Angela's farm, Chapter 9

They left the creamery and headed back to the kitchen. The night was dark and humid. Right in front of them, the lights of the main house flickered like two fireflies, and at a distance, some animal made its eerie night noise.

Olivia shivered. She was an easy prey. Forget running; tonight, she had serious issues walking. She had really pushed herself with the second batch. Hannah just kept going and going like a broken clock, and Olivia, of course, didn't want to appear weak. After all, the creamery was her home turf, and she was the butter master. Now, she felt like a tank truck, one of those you see blocking your view when you attempt to pass your driving test for the fifth time. Filled with a creamy milkshake sloshing inside with each step.

When they entered the kitchen, Jenna and Alyssa were in the middle of a pancake eating contest, and by the number of pancakes left on each plate, Alyssa was clearly winning. She was stuffing three pancakes into her mouth at once, dispelling any remaining questions about how she got to 400 pounds so quickly, and making it very clear that this lovely number was only temporary.  Jenna was trying her best, of course, but her best was, as the irritating folks like to say, not nearly good enough.

"Jeez," Sarah looked up from the table. From her bored expression, it was obvious that she had already witnessed one too many eating competitions that night. "I leave Olivia in your hands for an hour, Blondie, and you return her fifteen months pregnant. Actually, you both look like you're about to give birth to hippo twins, so I assume the orgy was miles better than witnessing my cousin trying to prove that she's still got it." She covered her mouth with her hand and whispered, "No, she doesn't. This is the fourth time she has lost. It's like watching grass paint itself dry."

"Yes, we may have overdone it a bit," Olivia agreed, attempting to sit without spilling the contents of her overstuffed stomach onto the kitchen floor.

"Speak for yourself; I'm perfectly fine," Hannah said, sitting down in a strikingly similar manner. "We also made a bet." She gasped for air. "Oh, I’m so full. Ugh. Anyway, whoever gains the most by Christmas wins. So, I assume that would be two glorious victories for Sanders farm."

"Did we?" Olivia asked, inhaling very carefully. "I guess we did."

"Wow, are you already that drunk?" Sarah picked up an empty shot glass from the table and sniffed it. "It must be stronger than I thought."

"I'm not drunk," Olivia protested, her eyelids heavy and struggling to stay open. "I'm just slightly overindulged."

“Who’s the fat bitch?” Alyssa shouted from the other side of the table, proudly holding up her empty plate.

Jenna slapped her unfinished pancake back onto her plate. "I'm not doing this anymore. I give up. You’re the queen of all fat bitches. Happy? Can I go lie down now?"

“Oh no, you will finish your food. I want you to get nice big and round for the holidays. I wasn't doing all this so you would give up now. Here!” Alyssa grabbed the remaining pancakes from Jenna's plate and began stuffing them into Jenna’s mouth.

Sarah turned her attention back to Olivia. “Alright then, what's your starting weight?”

"What weight?"

"Oh, she's right," Hannah said. "I knew there was something we were supposed to do. Hey Jenna,” she called, "you forgot to weigh us."

"What?" Jenna mumbled through her full mouth.

“For the fat race. You forgot to weigh us.”

"You!?" Alyssa turned around, trying to focus on her much thinner cousin. "You want to compete with me? Have you seen yourself in a mirror, Hannah? I'm easily three times your size."

"No, you don't understand," Hannah shook her head. "We don't want to compete with you two. We want to have our own weight category. Like junior whales or something. Right, Olivia?"

"Do we now?" Olivia felt like she had missed about an hour of conversation.

"Whatever," Jenna waved her hand dismissively, "You three can have your own stupid bet. Grab the keys and go weigh yourselves. I'm not moving."

"What do you mean 'you three'? I'm not a part of any of this," Sarah said. "But on the other hand, I should probably go and supervise, otherwise they'll cheat like rabbits."

"Rabbits?"

"Yeah, I meant to say owls, but seriously, have you ever heard of a dishonest owl? Didn't think so!"

***

"You don't really stand a chance," Hannah boasted, "I have the same genes as my cousin. We can eat and never get full."

"Don't be so sure," Olivia replied, walking towards the scale and stepping on it. “See? 152 pounds. I'm bigger than I thought I was."

"Now me!" Hannah pushed Olivia aside and stepped onto the platform. "Oh look at this, 164 pounds. Oh dear, oh dear. I already gained 11 pounds in just a few weeks being here. It seems that my bacon diet and honest Grandma Sanders' genes agree with me."

"So this is the end, " Sarah said in a grave voice, "We're doomed! If Blondie turns into whale like her fucking cousin this would be the last of our farm. I only wish we knew of someone who can challenge her to bring the world order back. Someone whose ass grows two inches when she sees a picture of cake.”

"Uh, a picture of cake! Where?" Olivia said just to hear Hannah giggle. She was already determined to play the game, even without all that unnecessary mockery. Hannah was at least half an inch shorter, nearly ten pounds heavier, and just way too blonde. It was practically unacceptable. "Now you, big mouth," she said, turning and pushing Sarah onto the scale.

