left for the cafeteria leaving a crowd outside the restroom. Scott broke up the gathering with the help of another senior just as Ms. Applegate arrived and entered the restroom. Looking at the time, Scott decided he couldn’t help any more and headed for the front office, eating his lunch along the way.
Scott entered the office and went to the Register’s Office and signed his senior paperwork. Leaving the office, Scott turned his head to see Mrs. Carter come out of her office followed by Monica Sager. Continuing to turn his head towards the doors, Scott saw Mrs. Nelson entering the office with a full head of steam. Not able to turn away, the expectation of a confrontation had Scott’s feet glued to the floor.
“Principal Carter, what is the meaning of the lax environment here when it comes to lunch? This needs to be addressed!”
Mrs. Carter to her credit just said, “Mrs. Nelson, I have something to take care of, if you don’t mind waiting in my office.”
“Whatever happens to be, it is most likely the result of letting the students run wild and so cleaning up your mess can wait! The chaotic atmosphere of this school at lunch time and the wasting of money on food that student’s don’t eat is appalling and must be addressed by you or I will bring it up at the school board meeting next week.”
“A student’s welfare is more important,” Mrs. Carter was saying until she was interrupted.
“I doubt it’s very serious, I don’t see any flashing lights of emergency vehicles. Now the cafeteria is not even close to being half filled at lunch time, students get to bring food from home like so,” she pointed at Scott who had a plastic bag in his hand, “And it just not our star athlete. While he isn’t going to eat anything unhealthy to hinder his changes on the mat, I’m willing to bet that just like that calorie-ridden cafeteria food that you authorized for student consumption most of the food brought in by students is unhealthy junk!”
Mrs. Carter looked very irritated when the double doors opened behind Mrs. Nelson and into the office came an annoyed Alexia and her posse escorted by the vice-principal Mr. Yates. Alexia spat out, “Why are we being dragged in here again?”
Mrs. Nelson turned to see the arrivals. “Again? What seems to be the problem that involves members of our lovely cheerleading squad?” she said changing her tone of voice.
Alexia quickly seized the opening, “A girl tried to prank us with cooking oil, but dumped all over herself instead.”
“Let me guess,” Mrs. Nelson replied, “She says you dumped it on her?”
Alexia shrugged, looking like she did not want to directly accuse her ‘attacker.’
“That’s not what other students are saying Alexia,” Mr. Yates stated matter-of-factly, “Don’t start making things worse.”
Alexia expressed shock and hurt at seemingly being accused of something she didn’t do. It was obvious to everyone, even Mrs. Nelson, that she was slightly overplaying it. But then Mrs. Nelson floored everyone.
“Do these student’s have an agenda?” getting everyone’s attention quickly, “Let’s face it, a lot of students are jealous of other’s talents. No doubt Alexia and her friends are envied for their hard work ethic and discipline of balancing school work and cheerleading. You won’t believe the statistics I read that show the percentage of students that attack another because the victim is thinner, considered beautiful, or gets better grades because she actually works for them. Come next week, if Alexia and her friends are punished, along with the lunch and cafeteria situations it’ll be brought up in the board meeting.”
Alexia, though a little surprised, quickly took advantage. “Thank you Mrs. Nelson, my parents will be very happy to hear that falsehoods won’t hurt my school record. I’m sure my mother will call to thank you.”
The
school board member smiled, “She doesn’t have to do that, but I would like to
discuss fundraising opportunities for the school system.” Then Mrs. Nelson headed for the door, but as
she got there turned around and added, “Must likely this false accuser is
out-of-shape and doesn’t take care of herself.
That to will change, I’m going to bring up having an obesity score that
will affect a student’s GPA.
The cheerleaders went to leave, only for Mr. Yates to put out his arm and say, “Not going to happen, Mrs. Carter’s office, now!”
Alexia tried to protest, but Mrs. Carter stopped her, “You were warned last month about ‘pranking’ other students.”
“But Melissa recanted,” Alexia replied.
“And there were no witnesses then,” Mrs. Carter said then looked at Monica, “But I have at least one.”
“Four,” Scott said getting everyone’s attention, “I might have only heard her gloating, but Anna Marie and Rosa heard it as well.”
Traci, Kari, and Amanda all groaned while Alexia’s mouth momentarily twisted with anger. Mr. Yates then corralled the cheerleaders and said, “No more talking, into the office,” before marching them into the principal’s office.
The lobby cleared out as Scott followed Mrs. Carter and Monica into the hallway. As Scott headed for his Spanish classroom, he thought about what Anna Marie and Rosa had discussed about the Mrs. Nelson’s cell phone conversation and what the school board member had said in the office. He decided that it might be worth checking into.
The end-of-lunch bell rang as he got there and the hallways filled with students getting to their next class. Scott put his backpack at his seat and waited, Todd arrived with a wondering look on his face. “Where were you? Neither Anna Marie, you, or Rosa showed up.”
“Let’s just say Alexia humiliated someone and things got interesting from there. But get with Bert tell him we’re having an emergency meeting about a potential name for the notebook.”
Todd looked at him for a moment, “Who decided this?”
“The keeper of the notebook,” Scott said, “No one else who’s on the council heard the conversation I did. Anna Marie and Rosa observed something else and told me about it. With all this information we might have to investigate. You’re the first I’m telling, if you see anyone else inform them.”
“No problem. I’ll get a hold of Bert and anyone else,” Todd said looking a little relieved.
Scott then asked, “Did you think Anna Marie and I were making a power play?”
Shrugging Todd said, “I was a little concerned, should have known better.”
