chapter 5

"I've always remember my mom being big," Ebony replied. "Since people would come to the house for fortune telling, she couldn't lose enough weight before she would gain it all back and add more. There were times when she managed to get down near your size, but she never stay that small for long. Usually, there would be a big run on fortune telling, and she'd soon gain all the weight she lost and add more in a few days. Finally, I think she just gave up trying to lose the weight and let herself get bigger and bigger."

"It must have been hard for your mom," Judy asked. "How about your dad?"

"I never knew my dad," Ebony replied. "My mom had me when she was only 16 years old. I never knew my grandma because she died when my mom was only 14. My mom took over her grandma's business then, I took over when she died."

"Does knowing that your mom and grandmother both died getting so obese make you fearful that it could happen to you, too?" Judy then asked.

"It does," Ebony said after being silent for a moment. "I mean, look how big I am now after 2 years of being a psychic. All my friends are even surprised by how fat I am now. But, I know I've been able to control my weight as much as possible, but I also know I'll someday will be the size that I was when my mom died. And if I did manage to get back to a normal weight, I wouldn't stay that way for long and pretty soon I'd be outgrowing all my clothes and need to turn bed sheets into dresses."

"But, I need the money to look after myself and any children I might have," Ebony then sighed. "Working at a McDonald's wouldn't be enough to pay for the lifestyle I want to have, no matter what weight I am. But, eventually, I am going to end up like my mom did, no matter what I do. And it's scary!"

Ebony remembered seeing her mom laying helplessly in her bed, which was now little more than a mattress laying on the floor. An oxygen tank stood beside her and she heard her mother's laboured gasps as she tried to breathe despite her now-enormous size.

The doctor said her mother had literally gotten too fat and out of shape to breathe on their own. The doctor estimated her mother's weight at about a half a ton, maybe even more than that. Few people get to that size without developing breathing problems at some point. The only cure was to somehow lose some of the weight that now had rendered her mother a prisoner in her own body. But, that would take time.

Time was something Ebony's mom knew she didn't have too much of.

Ebony looked at her mom. She wore a dress which was made out of a three bed sheets sewed together. She was also barefoot, as her feet had grown too pudgy for shoes...even flip flops. The dress itself looked like its seams were stretched to their bursting point, especially around her hips and belly. Her belly alone was almost as high as Ebony was tall. Her legs were as wide as Ebony's entire body while her hips were wider than Ebony was tall. Her breasts looked like 2 giant beachballs. Her arms were so fat now it was a wonder that her mother could even bend them any more. Her shoulders were almost as wide as Ebony herself. Her mother's face was so round now, it seemed her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth looked impossibly small. But, still, her mother's face looked attractive. Her long flowing black hair was still in her ponytail that Ebony put it in every morning after her mother's fingers got too fat to do it herself.

Ebony looked at herself in the mirror in her mom's room. Compared to her mother, she looked like a skeleton.

"E-ebony?" Ebony's mom said weakly. "Is that you?"

"Yes, Momma," Ebony turned towards her mom. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, Ebony," her mom smiled. "I'm all right. If you call being too fat to move being all right."

"The doctor said you need to lose weight," Ebony looked concerned. "I'll help you, Momma. You told me to keep active. That's why I'm still normal size."

"It's okay, Ebony," her mother replied happily. "I knew I'd be this size someday. I'm surprised that I'm still alive at this size. Your grandmother wasn't half this big when she died."

"The doctor said if you lose weight, you'll be all right," Ebony intoned.

"I don't think I can lose enough weight so I could still walk through a doorway," Ebony's mother sighed. "I think my time will soon be up."

"Don't talk like that, Momma!" Ebony look upset. "I still need you. I want you to see your grandchildren that I'll have someday."

"You'll be all right, Ebony," Ebony's mother tried to lift her flaccid arm to pat her daughter on the head. "You have your own powers which can help you make a living in this world. When I was your age, I was twice your weight. You're at least still normal sized. Maybe you'll stay that way for a while."

Then the doorbell rang.