"I'm just an innocent bystander," Sarah protested, then looked at the numbers. "I've weighed the same since I was a baby. One hundred and five pounds. I was a very big baby, mind you. But speaking of big babies," she jumped down and half-whispered to Hannah, "Just keep teasing her, and she'll get humongous just to spite you."

"I'm totally counting on it," Hannah replied, glancing at Olivia. "I'm really curious to see how far she can go on her silly cream and butter, while I'll be fed pounds of bacon and lard."

"That's not fair! I want to be fed pounds of bacon and lard too," Olivia said.

"Maybe I'll let you visit if you behave."

"I've been here only a few days, and I've already destroyed my jeans. Look." With that, Olivia rolled up her shirt and pulled her leggings down, trying to shake her bloated gut. It was like trying to jiggle an overinflated volleyball. There was barely any movement, just a lot of splashing sounds inside. However, her butt and thighs shook violently like jelly. At least, she had far more ass than Hannah ever did.  But if what Hannah said about her genes was true, the girl could easily be 100 pounds heavier by Christmas.

Olivia was already planning her attack; she would drink more cream before bed. She was going to show that tease the true benefits of a dairy diet on her own ass-heavy genes. And if she became as wide as her Aunt Amy, so be it. Everyone in her family was already expecting that to happen anyway. 'Just wait, Olivia. One day you'll wake up, go brush your teeth, and boom, your hips will get stuck in the door frame. Now let's have another box of donuts.'

They went back to the kitchen, where Sarah reported the findings to the two older cousins.

“Amazing," Alyssa laughed. "I don't even remember what I used to look like when I was that skinny. Even this twig, Jenna, weighs more than both of you combined.”

That last sentence swirled around in Olivia's brain for a bit. Even if she doubled her weight, she would still be the small one. The 300-pound thin girl. The one that would have to fetch things for others. Except for Sarah, of course, but Sarah never fetched anything; she always vanished. Olivia could almost hear Hannah's silky voice, ‘Oh, Olivia, darling, would you bring another bucket of lard for your fat friend; you're the only one who can still fit through the storage door."
No, she wasn't having that. Aunt Amy certainly wouldn't fit through some badly planned door and people always said Olivia was her spitting image.

“So what do I win after I win the fat race?” Hannah asked, interrupting Olivia’s thoughts.

"You get to experience the Matthew Effect during the holidays," Alyssa said, laughing.

Hannah frowned. "I'm not entirely following."

"Look," Jenna said bitterly, "the winner's going to apparently be an insufferable bitch during the holidays, lounging around on the sofa. The poor loser will be running around, feeding her all the cakes and sweets like a freaking butler, and doing whatever else Alyssa pleases."

"Oh, I totally love that concept," Hannah said, biting her bottom lip and looking at Olivia.

"That makes zero fucking sense," Sarah interjected. "You're trying to get fatter just to be fattened even more if you win? And what does our half-deaf, eighty-year-old uncle  have to do with it?"

"If you had stayed in school instead of wasting your time on a farm," Alyssa said, "you would have learned about the Matthew effect, at least in my sociology class. You know,  preferential attachment; the rich will get richer, and the fat will get fatter. We're putting the theory to the test." She patted her belly.

"I see, I see," Sarah grinned. "Your fat kink has absolutely nothing to do with it. It's all in the name of science."

"Precisely. Finally, you get it. You're not as dumb as you look."

"This is obviously a bit too much for you two," Jenna said. "So why don't you make your own bet? I don’t know fifty bucks or a case of Nutella jars."

"No way. This is perfect. I love science!" Hannah's blue eyes were glowing.“

"Me too," Sarah said. "I nearly won a science fair in fifth grade. And just so you know, neither Mozart’s Requiem nor a daily dose of Best of Judas Priest had any effect on the growth of my bean sprouts. They all died equally and very, very quickly. Although, it could have been Mr. Darcy who ate them. That darn cat was always notoriously jealous of me. She either hated my fur-bulous purr-sonality or my paw-some cat-titude."

“We all do,” Olivia said. But in all honestly, it sounded like fun to just lounge around and be constantly stuffed by someone - basically, her ideal winter holiday. So, that was another reason why she absolutely had to win.
"I'm in," she said. "Count me in your Matthews attachments."

"Aww, look at those two piglets," Alyssa said lovingly then suddenly slapped her hand on the table. "Hey, Jenna I can see you. Sit down, you're going to finish your pancakes. I didn’t graze myself to this size just so you could bail. Even if I'm winning, I'll still make sure you hit 400 by Christmas."

Hannah leaned in closer to Olivia. "See, this is what friends are for," she whispered. "I won’t let you fall too far behind either."

"Did you just lick my ear?" Olivia asked suspiciously.
She was not going to lose this stupid bet. Sure, she liked to please people, but there was a limit. The pleasing part was more in line with sitting on her ass, eating, and looking pretty. If someone was going to be Sarah's deaf uncle Matthew who can’t fit through storage door, it was going to be her!