“I’d rather you and everyone else question decisions with regard to the notebook. Our karma might depend on it.”
Todd nodded as the bell rang beginning class. A minute later, Monica arrived with a piece of paper and handed it to Mrs. Anderson then sat down as their young Spanish teacher changed the attendance sheet. Class then proceeded normally until the bell. Todd grabbed his back pack and raced off into the hallway to catch Bert while Scott headed for his girlfriend’s locker alcove.
Getting
there just as Rosa was heading away from the alcove and called out, “
The 339-pound young woman turned around as he walked over to her. “Are you doing anything afterschool?” She shook her head and he continued, “I’m calling an emergency meeting. I’m going to propose investigating Mrs. Nelson, I don’t have time to get into now but I observed interesting things.”
“When
should I head over there?”
Scott thought a moment, then simply stated, “I wouldn’t get there until 4:30ish, Todd has to bring Bert and I have practice. However, Sarah is the only one that either won’t already be at my house or doesn’t know about the meeting, unless Todd got lucky and told her on his way to tell Bert. Can you get a hold of her at all?”
“Thanks, I have to get to the office and get things done.”
Scott looked at her and said, “Bring it up.”
With ten minutes to spare before the entire school let out, he locked Ms. Applegate’s office and headed for the gym. The locker room was filled with students from the last period of the day hurriedly getting dressed to go home. Scott however, along with the rest of the wrestling team that filed in, changed into their gear.
Scott
and Brandon were the first out into the gym as their coaches along with several
students were setting up the mats.
An hour later, Coach Gordon talked to the team, “A good practice. Remember to keep sharp over the weekend, Monday we have our final practice before our meet on Tuesday. Remember we have 25% of our meets before Christmas break and the rest in the between the first of next year and the next to last week of February. Then of course the regional and hopefully everyone goes to state this year,” he and everyone else glanced at Scott.
“Now last meeting you voted for our captain and associate. For the second year, Scott Hansen is the captain,” Coach Gordon clapped along with the rest of the team as Scott came from the back of the group and received a green and white armband with a roaring bear logo making a ‘C’. “Our associate captain will be Brandon Wight.” Scott was the first to clap as the junior walked up and was given a green and white armband without the logo. “Okay, have a good weekend, see you Monday.”
Skipping a shower, Scott left the locker room first to find Anna Marie leaning against the wall along side Monica as they talked. She waddled over to him before suddenly giving him a big hug and planting a kiss on his lips. Then said, “We need to celebrate your election as captain,” before laughing at his puzzled expression.
He put his arm around his big beautiful girlfriend’s shoulders as she put a thick arm around him, “Not really something that’s worthy celebrating.”
They arrived at Scott’s house ten minutes before everyone else would start arriving. Scott quickly raced up to his room, doffed his clothes, and took a shower. Anna Marie meanwhile put her things into her downstairs bedroom then went into the room next to it that was sun-lit by the French doors. Hearing the water turn on upstairs, she got the downstairs living room ready for their friends. Just as she got the last chair set up, Anna Marie looked up to see Todd and Bert at the doors.
A half-hour later everyone was seated around the coffee table when Scott stood up from a recliner and produced the notebook. He stated, “Let’s bring this meeting to order. The emergency meeting I called today is to discuss whether we should investigate school board member Mrs. Henrietta Nelson to find out if she deserves to be written in the notebook.”
Bert, Sarah, and Todd looked at each other then to Scott, Anna Marie, and Rosa. Before anyone else could speak, Scott continued, “Rosa and Anna Marie will give evidence then I will provide evidence, but first even though I’m sure you’ve heard about it already I’m going to ask Bert to relate his conversation with Mrs. Nelson yesterday at lunch.”
Caught off guard at the request Bert went through his conversation with Mrs. Nelson followed by Anna Marie and Rosa relating the overheard phone conversation. Scott then retold Mrs. Nelson’s conversation with Mrs. Carter and sudden involvement into the ‘cooking oil’ incident. Once his account was finished he then stated, “The reason I called this meeting is after observing or being told of all of these conversations I came to the conclusion that something is shady. Personally I think whatever that meeting she is having tomorrow might shed light on the situation. But it’s not up to me alone. The question is based on the information gathered should we investigate?”
Anna Marie and Rosa remained silent while Bert, Todd, and Sarah looked at one another. Sarah broke the silence. “It sounds like something is up and I have no problem with investigating. It seems to me that her concern for student health came on suddenly.”
Scott looked at Todd, but the African-American young man just said, “I’m abstaining from this particular discussion.”
“Concerns? Questions? Anything before we vote?” Scott asked, “Come on the floor is open.”
Bert then stated, “I think we’re okay with investigating without discussing it. When deciding to write her name down, I’m sure we’ll have a lively debate.”
“I
call for a vote,”
Scott called for those in favor to raise their hands; the vote was 5-0 with Todd abstaining. Scott then said, “I guess we have to decide how we’re going to investigate.”
“I can’t,” Bert said immediately, “Unless you don’t want me to decipher those unknown rules?”
“That program you told me about?” Scott asked.
“Yeah, my dad thinks it’s a code we made and won’t mind us using the program to see how good we made it.”
Bert shook his head, “No, at most I’ll get some equivalents to letters, but it’ll help me out.”
“It should be Scott,” Anna Marie said, “He is its keeper.”
“Seconded,”
Todd then said, “Well that leaves following Mrs. Nelson down to you ladies.”
“Excuse
me?”
“
Before
“I know where she lives,” Sarah said, “Don’t ask,” responding to the stares, “It was a business thing that my entire family had to take part in.”
