chapter 22

As the greatly fattened Amanda Frazek was about to answer Mike Dombrowski's proposal, life was going very well with Hilda Przbylski. Her new position as Director of Nutrition Research at DePaul University Hospital paid her enough to hire her own personal trainer and she put his services to good use.

She had dieted and exercised her way down to around one hundred twenty-five pounds, and for a girl who stood five feet six inches tall, that was pretty darned slender. But it wasn't enough for Hilda. She had got it into her mind that since Amanda Frazek had gone from the Golden Girl of DePaul University Hospital to Butterball of the city of Chicago, SHE had to take Amanda's place as DePaul's new Golden Girl and to do that she not only had to be attractive, she had to be darned near perfect. That's why she signed on Ed Westerfield to be her personal trainer.

Ed was a former Chicago Bear offensive lineman, who at one point in his NFL career had stood six feet seven inches tall and weighed a whopping three hundred seventy-eight pounds. He retired after just four years as a Bear. His knees were shot, his shoulders ached and his back was none too good either. He KNEW he had to get himself into better shape so he could lead a normal lifestyle. He studied nutrition and came up with a diet that worked for him and that was pretty sensible, all things considered. The big thing was, he started to take exercise seriously.

For most of his career, Ed concentrated mainly on weight training. It was important for an offensive tackle to be strong enough to move huge defensive linemen and gigantic linebackers out of the way. But it did very little for his cardio and left his bulky and kind of stiff-moving. Long story short, Ed dropped one hundred and fifty-eight pounds, putting him at a VERY trim 220.

He and Hilda meshed immediately. He could see in her the same determination that motivated him to turn his life around. They worked out five times a week and Ed put Hilda on a modified version of his diet. After six months, Hilda was a lean, mean exercise machine. She weighed a svelte 108 pounds and she wasn't just toned, she was positively sculpted.

Needless to say, people noticed. Not the least of whom was Brad Brauner, chief of staff at DePaul. He had dated Amanda off and on for three years, but for one reason or another they just didn't click, so he was footloose and fancy free. It was at the DePaul Christmas banquet that he noticed Hilda, who by this point started going around as Hilly.

What struck Brad was how disciplined Hilly was with her food. Most people tended to use the Holiday season as an excuse to pig out. Even HE was subject to a certain amount of temptation. But not Hilly. She ate small portions. Didn't drink any of the wine that was flowing freely and not once did she even PASS the dessert table.

And so it was, as things were about breaking up that Brad introduced himself. Hilly said hello. They made small talk. Brad asked if she needed a ride home, which she did. Hilly accepted and they chatted away while the chauffeur made his way through traffic to Hilly's condo in Oak Park.

Brad suggested that they might go out to dinner some time. Hilly paused, gave him a demure yet suggestive look and said, "I think that can be arranged." It was to be the start of a most interesting and transformative journey!