"Sounds like a customer," Ebony sighed. "I could tell them you're not well..."

"Certainly not!" Ebony's mother frowned. "We still have bills to pay. I want to pay them off, even if I get so fat that I burst through the walls of this room. I'll be all right if you help me sit up in my bed. Now get into your costume and let's do it."

"You assisted your mother?" Judy asked.

"In the last few years, when my mom couldn't get out of bed," Ebony explained. "It was more to make sure no one took advantage of her and paid the fee. Though I think some of them just liked to see my mom get fatter."

As managing to assist her mother to sit up in her bed, Ebony removed her outer clothes to put on a sexy bikini-like outfit of green and gold. Since she had the figure for such an outfit then, nobody seemed to mind...since she didn't need to use her powers to act as a host for her mother's clients. She also put on several gold pieces of jewelry to look more glamourous and put on some makeup as she answered the door.

There was a group of people, mostly women of varying ages, standing there waiting impatiently as Ebony answers the door.

"Sorry for the delay," Ebony tried to look earnest to the group of people standing there. "We were getting ready but got behind."

"I hope your mother's predictions are more accurate than your business sense," said a heavyset, middle-aged woman in an ugly one piece dress and wearing an equally as ugly hat in a cold tone.

"They are," Ebony tried to let the snarky comment go by.

Moments later, Ebony was watching over her mother as she did prophecies and showing off her telekinetic powers for those who asked her. While Ebony noted that her mother looked happy doing all that which was asked of her, she soon began to notice her mother's body was starting to put on more weight. It was more noticeable in her mother's lower body, but soon she noticed her breasts and belly began to grow even larger.

The stress was beginning to take its toll, Ebony noticed her mother's face looking a little pale as her weight began to increase slowly with each passing customer. Between customers, Ebony whispered into her mother's ear.

"Mom," she whispered. "You don't look well. Maybe you should stop now. I don't want you to die on me."

"I'm all right," her mother gasped as if even whispering was becoming harder for her to do. "As long as there are paying customers waiting for me, I can do it. How many are left?"

"I'll check," Ebony rushed to the waiting area.

Moments later saw it was standing room only in the waiting area. In fact, there seemed to be more people there then when they opened.

Ebony rushed back. "The waiting area's full and some of them aren't happy to be still waiting."

"Send the next ones in," Ebony's mother groaned. "But, lock the door and put up the closed sign to make sure no one else comes in. This is will be a record for me."

"Okay," Ebony moaned.

Another couple of hours passed, and more customers came in to see her mother. Her mother's weight continued to slowly increase. The seams of her dress were beginning to tear. During breaks between customers, Ebony managed to sew her mother's dress back together with a small bedsheet so the dress could take her mother's growing dimensions. She also had to move the customers' chairs further away to make room for her mother. If this keeps up, her mother could be too fat for the room, Ebony thought to herself. Luckily, the floors are cement, or else she would definitely go through them by now.

Ebony noticed her mother's face was deathly pale and she looked like not even the oxygen tank was enough to keep her going. Her body was now getting too overweight to live.

Luckily, there was only one customer left. If her mother managed to live through this one, Ebony was definitely calling in the doctor.

Unfortunately, this customer was one of the regulars. And she was one the regulars she hated the most.

She wasn't sure of her name, Ebony always referred to her as Ms. Jackass...though, not to her face.

Ms. Jackass wasn't a mean person, but she came across as totally clueless. She would ask Ebony's mom for things that her powers didn't do. Things such as speaking with the dead... something her mother never did because she was a seer not a medium.

Luckily, her mother's telekinetic powers could do a reasonably good job of faking being a medium...eventhough she warned Ms. Jackass that she wasn't used to speaking with the dead.

After a couple of months, Ms. Jackass still didn't get with the programme.

At least, she paid well.

"Mom, at least, let me help," Ebony whispered before Ms. Jackass walked into the room.

"N-no," Ebony's mom barely could croak a response to her daughter. "I m-must finish today. C-can't leave a customer waiting."

So, the show went on...against Ebony's wishes.