“It
wouldn’t be good after bashing Todd to not do anything. I’ll drive,”
“Okay that wraps up that order of business. Is there anything else?” Scott asked.
“Yeah,”
After a lively discussion a plan was decided up on, as well as a decision to help Bert find a good cell phone to buy so he would be easy to reach. Then they decided to go to Todd’s home Sunday after for a report on what they found. Scott called for anything else to be discussed, at which point everyone remained silent. He then closed the meeting and took the notebook from the coffee table. The six friends quickly made plans with one another about the next day before the four visitors left.
Anna Marie then said, “Well, I’m going to take my shower then I got to eat something when you almost weigh 300-pounds your body can only go without food for so long.” She then brushed her wide hip against Scott’s leg before saying, “It’s just a shame your parents are home tonight.” She left Scott to clean up the room and to think about what she meant.
The next morning Rosa and Sarah picked Anna Marie up in the former’s subcompact. The three young women were silent as they headed to Mrs. Nelson’s residence. Anna Marie then asked, “What if she’s not there?”
“When
does…Books-A-Million is it? Open?”
“10,” Sarah replied.
All
three looked at the clock display on the radio reading almost 9. Then
“What are you doing?” Sarah asked.
“The store is right next to the mall or there about, right? Well we know where she’s going to be. If she’s already left and her meeting is when the store opens, we might miss it for having to double back.”
Neither
Sarah nor Anna Marie argued with her logic before
Henrietta looked at herself one last time in the three-sided mirror then looked at the paper in her hand. Smiling she folded it up and sprayed some perfume on herself. The raven-haired woman then walked downstairs where her husband noticed her sexy outfit that was still appropriate for the mildly cold weather of mid-November. “What’s the special occasion?”
“I just wanted to get looks like the one on your face,” smile replied smiling, “I don’t know when I’ll be back but have fun with the kids,” she continued before pecking her husband on the cheek.
She looked for her children, giving them a hug in front of Gina and avoided looking at her nanny as she headed to the garage. Getting into her Mustang, she pressed the garage opener, and backed out. Moments later she was headed to her ‘meeting,’ but like every one of her secret meetings she hoped it would turn to something more especially so close to when her plan was about to come to fruition.
The young women arrived at the bookstore almost quarter of an hour before it opened. It was then that Anna Marie noticed Sarah had a backpack, which she was opening up. “You brought homework?”
“My parents think I did, but in reality it’s some stuff to help us out. Here,” Sarah said handing Anna Marie what looked to be a walkie-talkie.
“What’s this?”
Anna Marie and Rosa exchanged a look before glancing back at Sarah, who suddenly became defensive. “What? I came prepared.” But Anna Marie and Rosa remained silent. Sarah then asked, “How else did you think we were going to collect evidence?”
There was no answer and the silence remained until a few minutes before 10 when Anna Marie unhooked her seat belt then asked, “Ok Jane Bond, have anything to tape this with?”
In
response Sarah handed her a roll of tape and Anna Marie then opened the
passenger’s side back door then started shifting out of the car, with
considerable effort. After a few
moments,
Anna Marie looked at her and said, “Well, it was a lot easier getting in.” A moment later Anna Marie finally got out of the backseat, closed the door, and headed for the bookstore. Anna Marie was sporting a pair of form-fitting black jeans that were obscured from view by her large trench coat that was unbuttoned to reveal a black shirt with white splotches forming a skull that’s shape was warped by her belly.
As the auburn-haired, pale skinned young woman headed towards the bookstore she was watched by Rosa and Sarah. The 339-pound driver then asked her remaining passenger, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but considering how large Anna Marie’s butt is in relation to the rest of her body…do you ever wonder how big it was when she was nearly immobile?”
“To be honest, it has crossed my mind a few times when I first saw her leaving rooms through doorways. Considering how she’s not even 300-pounds and how big it is, it must have been vast.”
Just
then
Sarah
removed her hand from the device giving
Once inside, Anna Marie looked around noticing there were more employees milling about then there were costumers presently. Though she knew anyone of those costumers could be the individual Mrs. Nelson could be meeting. Heading for the new age section, she took note of a few possible meeting candidates: one was an older gentleman with a gray goatee, dressed well even for a Saturday morning; the other was a tall handsome man in his late 20 or early 30s with blond hair combed back dressed in stylish clothing reading a business journal. Arriving at the new age section, she started scouting for a location to put the walkie-talkie while looking like she was browsing the books.
Rosa and Sarah were listening to the car radio looking around the parking lot when the former saw a green Mustang with vanity plates, pointing it out. They watched it park across the lot then watched the black haired driver get out of the car. Sarah quickly called Anna Marie and told her of Mrs. Nelson’s arrival. Hanging up she then said, “Well things are about to pick up.”
Henrietta quickly went from her car to the store entrance, not noticing that she was being observed from a certain Accent. Arriving inside she checked her watch then started to browse on the opposite side of the store from her intended location. The entire time she remained in full view, wanting to make sure her saw her. He did.
The undercover Goth nervously palmed the walkie-talkie, trying to see if anyone was scooping out the new age section. She quietly wrapped tape around the device in her hand then whispered into it asking her friends if they could hear her and got an affirmative answer with hum of her cell phone. As Mrs. Nelson got closer, Anna Marie looked around for a place to hide the device before remembering where she had noticed a blind spot from an earlier visit.
Getting
behind the blind spot Anna Marie quickly found a location for the device,
hidden from view behind a row of taller books.
