Big Town

By J. N. Sadler

Big Town is a government green facility that invites obese people to lose all of their unwanted pounds in a week’s time; painlessly and effortlessly, and at no cost to them. Rose and Bruno, an overweight couple, answer the ad and discover that their energy creates electricity. Their fat is converted into an alternative bio-fuel while they sleep; but, things go wrong: people die, and three robots do a cover-up on their own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477127636

J. N. Sadler

Janet Sadler is a resident of Havertown, Pennsylvania. She has published two volumes of poetry with her illustrations: Headwinds and Full Sail and has been published in many small literary magazines. Once member of the Mad Poets Society in Media, PA, and also the Overbrook Poets in Philadelphia, she reads her poetry at local venues. She was the former poetry director at Tyme Gallery in Havertown, PA and at Baldwin’s Book Barn in West Chester, PA. She has authored thirty flash fictions novels. Twenty-seven titles have been published through Xlibris and can be found at Xlibris.com, under J. N. Sadler Author’s email address: [e-mail]

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Copyright © 2012 by Janet Noel Sadler.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/22/2021

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Neighbors

CHAPTER 1

Rose stepped down off the bus, fighting to get out the door with her bags. Back at her apartment, Bruno was watching television, dribbling crumbs from potato chips and dip down his chin and the front of his unbuttoned shirt. His feet were resting on the coffee table which was made out of wrought iron. The old wooden one collapsed from the weight of Bruno’s legs.

Rose Caledero and Bruno Weiler were engaged to be married. They lived in a first-floor flat. Rose weighed three hundred pounds, and Bruno beat her by fifty pounds. They met at a local Weight Watcher meeting one summer. Neither of them had lost enough weight to boast about, or to be noticed. Their love of food was unequaled. Together, they enjoyed watching television and snacking. With her Italian background and his German heritage, his father being the head chef at a German restaurant in Australia, they had a smorgasbord of varied cuisines in which to indulge. Fridays they ordered pizza for delivery (three large pies with fries and garlic bread) washed down with a couple of liters of diet soda.

Saturday was Italian night—spaghetti, rigatoni, penne pasta, lasagna and sausage, meatballs, antipasto, and rum cake or a French pastry, like éclairs or cream puffs.

On Sundays, they would have wiener schnitzel and sour kraut with strudel and apple dumplings. During the rest of the week they struggled with salads (loaded with toppings, such as bacon bits, croutons, cheese, beans and pasta, baked chicken with the skin) and Jell-O, with non-fat topping. Ice cream was for those in-between necessary cheats. A pint a piece would suffice each, but to stave off another hunger attack, they would have to go to bed early and keep peanut butter bedside with spoons.

One of the two bedrooms in their apartment housed an exercise bike, a health rider, an elliptical, a treadmill, and a barrage of infomercial pieces of athletic equipment that didn’t fit their derrières. They went through the motions of losing weight; only, they were too heavy to do it by themselves, and the wedding was only a few months away.

Rose knew that Bruno didn’t care about her being heavy. He liked the fact. It made him feel less ashamed of his own enormous girth. Love-making was difficult, but food more than compensated for sexual thrills. Like any addiction, their eating took up a lot of their money, and neither of them had a grand stash of cash, except for their honeymoon fund.

Rose worked for a hair-dressing salon. She answered the phone, made appointments, shampooed heads, and swept the floors at night. Bruno was on permanent disability because, in his shape, he could really do nothing. His fat kept him slow-moving. It was amazing that he could even walk. He wasn’t allowed to eat on his former jobs, and he did need nourishment around the clock.

The chairs in the apartment were over-sized wrought iron. In the kitchen, Rose sat at the table with her Danish pastries, reading the paper. Bruno shuffled in, wearing slippers, split on the sides from the burden of his heaviness. His boxer shorts were tight on his legs. The elastic waist was lost in the creases of his hanging dough-like stomach, which drooped almost to his knees. There was a slight shaking of the ground when he walked from room to room. Rose looked up at Bruno, excitedly.

Bruno! I’m looking at an article in the paper; actually, it’s an advertisement for people like us. Look, sit down and look.

Wait till I get my coffee, Ducks. He quietly thundered to the Mr. Coffee and filled a large cup, then loaded it with real sugar and real cream. As he stirred, he glanced over her shoulder at the article.

NO LONGER MUST YOU SUFFER WITH OBESITY. NO LONGER MUST YOU FOOL YOURSELF WITH GIMMICKS AND FAD DIETS THAT MAKE YOU MISERABLE, TAKE YOUR MONEY, AND DON’T WORK. Rose read aloud to Bruno.

As he squeezed into his iron chair, he mused, Sounds too good to be true. We’ve tried everything. We’ll be lucky to see our wedding day if we keep eating this way. Babe, I love you no matter how fat you are.

Her pudgy hand rested on top of his. I know, Bruno. But, I want to get thin just once . . . for the wedding. It’s something every girl wants. I’m going to call and get the details.

Bruno looked sad, wondering if she would go, lose the weight, and leave him for a normal-size man.

Maybe I’ll do it, too. Find out how much it costs and all that.

While he wolfed down his pastries and went to the stove to fix his eggs and bacon, she dialed the eight-hundred number to get the details of a plan that could change their lives forever.

