chapter 1

Tessa's eyes fluttered open, roused by the glow of the full moon. Smiling at the silvery light shimmering through her window, she thought about her big boy. Fat boy. Hog. She loved the late night feeding; it was on her mind through most of every day. He really seemed to enjoy it, too. She liked to think he did. Her alarm chimed. She sprang up and dressed in smooth, practiced moves, grabbing her knapsack and heading out her door. She glided quickly and nimbly through the house. A gleam of light when she opened the fridge; a clack when the front door shut behind her.

She shivered in the cold and trotted toward the barn. The brisk air still carried the pungent, earthy smells from the sty, and her heart beat faster as she breathed it in. She loved the stink of it. Though later in life she'd often just tell people she liked it because it reminded her of home, the fact is the smell reminded her of pigs. And she loved to think about pigs. She reached the fencing, and a few of the young ones grunted as she neared. She passed them by, though. They were cute enough, but she was headed for her boy. Around the corner was another corral which held the bigger hogs. Tessa's dad had given her one to fatten.

"This ain't no small task," he'd told her.

She remembered grinning stupidly at him. "I can fatten up a pig?"

"Think it's time."

Stomach quivering, heart leaping, "Really? As fat as I want?"

"Huh," her dad nodded. "As fat as you can. This is for the expo. The bigger he gets, the better for all of us." At that, Tessa giggled loudly enough to catch a quizzical look from him. "I can count on you, right?"

"Oh yes!" Her mind was flipping. She'd fed the pigs before, of course, along with all her chores on the farm. But this was a new responsibility. "This is gonna be fun." Her dad just shook his head and laughed. He really was happy she enjoyed the pigs so much. Made the work easier.

Outside in the chilly night, she saw him. Fattest one out there. He was laying on his side, and the full moon made the light skin on his vast belly glow. She watched him sleep. His head lolled in rolls of neck fat; his belly ballooned out front, wobbling softly with each breath. He licked his lips and they curled in a smile, looked like he was dreaming of food. She smiled and called quietly to him, "Hey pig pig pig..."

The hog's ears perked and he looked up. She shook her backpack to let him know she had the goods, and giggled as she watched him roll to his feet. Week after week it was more of a struggle, which just seemed to make the pig more determined. "That's it, Porky." She'd named him Porky. Not terribly imaginative, she knew, but the shoe did fit. Besides, she was never one for formalities. She had dozens of names for him.

"What a waddler," she watched his belly sway underneath as he made his way to the fence. His snout reached up to her, and he grunted. "Okay, tubsy." She unwrapped a big sloppy cheeseburger and held it out for him; he grabbed it and gulped it down. She worked fast food part-time, and always made sure to collect the extras and leftovers for her piggy. As he chewed the first burger, she piled the rest into the trough before him. He licked his lips and dove in, snorting his snout into the mounding mess of food. She also had a heavy sack of day-old pastries and a bucket of corn slop and skim milk. The no-fat milk was one of her dad's little secrets: "Helps capacity and fires the appetite," he'd told her. It seemed counterintuitive, but it worked. He had a lot of good tips, and she learned them all. Developed a few of her own, too.

"Go Porky, go," she whispered to her pig. "You're getting so big and fat. You just love your food, don't you?" Porky was gobbling now at the pastries, chewing and grunting with delight. "Look at you eat and eat and EAT. Look at you stuff your face. Oh, I'm going to make you enormous. A ravenous, jiggling, fat and blobby hog. You just keep eating, and I'll bring more and more food to fill that jelly belly."

She scratched his ears and watched him glut, quietly singing, "Jelly belly, nice and fat / Jelly belly, where it's at / Jelly belly nice and plump..."

Porky stepped back and sneezed, sending ripples over his body. Tessa giggled and picked up the bucket of slop. The big hog waddled back as she filled the trough and dove in, eating even faster than before. "That's the way, my big fatty. Eat it all, I know you can. Tomorrow I'll bring twice as much. Oh, you're going to be massive."

Her enthusiasm never waned, and neither did Porky's. The hog would go on to win the state fair, the first in a years-long winning streak for Tessa - a blue-ribbon parade of jiggling pigs, some even too blubbery to waddle, and each one fatter than the last. She became an expert in feeding, weight gain, and obesity, a career fueled by a deep and driving passion for masses and masses of fat - a passion that would grow apparent in every part of her life.