Just after she finished putting back the last book, an employee came by
with a stack of books and asked if she needed help. “No I was looking for one book in particular,
but I’ll check your website to see if it’s available for a store
delivery.” The employee nodded and both
walked out of the section after which Anna Marie pulled her cell phone out of
her coat pocket. She called
“Loud
and clear,”
“Well, I hope it’s in a good place and that I wasn’t watched because she’s almost there. I’m going to browse the history section, got to find Scott’s Christmas gift. Call me when she leaves.”
“You
got it,”
Henrietta walked into the new age book section of the store and slowly made her way to a part of the section that was hidden from the rest of the store. As she acted like she was interested in the book selections a handsome man with combed blond hair walked into the section and stood right next to her. “Good morning Mrs. Nelson, how are you doing?”
“I’m doing well Roger and please we’ve had so many of these meetings just call me Henrietta. Mrs. Nelson and Mr. Townsend are so formal for something like this.”
Roger Townsend glanced at the beautiful woman next to him before returning to the shelf. “How is everything developing, Henrietta?”
“Excellent, Carter was distracted by an incident amongst the students and played even more into my hands. That incident will make sure the school board seriously considers making all the students have to go to the cafeteria for the lunch period.”
“That would be good if you think you can convince the school board to give the food supply contract to your dummy corporation?” Roger said.
“Like I said earlier, when faced with a problem the school board looks for quick and easy solutions. After I present my proposal they’ll quickly vote to give our healthy food providing company the contract. By this time next year, we’ll each be on our way to over a million dollars of income thanks to those fools.”
Roger smiled and said, “My firm will be pleased by the extra business, even if my superiors won’t know that you and I are fooling them as well. Just remember to report that income to the IRS, if they find either of us hiding any money they’ll ruin everything.”
Henrietta replied, “Do you know a good tax man? I would like to avoid raising my husband’s attention, just yet.”
“I’ll give you the name of mine he’ll make sure we won’t have problems,” Roger said then looking at her admitted, “When you first came to me with this proposal I didn’t think anything would come of it. I must say I admire what you’ve done.”
Henrietta blushed then fluttered her eyes. “Thank you Roger, you’re help was invaluable.” Then suddenly she remembered, “This will be appearing in Monday’s editorial page. It’ll line things up for what I present at the Board meeting the next day,” she pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him.
Reading it, Roger was passive before stating, “You give fat people a licking. Not that they don’t deserve it.”
Henrietta laughed then said, “Fat people, what’s their value to society? They literally weigh it down. By making sure fat students are penalized on their GPA for their girth it’ll help society overall because by pushing them down that’ll allow able bodied students to go to college easier so they can make money to insure that their fat counterparts have good health care. So if you think about it, it’s for they’re own good.”
“I can’t disagree with your reasoning,” Roger said, “In fact Henrietta you’re someone that I admire. Dr. Nelson is lucky to have found you.”
It was an opening Henrietta had been looking for. “The feeling is mutual Roger.”
He turned to see the look on her face as she eyed him, it was the same way he had seen many other women look at him. “What of Dr. Nelson?”
“What of him?” Henrietta said so offhandedly that it surprised even Roger. “My husband had the choice of going into any specialist branch of dentistry, but instead was content with becoming just a general practitioner dentist. He had the skill to become something special, but turned out not to be man enough to do it. Unlike you Roger, you are a man who doesn’t limit himself.”
Roger smiled as she smiled back at him. He put his hand on her shoulder and shifted down to her breast, which she stroked. Admiring how great she looked for having two children and at her age, though she wasn’t even a decade older than he was. Putting his other hand on her hip then shifting it around her, the move and the expression on his face found was welcomed by Henrietta. She gave him a seductive smile when suddenly a cell phone rang. “Damn!” he muttered answering it.
A moment later he turned to her and said, “Sorry, a situation at work. Maybe after your successful enactment of our plan, we can have a special celebration.”
Henrietta was disappointed, but Roger could see that she was even more determined to make sure the plan succeeded. She watched him walk away, gazing at his great looking body as he did so. A few minutes later she headed for the door and saw Roger drive off in his Benz as she left the bookstore. She slowly walked to her Mustang, damning her luck.
Anna Marie had been observing the new age section when she saw the blond haired man leave and dropping something close to a wastebasket. A few minutes later Mrs. Nelson left the store resulting in a call from Sarah. Anna Marie headed to the new age section, stopping at the wastebasket. Seeing balled up piece of paper on the floor, she bent down to pick it up before groaning as she stood back up. After retrieving the walkie-talkie she left the store, unfolding the paper. As she read each word with each step she took, Anna Marie couldn’t believe what she was reading. Opening the backdoor of the Accent she got inside and said, “You won’t believe what I found.”
Rosa and Sarah turned to the backseat as the later said, “You won’t believe what we got on tape.”
Anna Marie then said, “On second thought let’s wait until all of us are together.”
Rosa and Sarah agreed.
Scott
had left before Anna Marie was dropped off.
Wanting to take the opportunity to browse for a Christmas gift for his
girlfriend for a few hours, he had gone to some of her favorite places to shop
and in the process gotten some interesting glances the Goth shoppers. Then drove to
Bert met up with him and led the way to the linguistic department’s computer lab where Dr. Girard was setting up the program. After Bert’s father left, Scott produced the notebook and they scanned the text on the inside cover into the computer. Bert then asked, “I wonder if the notebook’s power would be noticed by the computer?”
Scott looked at Bert’s shy smile on his round face then shrugged. Bert uploaded the scanned text then typed, moved the mouse, clicked here and there, and entered commands. After several minutes he pushed his chair back and said, “Well now it’s just the waiting.”
