SuperHeavyWeight installment 8

The Cure

Brian’s knees were knocking as he walked back to their room from the doctor’s lab. Tony was going to kill him, let alone Joey. He nervously rattled the large bottle of pills and eyed the big jar of gooey lotion given to him as experimental antidotes. His meeting with the doctor could not have produced more alarming news.

The scientist became immediately concerned when Brian described Tony’s reaction to the beer. He hadn’t even mentioned Joey’s eating binge before the doctor grabbed a beer from his office refrigerator and raced to the cages housing test mice. Brian was trying to break in to tell the doctor about the jock’s insatiable hunger, but he couldn’t stop the doctor’s frantic chatter.

“You see, I was hoping it was just a temporary phase, affecting only rodents, so I didn’t tell you boys when it came up two weeks ago. I mean, oh dear, I, it can’t be affecting Tony the same, I never even tested alcohol, just, I . . .”

The doctor was twisting the cap off the beer and pouring some into a small dish as he rambled. He set the bottle next to the mortar and pestle used to grind pills for the test animals. Brian looked over his shoulder to see a large white mouse dozing in the cage.

“You see Son, I’ve been running experiments on interactions with solid food, as I warned you when you signed up. The reactions have been shocking, far more extreme than anticipated.” He shook his head and pointed across the table to another cage. Brian saw a large white furry ball, easily three times the size of the mouse by the doctor. “What’s in that cage?” he asked.

“Another mouse.” Brian peered closer and saw little legs at the bottom of the fur ball. His stomach wrenched as he moved closer. It looked like a white tennis ball with feet and a head. Brian groaned.

“I trust you boys adhered to my instructions on solid food. It’s even more critical than I knew. I thought we had it solved. I never expected the reaction to be so severe. I confess I have been stunned by the rate at which . . .”

“Wh-what happened to this one?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. That’s what I’m saying. We started feeding that one half doses of pills and food to test the interactions.”

“Uh-uh huh?”

“Never seen anything like it. I left overnight and came back to find it eating nonstop. It ate a week’s worth of food in an evening. It appears that the pill residue reacts with food once in the mouse’s system to produce uncontrollable hunger, making the subject eat ravenously, apparently totally unable to stop eating with food present. We gave it unlimited access to food to see what would happen. It’s been feeding continually since.”

“Oh God.” Brian’s head started to buzz thinking of Joey. He thought Tony had been exaggerating about Joey’s size, but -

“We had to rub that cream on the mouse’s body to help it stretch. He was eating so fast his skin looked strained. We were worried it might even rupture.”

“Oh, Doctor, I have to tell you something. My friend ignored . . .”

“But I never even thought to test the reaction to alcohol. I think we have a pill to counteract the hunger reaction, and I was about to call you boys after one last test. It seems to have completely stopped the mouse’s eating. But oh my. Beer. I have no idea what happens when . . .”

The doctor set the beer into the smaller mouse’s cage. It sniffed curiously and began to drink.

“Doctor, I need to tell you more. See, Tony’s just had a beer, but Joey . . .

“Sssh, Son. Let’s watch.” Brian grabbed his throbbing head and watched the mouse lap at the beer. It drank about half of the bowl’s contents and then turned away.

“Hmm. Nothing.” Doctor Lambert turned back to Brian. “Now you say Tony’s stomach actually began swelling in a matter of minutes? Are you absolutely certain, Brian? Even with the worst of reactions, I don’t see how . . .”

“Oh, Doctor, Tony’s reaction is only half the issue. Joey is in serious-”

The drunken mouse started to squeal. The scientist held up his hand to quiet Brian and moved closer to the cage. They both stared as the mouse began to swell. It was pacing and squeaking as its body inflated. The doctor quickly reached into the cage and ordered Brian to grab the jar of lotion. Holding the mouse in his hand, he spread lotion all over the ballooning mouse’s body. It continued to swell to nearly the size of the other obese mouse in a matter of minutes.

“Amazing! I would not have thought it possible that-”

“DOCTOR!”

Brian let loose. He told the doctor everything – how Joey mixed food with his dosage from the start and has been eating nonstop. “Who knows how big he is now, and you know about Tony’s stomach after the beer. Doc, you have to do something! I swore this was safe when I talked them into this. What am I going to do now? You’ve got to stop what’s happening!”

And in a matter of minutes, the doctor had shoveled out the pills used to stop the eating mouse’s hunger. Brian was sent to immediately administer a continual dose of the pills to both Brian and Joey until the reactions ceased. The doctor was adamant.

“Whatever you do, make those boys take these pills until they feel normal. Absolutely no more food, and good God no beer. My Lord! Can you imagine if we had given that fat mouse the beer instead of the small one?”

So Brian raced back to their room. “Ugh. I wonder if Tony’s even found Joey yet.”

But when Brian returned to the room, he found Tony there, parked in a chair, burger in hand, stuffing his face. An empty bad sat on the floor and a second bag sat next to him, loaded with food.

“What are you doing?!”

Tony jumped, but then stuffed another bite of food into his already full mouth. He grunted as he chewed, trying to talk around the food. “I – mmffmm – I went to look for him. Mmmffph. I – gulp – it’s happening to me now, man. What’d you find out?” He sheepishly looked down at his protruding stomach. “I had to get food, man. I was so hungry I could barely concentrate. I never even made it to look for Joey.”

The bulge of Tony’s belly gave away that he had been eating the entire time Brian was at the lab. Brian told him everything as he popped open the pill bottle. Tony finished another burger before Brian could get him the first few pills. Tony reached for a beer to wash them down, but Brian yanked it from his hand.

“Are you out of your mind?! One more beer plus that food, and I think your gut will look like a beach ball in ten minutes!”

Tony swallowed the pills dry. “Shit, I’m still hungry. How long did he say it took for these to kick in?” He reached for another burger, but Brian grabbed his hand.

“Here – take a few more. He said to take them until it stops.”

So Tony sat, rubbing his newly formed belly, gulping down a pill every five minutes until the hunger ebbed. His gut was still sticking out, bloated and full, but the hunger pains finally stopped.

“Okay, man. I’m going to look for Joey again. I think I can make it past the burger stand now.” And he hoisted out of the chair. “Man, I never thought I’d see one of these things on my frame!” Tony was engrossed with his belly, feeling every curve of it as he headed out of the room.

“Oh, you better get a ton more of those pills. When you see the size of Joey, you’ll see what I mean. Your doc better make a few more batches if he expects to stop his eating.”

And with that, Tony was gone, cradling his beer gut.

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