He watched her as she jotted down particulars and then gave their names and address. She whipped out a credit card from the cookie jar, but put it down with a smile. There was no charge for trying out this plan. They would have to pack a modest amount of items and wait for the limo to take them to Big Town where the quick cure for obesity would be free and painless.

Rose hung up the phone and explained. The offer is only good for today. We would have to pack and be ready for tonight. Since we don’t need money, I’ll take a vacation that I have coming, and we’ll do it! I’m so excited. They say that the results are almost instantaneous, and the food is full of nutrients and is delicious! They also said that we would be patriotic in helping our country to fight obesity.

Well, I guess we can’t lose, or can we? They laughed. I would love to see what I look like without all this blubber; and it would be nice to just walk at a normal pace and sit in regular chairs and not be afraid of being made fun of. What are we waiting for? Call them back, make arrangements for tonight. I’m going to get out the suit cases.

Just think, we’ll really look like the bride and groom on our wedding cake, and we won’t have to touch a penny of our honeymoon money! Rose did a clumsy little dance around the kitchen. Out of breath, she followed Bruno into their bedroom.

He threw two travel bags onto their king-size bed and started pitching in toiletries and underwear. He stuffed an enormous jogging suit, along with his jogging shoes and socks into a travel bag and zipped it shut.

Rose tossed her giant-size underwear, bras, fluffy slippers, frilly night gown, and her pink and silver-striped jogging suit with silver sneakers and elephant size knee highs into her bag. She also zipped hers shut. There!

Call them back and tell them we are ready now! Bruno picked up the bags, took them into the living room, and set them by the door. He was panting from just that little bit of exertion.

Rose headed for the kitchen phone and dialed the number. She pushed the operator button and got a representative. Yes. I just called you a few minutes ago. Yes, this is Rose. My fiancé and I are ready to go! It said that this was the last day; we want to do it. She nodded as she played with the coiled phone cord and looked over to Bruno’s expectant face. She repeated, The regularly scheduled limo picks up Big Towners at eight p.m., but if we are ready now, they will send the jitney. About an hour? Fine. We’ll be outside of our apartment, waiting then. Thank you so much!

She turned to Bruno, It’s all arranged. We leave in an hour.

I wonder if there are others on the bus. He walked over to the kitchen window and pulled back the curtain. It looks like it’s going to be a nice day.

They straightened up their apartment and stood in front of the window looking for the jitney. Finally, they went outside to wait, seated on their wrought iron cafe chairs in front of the apartment. The day was sunny and cloudless. How long would it take them to get there? Where was this palace for overeaters? How long would it take them to lose what they had collected around their middles?

Rose looked at her watch. It was fifteen minutes past the appointed hour. She began to wonder if it was all a big joke. Were photographers taking pictures of them, ready to jump out and tell them that they were on Candid Camera?

Bruno was also starting to doubt the authenticity of this venture. Were they wrong in arranging this so quickly? Why wasn’t this advertised on television?

CHAPTER 2

A short bus turned the corner and pulled up at the curb in front of them. On it, were the letters, BIG TOWN EXPRESS, painted in silver, with feathers painted on the points of the letters, like they were flying, light as air.

The driver’s face was handsome. His body was well-toned and tan. He wore a black cap, like a chauffeur’s. He was young and muscular, dressed in a spandex long-sleeved top and pants, and black running shoes.

My name is Steve Shadow, your shadow. I will coach you and tend to your every need while you are guests at Big Town, ‘where the overweight overcome their fate.’

He extended his hand to Rose and kissed it. She blushed, and a bra strap broke. He shook hands with Bruno, whose might almost lifted him off the ground. Bruno grinned and shifted foot to foot in anticipation of getting started.

They picked up their bags and walked to the curb. The seats were bench style and could accommodate the behinds of the heaviest clients.

The vehicle lowered a few inches when the two got in. Then, Steve pushed a special button, and the springs tightened in the chassis so that the bus rose up to its original height. Rose and Bruno were amazed at such ingenuity.

Shadow noticed their amazement and commented. "This is state-of-the-art technology. Big Town successfully reduces its clients painlessly, almost effortlessly, and in a very short amount of time, because we have the most modern methods. The concept is innovative. You will love Big Town.

He stood on the pavement, grasping the handle of the big sliding door and added, And, there will be a banquet tonight where you can meet the others and enjoy a feast similar to those on cruises. You have the whole night to exchange stories, read the brochure and look around your new digs. Now, buckle up. It’s a long drive to the desert. He smiled and closed the door with a loud bang.

Rose and Bruno managed to help each other hook the elastic rubber safety belts around each other that anchored them into the back of the seats and onto the floor. Their travel bags were placed neatly under the bench.

Shadow talked over his shoulder as he drove. I am sorry, but there are no snacks or drinks served on the ride to the compound. But, when you get there, they will take care of you. Just concentrate on the joy of losing weight, comfortably.

He turned on a DVD from the front of the bus that created images on the screen placed overhead in the back. Watch this.

Soft music played in the background. A group of people with the problem approached an immense low, white building in the desert. The doors to enter were very wide. The group became a single file line and, one by one, disappeared into the building. Shadow was