Scott leaned against the wall before asked, “How long does the program usually take for something like this?”
“Well for already deciphered languages around five minutes. For those undeciphered like Linear A, it depends on how much text there is and how many unique symbols there are. I’ve told you I’ve counted 24, but I could be wrong. The text is so clear that the program provide a definite number. Of course that’s supposing all the letters, for lack of a better word, that exist in that language are present in what’s left of the rules.”
Scott nodded then looked around, wishing he was doing something about the investigation into Mrs. Nelson. Bert on the other hand had prepared for a lengthy wait pulling out a book to read. The time ticked by as they waited for the program to finish examining the text. After 90 minutes, Scott was falling asleep from boredom when suddenly Bert started moving around frantically before typing and clicking.
Getting up from his seat Scott walked over and asked, “So what were the results?”
Bert stood up and headed over to a printer looking at the pages coming out. He then said, “Well I was right there were 24 ‘letters’ and the program thinks it’s figured out the English equivalents to the vowels and maybe two consonants after going through every possible symbol to letter combination.”
Scott frowned then asked, “Well if it went through every combination, wouldn’t it be able to figure everything out?”
Bert shook his head, “No. These are just guesses and the program is set up to only give possible solutions if the success rate, for lack of a better term, of a particular equivalent is over 90%. Now if doing my research I think I’ve come up with another letter and I’m confident about it, I can go back tell the program to put that letter with the symbol I think it represents and it could result in coming up with another letter or two.”
Scott nodded thinking he understood. “Well at least with that many letters, you might be able to figure out separate words and that might help.”
“I forgot to mention that,” Bert said then showed Scott the print outs, “I noticed as probably you and the others did when reading the notebook that some of the lines end way before the others. I took that to mean they were each separate rules, so I told the program those were separate blocks. In turn that helped the program identify not only those letter equivalents, but also the most likely word groupings. But then again, if I figure out another letter those groupings might change as a result.” He then smiled embarrassingly, “It’s a pretty good result. At least it’s somewhat a step in the right direction.”
After Bert saved their data to the program, he and Scott headed for the latter’s car. The two young men were again silent until Bert asked, “Can I ask your advice about something?”
“Sure.”
“Let’s say there was a girl you were intimated to ask out, how would you go about asking her out?”
“Well for me, it was Anna Marie. We had been best friends forever and I started feeling something for her, but kept it to myself. But when she became near immobile I couldn’t hide it from her any longer. However I guess if she hadn’t been my best friend, I would have to say I might have just gone up and told her.”
Bert pressed his lips together and nodded. Scott dropped Bert off at his house then headed back home. He arrived late in the afternoon just as his parents were leaving for their monthly date night. Waving bye he walked inside the garage through the open door before hitting the closer. Walking into the downstairs hallway, he went to the living room and didn’t find Anna Marie. He headed upstairs figuring she was in her room taking a nap or not back yet.
That is until he got to his bedroom finding the door was closed. He had specifically remembered leaving it opened. Scott opened the door and found Anna Marie with only a black lace bra and thong on leaning against the opposite wall. Her dark auburn hair framed her fat oval face that expressed a sly, seductive smile. She brought her thick arms up from her sides, putting one to the back of her head and the other over her heavy large breasts that filled out her lacy attire. She then turned showing her profile of a small paunch that hung down slightly with a part of her thong showing beneath her underbelly. However most striking was her butt that not only pushed outwards away from her body but was strikingly wide. As she reached his bed, she pushed away the cover then lay on her belly letting him take in her backside, wide hips, and thick upper thunder thighs.
“Well Scott, you ready to climb a mountain? It might not be Everest, but White Oak is still impressive don’t you think?” Anna Marie asked before slightly jiggling her backside which was raised significantly above the rest of her body.
The 288-pound pale skinned young woman didn’t need a verbal answer as she looked over her thick shoulder to see Scott quickly stripping. He disappeared into his bathroom for a moment, opening then slamming a cabinet door, and reappearing shifting his boxers. Scott then climbed onto the end of his bed.
Following his girlfriend’s legs up to her butt, Scott ran his fingers along the back side of both her thighs before coming her to massive, bulging cheeks. Then he made her giggle as he ran both hands across both buttocks. After a few minutes, he grabbed a handful of each and started kneading the flesh. Slowly Anna Marie got to all fours lifting her hindquarters into a different position. Scott pushed his abdomen against it giving his body a new sensation to enjoy. He had always regretted not being able to hold and handle Anna Marie’s gigantic butt when she had been 787-pounds, but that wasn’t going to ruin that first experience or the one they were able to make for the next several hours.
Afterwards they were both exhausted and ready to sleep, even though it was early in the evening. Then Scott’s cell rang with a call from Todd, once he hung up Scott told Anna Marie that the next day’s meeting was going to be pushed back to around 7 because Todd had to go to a sudden family event at his uncle’s church. The young couple separated as Anna Marie headed downstairs and into her bedroom before Mr. and Mrs. Hansen returned. Both quickly fell asleep soon thereafter.
The
council members woke up on Sunday morning around
Around
mid-afternoon, Scott and Anna Marie picked up Bert. Going to the mall, Bert found a phone he
liked and was inexpensive to keep. They
took in a movie and afterwards headed to Todd’s home. Sarah picked
The door opened to reveal Todd’s 13-year old little sister who turned around and shouted, “Todd! Your friends are here!” She then moved out of the doorway and pulled the door back further allowing them to walk in.
Mrs. Walker walked out into the hallway and said, “Kayla you don’t have to yell, just invite them in,” the 52-year old athletically in shape woman said.
She then walked to the entrance and greeted everyone while Kayla closed the door behind Bert. Mrs. Walker then told them that Todd as in the basement and motioned in the direction of the far end of the hallway. Just then Todd appeared out of the doorway and was surprised to see them. Scott led the group down the hallway. Todd stood there and said, “Head on down and take a seat, I’ll be down in a minute.”
They
walked down the stairs to find the basement looked more like a game room. There
was a pool table, small kitchenette, and TV with DVD player opposite a couch
that had metal chairs circling from end to end with a card table in the
middle. Scott grabbed a chair next to
one end of the couch while Anna Marie sat down on the couch next to him. Bert sat next to Scott while
Todd came half way down the stairs and asked if anyone had a problem with just plain cheese pizza, after no objections he disappeared again. He reappeared and took the seat in-between Bert and Sarah. Scott held up the notebook, put it on the card table and said, “Well let’s get this started. Who wants to go first?”
“Todd should go first,” Sarah said looking at him, “Trust me.”
Todd shrugged, stood up, and began his defense of Mrs. Nelson. He highlighted her stable family life and while she might be an annoyance sometimes she hadn’t used her position for personal gain. He also went over how while her seemingly anti-fat talk is bad, it didn’t constitute a notebook inclusion, especially since worse could be found on the Internet.
Once he sat down, Scott asked who wanted to present next. Anna Marie, Rosa, and Sarah looked at one another before Sarah got up. She produced a tape recorder and hit play. The conversation between Mrs. Nelson and Mr. Townsend was heard for the first time by the four other council members. After it was finished, Todd looked almost defeated but he commented that he still had a final argument. Scott and Bert didn’t look so sure.
Anna Marie then stood up and said, “This will be in the editorial page tomorrow morning,” then passed out copies of the paper she had found then sat down.
As they read the editorial Mrs. Nelson had written for the next day’s paper their expressions changed to unbelief and near anger. It was Todd who spoke first as he essentially conceded defeat, “Never mind about my Internet argument, they’ll be using phrases and statements forever from this piece of crap. Nothing I could say will change your minds.”
“No
kidding,”
Bert balled up his copy and flung it towards the wastebasket. Sarah shook her head and left the paper on the card table. Anna Marie remained silent while Scott twisted his face, trying not to show emotion. He then asked, “While I will admit this thing is what it is. Does everything we’ve learned about what she has and hasn’t done--not her opinions or views but her actions--warrant inclusion in the notebook as a punishment?”
“Yes,” Sarah said almost as soon as he finished to the surprise of everyone,” First off, she’s planning to gain financially from her plan. The school board won’t know she’s behind this healthy food supply company she’s going to propose and since both she and Townsend are going to pay taxes off of their venture they won’t be discovered by the IRS. Second, did you hear her on the tape? She has a family and she just wants to sleep with this guy while clearly faking marital bliss before tearing her husband’s heart out. Third, if she were to wake up tomorrow overweight and people reading that garage editorial believing she’s been overweight for a while, think of the reaction.”
“It would stop her plan from ever getting heard,” Bert spoke up, “People would wonder why this overweight woman is so anti-fat when she hasn’t taken care of herself.”
“She’d
be a hypocrite,”
“Seconded,” Anna Marie stated drily.
Scott
called for those in favor to raise their hands he didn’t need to ask for those
opposed as Todd abstained. Then Scott
asked if they should just write her name down or denote a particular weight. It was then that the debate started as near
immobility was ruled out at Todd’s suggestion. So too was hoping for the best
with just plain writing her name. Sarah
suggested between 250 and 400-pounds, but Anna Marie thought slightly under
The council enjoyed the pizza and after enjoying a movie premiere on TV, they then broke up everyone looking at Scott as he held the notebook close when he left. After dropping Bert off, Scott and Anna Marie were mostly quiet on the way home. The seriousness of what he was about to do made any small talk pointless because it was just dancing around the 800-pound gorilla that was stashed in-between the front seat of the Sundance. Once at the Hansen home, they kissed and headed for bed. It was then Scott told her that if she really wanted to know, he was going to do it around midnight just to make sure Mrs. Nelson was asleep.
If Scott had known he could have done it hours earlier, it would have made everyone less tense as the council dismissed. Henrietta and her husband had given Gina the night off before sending the twins to bed. Tim had then suggested they go to bed early and though she was loathed to do it, Henrietta let her husband enjoy himself and pretended to find fulfillment. But after he had drifted asleep she wondered what Roger would have been like the day before. Then she turned her thoughts to the next day and how soon that reality might happen in celebration of a plan bearing million dollar fruits.
As Henrietta slept, Scott got out of his bed and went into his small bathroom. Turning on the low watt shower light to give him just enough light, he opened the notebook up and but his pencil to paper. To his amazement he hesitated, only once before had he written in the notebook resulting in Anna Marie losing 500-pounds but now someone was going to gain weight. He then wrote, “Henrietta Nelson gains to,” then paused pressing the pencil into the paper before continuing, “320-pounds.” Closing the notebook, Scott breathed a sigh of relief. A minute later he lay in bed asleep without a worry in the world.
Henrietta awoke with sunlight getting into her eyes, immediately a little worry entered her mind. She had always gotten up well before that could happen and she was feeling sluggish and a little dazed. Whatever she was feeling it didn’t make her notice how her body was moving and feeling as she rolled out of bed. It was when she looked at her left leg that Henrietta Nelson took notice.
Instead of a trim thigh and shapely calf there was a thick, quivering thigh spreading out against the side of the bed with a fat swollen knee above a bulky calf. Henrietta gasped, closed her eyes and opened them again only to see that it wasn’t a bad dream. She then got out of bed, grunting as she did as she felt like something was pushing against her. Through the effort she saw that her right leg was as fat and bulky as the left from what she could see of it before her view was obscured by huge breasts and a flap of skin that emanated from her stomach, which to her horrified terror could only mean a belly.
Once on her feet, Henrietta turned towards her three-sided mirror and awkwardly moved her body towards it. When she was close enough to see her reflection, she stopped dead in her tracks. An overweight woman stared back at her with untamed, shoulder-length black hair that framed a fat swollen oval face with chubby cheeks that had sagged over her jaw and merged with her fat neck with only her chin and a faint jaw line denoting the two were once separate while thick folds in the skin separated her cheeks from her mouth making her appear closer to 40.
She observed bulky shoulders before continuing down further to an eye-widening sight. Barely contained in her bra were ponderous breasts that sagged down either side of a flabby belly that hung down over the front of her panties, obscuring them from view. Henrietta lifted her hand, noticing it was thick and how fat her wrist was before observing to her horror that as she looked up her fat arm there was jiggling, flabby underarm skin. Focusing on her breasts and belly, she felt her soft flesh and their heft. She looked down at her sides to see love handles overflowing her panties. Taking a few more steps to bring her backside into view she saw it was flabby and spread out before merging into her massive thighs.
Henrietta turned away and looked for something to cover her fat-bloated body and saw her bathrobe. She grabbed it before thinking to herself that it would be far too small to fit her. Once she held it up in front of her though, she realized it would comfortably fit. She put it on, but found it hard not use to all her new flesh. Once the robe was on and tied around her now non-existent waist, Henrietta walked towards her bathroom scale before stopping. “I don’t want to know, not yet…if ever,” she said out loud.
She then started to think about what her husband and children would say, but then realized that Tim had woken up next to her earlier. He hadn’t said a thing, or he had been so disgusted he had quietly left her. Henrietta looked at her bedroom door, she knew she had to leave sometime but she didn’t want to yet. Finally she resolved to see if her husband had left because of her massive size.
Henrietta maneuvered her quivering body, still not use to walking with her new bulk. She headed downstairs, gripping the banister to avoid embarrassing herself by clumsily falling down them. She then headed for the kitchen finding her husband and children at the table. Tim looked at her before turning his attention to the twins, “Ok munchkins time to brush your teeth. I’ll be in to see how you did in a few minutes.”
The twins laughed as they got out of their chairs and ran past their mother, like nothing was wrong with her. She looked at her husband as he stood up and cleaned off the table then rinsed off the dishes. Henrietta then noticed the newspaper on the table, looking like it had already been gone through. Remembering her editorial she was suddenly filled with dread. Looking at herself in a nearby reflective surface she started to ask, “Tim?”
He put the water up high before turning around with a serious look on his face. Grabbing the paper he said, “What the hell were you thinking?!” Before she could answer he continued, “I can’t believe you would write something so vile, did it ever occur to you that if either one or both of our children were to be overweight that all your reassurances and confidence boosting would fall to pieces when someone gave them this editorial and implied that it was how their mother really thought of them and herself apparently.”
Henrietta’s mouth opened, but nothing would come out as her husband paced around the room. She couldn’t believe he wasn’t shocked at her massive weight gain literally overnight. Then Tim turned to her and spoke in a new tone, “I know you were battling your flocculating weight before the twins were born then you couldn’t lose the pregnancy weight and kept on gaining weight. I’ve been supportive of your efforts to lose and agreed to hire Gina to help with the kids so you could eat healthier and exercise more even with being on the school board. Now you’ve just thrown all of your accomplishments away because people will remember this and nothing anything else. I just hope that it doesn’t affect all of us. I have a great practice, with so many patients I make more then my classmates who went into a specialty. We have to hope that my patients aren’t scared away because it might mean scaling back our plans and dreams if not outright changing them.”
Henrietta couldn’t wrap her head around all the information. But one thing was clear that from the point of view of Tim and her children she hadn’t suddenly become fat. As she wondered if for the past few years she had been delusional about how she looked, the twins reappeared on either side of her shouting that they had finished. Their father looked them over with a smile and told them good job, he told them to head up to their room as he was sure mommy was going to help them get dressed. After they left, he looked at Henrietta then said, “I still love you Hetty, fat or thin. That doesn’t mean I can’t be upset. And I’m starting to ask myself how I can love someone who doesn’t love themselves?” She watched him grab his coat and head for the door.
As Henrietta tried to comprehend what was happening to her, the phone rang. She answered it to find Roger on the other end. The businessman was blunt, “Mrs. Nelson, when you said you were going to start the debate with an editorial I wasn’t concerned. That is until I heard the radio announcers and some of my colleagues having a laugh about your editorial. That made me read it,” he paused before continuing, “The point of this call is to say that I’m out and the company will no longer exist by noon. Our business venture is done.”
Henrietta replied, “But Roger.”
But she was cut off, “Good bye Mrs. Nelson!” and heard a click from the other end.
Slumping down into a chair, Henrietta felt defeated and it showed on her face. It was then her children called down saying they were ready to get dressed. Using the table to brace herself, she stood up, and headed for the stairs. Just then Gina arrived and Henrietta developed an idea to restore her rapidly crumbing public image. Henrietta then asked, “Gina, I have urgent school board business. Could you dress the twins?”
For a moment Henrietta thought she saw the corners of Gina’s mouth turn upward in a brief smile and sensed the nanny was hesitating to answer before replying that she would. The chubby young woman headed upstairs while Henrietta struggled with getting her 320-pound to follow. Though she felt winded once at the top, she went to her bedroom knowing she had to act fast to not lose everything she had worked so hard for.
Back in her room, she opened up her closet to a horrid collection of clothing in her mind. “Good god!” was her only utterance as she looked through the collection and finally decided on the best outfit she could find. Avoiding her three-sided mirror, she dressed slowly before going into her bathroom to comb her hair but not messing with makeup. Once finished she headed back downstairs, grabbed her purse, and entered the garage. By habit she went to her Mustang but as she opened the door and tried to get in it became difficult.
Henrietta slammed the door and sighed as she headed to the minivan. She pushed the seat back, climbed in, and readjusted the seat. Within minutes she was headed for the high school with her plan gelling in her head before saying out loud, “Unfortunately my nanny whom we were letting go decided to insult not only myself but other local citizens. My husband and I are not only embarrassed, but upset that this individual we entrusted.”
As 3rd period ended, the council members along with all the other students were racing to their next class. As with every Monday, the pace was frantic for everyone to deal with the eight periods and sometimes as many trips to their lockers. Between classes talk was going around on two subjects, the first was the latest installment of The Bear Truth and the other was of the fat school board member’s fat hating editorial in the paper.
As Sarah and Todd were walking along the front hallway with fellow students, they and many other students saw Mrs. Carter and a few school board members coming out of the front office. As they headed outside, a blue and white minivan stopped along the sidewalk and out emerged Mrs. Nelson looking almost unrecognizable from when they had last seen her. The overweight woman was in a stuffed sweater and drab skirt, a combination that did nothing for her. Another student saw her as well and said out loud, “Hey, it’s that school board member who wrote that editorial.”
A lot of the students in the hallway pushed to look through a window as Mrs. Nelson tried to talk to their principal and the school board members. But suddenly she was silenced and forced to listen. For several minutes, she tried to speak again before Mrs. Carter and the members waved her way. As the bell rang to begin 4th period, everyone suddenly rushed for their classrooms while Mrs. Nelson got inside her minivan.
Henrietta entered her home totally defeated. She had been replaying the scene in front of the high school the entire way home. Having seen Carter and her school board colleagues walking out of the building, she had started her defense only for Carter to tell her not to bother. Henrietta’s colleagues then told her how embarrassing the whole situation has been and that they had been getting calls at their places of business about it. They then suggested she not attend the next board meeting so business could be conducted and suggested she resign by the end of the month as a way to avoid any backlash. Every time one there was a pause she tried to use her defense but was stopped and finally told to leave the school grounds.
She collapsed onto a nearby couch that groaned under the sudden addition of her weight. Henrietta wondered how and why this had happened. She couldn’t understand how no one besides herself realized she had suddenly gained so much weight or why her own husband believed she had been fat for years. Her plan had been so close to fruition but fate changed that. It was almost like the universe had turned against her and made her the target of her own revulsion. Just then Gina passed by and Henrietta noticed the former’s demeanor, though the nanny’s face only barely showed it the overweight woman knew what it was, contempt. The same demeanor she had had for the chubby young woman was now being visited upon her. As Gina disappeared down a hallway, Henrietta just sat thinking about what to do now that all her self promoting plans and ideas had come to not and living with a husband she had been willing to betray.
The council members excluding Bert were talking just outside a locker alcove. At lunch everyone had been riveted by Sarah and Todd telling them about Mrs. Nelson, but now they had moved on to the gossip in The Bear Truth. To Anna Marie and Rosa, it was very upsetting. “This is complete garbage,” Anna Marie stated, “Michelle hadn’t done anything and now people will think that there is a feud between Alexia and herself and thus basically her fault she got embarrassed.”
“What’s
more annoying,”
Sarah nodded then asked, “I know we don’t care about Mrs. Nelson any more but I’m curious to see what weight you wrote her down at. Mind if I see the notebook?”
Scott replied that he had given it to Bert at lunch so he could do some research on a few things during a study hall. That made Sarah ask, “Then were the hell is he?”
Coming around a corner Bert walked down the hallway towards his friends. The chubby young man had the notebook in his hand with his index finger in between the cover and first page. However, Bert wasn’t looking where he was going when he was suddenly pushed from behind to the floor to a sudden roar of laughter. He landed on his hands and knees as the notebook hit the floor next to him opened to the first page. Bert quickly swiped it up and scrambled to his feet as Jerry Cabot mockingly said, “Watch it fat boy.” That made Alexia’s posse, Kevin, John, and Ron laugh while Alexia seemed oddly silent.
Alexia watched as Bert walked over to his friends, waving Scott and Todd off. Having a front row view to her boyfriend’s prank on the nerd, she had seen his notebook on the floor for a split second before he grabbed it. It wasn’t until she had an odd sensation come over her that she thought anything about it. Watching the nerd headed over to the odd collection of friends he had, Alexia noticed how every one of them watched as he handed the notebook over to Scott. Looking at Anna Marie and Rosa it suddenly entered Alexia’s mind that there was something about the two fat girls that didn’t seem right. She almost thought they were different some how.
Then Jerry said, “Come on Alexia, let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah, away from the riff raff,” she said looking over her should at the six seniors talking amongst themselves.
The cheerleaders and jocks headed down the hallway as Jerry put his arm around her shoulder making Alexia turned away from the odd collection. As her fellow cheerleaders talked about Mrs. Nelson, Alexia thought the school board member was different in some way as well. It was unnerving and looking over her shoulder again, Alexia focused on the notebook Scott was very respectfully putting in his backpack.