chapter 1

"Hey sugar, can you have whoever's in the kitchen whip me up some wings, fries, and onion rings? And a couple large cokes?" Betty said into the phone.

"Sure thing, honey! Comin' right up! Hey, Susie! Big Mama wants you to throw on some..." Maggie replied, hanging up the phone before Betty could hear her order read back to her.

Betty, or "Big Betty", as the public knew her, was a bit of a local celebrity. The 32 year old Houston native had launched a successful restaurant, called Big Betty's, which was known for being a fat-friendly establishment, with multiple types of seating arrangements ranging from booths to double-wide bench seats at custom made tables. The restaurant even allowed customers to bring their mobility scooters inside with them, and the barstools were all steel-reinforced with a capacity of up to 900 pounds. With Texas being the epicenter of American obesity, word quickly spread about the restaurant's accessibility, and more importantly, the quality of the food.

Betty had always been big, in both height and weight, since she was a kid. Growing up in a fat family, her mother was known throughout the neighborhood for her signature Texas barbecue food, and made decent money selling her food through local grocers and catering the occasional fundraiser or local business events. Though Betty saw the potential of her mother's cooking from an early age, her mother strictly considered herself a homemaker first, and was content being a stay at home wife and Mom, with her cooking being more of a part time hobby than anything else.

Being fat carried no stigma in Betty's house growing up, as her mother Bree was morbidly obese herself, marrying her husband Dan when she was 22, and 450 pounds. The two provided a stark contrast as they tied the knot, with Dan weighing less than half of Bree's weight. Bree's friends would call them the "perfect ten" since they looked like the number 10 when they walked around together. Regardless of contrasts in appearance, they loved each other very much, and Bree immediately quit her job waiting tables at a local restaurant to be a stay at home Mom.

Never one to waste time, Bree was pregnant within two months of being married to Dan, who watched with delight as his pregnant wife ballooned up to 530 pounds over nine months. Bree had a very cavalier attitude towards her size, and would frequently joke and poke fun at herself and her love of food, often while eating food. Though she made fun of herself it didn't come from a place of self-loathing, but one of self-acceptance. She smoked, she drank, and she ate as much as she wanted of whatever she wanted. She was herself, and she was happy.

Bree had shoulder length black hair, brown eyes, and a slightly plump face, with chubby cheeks and a double chin. She wasn't moon faced, but you could tell by looking at her face that she loved to eat. Still, she had an infectious smile and a sparkle to her eyes that you couldn't help but smile back at.

"She's pretty. I mean for a fat girl, anyway..."

That line had never failed to make Bree chuckle when she'd bend over to get something in public or pass a table of drunk 20-somethings at the bar. There had been a time when she wasn't comfortable in her own skin, but her relationship with Dan had taught her that sexy was a state of mind just as much as it was a physical attribute. She was fat, but that didn't mean she couldn't be beautiful. She'd wear clothing that showed off her big boobs, big belly, ass, and thighs, because she knew Dan liked all those things about her, and it made her feel good to feel the occasional man oogling her from afar.

Bree passed along her confidence to her daughter, as well as her love of food. Betty inherited her father's height and her mother's physique, which quickly earned her the affectionate nickname of "Big Betty" during her childhood. Bree and her daughter bonded through a mutual love of cooking and eating, and Betty was a natural chef. By the time she was 18 she had sprouted up to 6'2 tall, and weighed 450 pounds. Her mother's legendary barbecues and Betty's charismatic, funny, personality made her plenty of friends, and her size meant other girls in school were hesitant to try and pick on her. Even as young as she was back then, she had a vision: to make a restaurant that catered to people like her.

Betty busted her ass cooking at a local barbecue joint, and quickly made her way to head chef at one of Houston's biggest barbecue restaurants. After years of saving money and networking with other members of the staff, she finally had the resources to open Big Betty's. By that time she was 28 years old and weighed 620 pounds. Betty refused to let her weight get in the way of her work. She was very hands on in the management of her restaurant in its early days, and quickly built up a great rapport with her crew, who started referring to her as "Big Mama."

The restaurant business was stressful, but Betty took to it nonetheless, enjoying the fast paced working environment and embracing her new responsibilities as the owner. It was a learning experience, to be sure, and there were bumps in the road, but Betty took them in stride, for the most part.

With stress, however, came more eating, and running a restaurant meant Betty always had all the food she could ever want just a shout away. In the first year of Big Betty's being open, Betty put on over 50 pounds, and despite her best efforts, and the restaurant's success, her size was beginning to impede on her ability to run the show.

Betty wheezed through her nose as she stood in front of the mirror, a massive 7XL black t-shirt slipped tightly over her enormous breasts, which sagged heavily, barely contained by her custom made bra. She looked like a morbidly obese cat burglar, black from head to toe, her tree-trunk calves and blubber-covered thighs slipped tightly into a pair of custom yoga pants. She was wider than most of the doorways at the restaurant, and turning to her side and shuffling through them had become second nature to her. Her legs were the only part of her that had any definition whatsoever, her meaty calves surprisingly toned from years of lugging around hundreds of pounds of excess lard. She didn't have much of a neck to speak of, her double chin had obscured it for the most part. Still, she was very pretty, at least...

...For a fat girl.

She had a pretty face, with chubby cheeks and a gleam in her brown eyes that gave a window into her fiery spirit. Her long brown hair was tied back into a ponytail, and she exuded an aura of confidence and happiness that defied her enormous body. While most would assume she'd be miserable at her size, Betty certainly didn't show any signs of it.

It was a busy Saturday, and one of the cooks had called in sick. Betty felt she had to go back there and help out. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the biggest apron she could find, and stuck her head through the hole. In front of the mirror she did her best to suck her belly in, though it was so big it hardly made a difference. The two drawstrings didn't come close to meeting behind her expansive back, and even if they could, Betty wasn't sure she'd be able to touch her own hands behind her back. Betty sighed and patted her swollen, globular, belly. Seeing herself in the mirror lately had been difficult.

After cutting the draw strings off, Betty waddled out to the kitchen, sweat already forming on her brow from the walking and sudden rush of heat.

"Hey, big mama!" Abby, one of the dishwashers said.

"Hey, sugar!" Betty replied cheerily.

Betty made her way to the back of the kitchen, where the cooks hurried around, struggling to keep up with demand. Betty approached Lorenzo, the head chef.

"Hola gordita..." Lorenzo said as he squirted ketchup onto a burger.

"Hey, Lorenzo! Y'all look like you could use a hand back here!" Betty said.

"Y'know, not that you mention it..."

"Here, you want me to throw some wings on?"

"That would be perfect!"

"You got it!"

Betty dumped a bag of wings into one of the deep fryers, and dumped a bag of fries into another.

"Excuse me..." Olivia, one of the dishwashers said.

"Sorry, sugar!" Betty said, realizing she was very much in the way.

Betty moved over to the grill, though it was very tight quarters, as she struggled to squeeze her belly and ass between the prep counter behind her and the grill in front of her. Her belly oozed out dangerously onto the surface of the grill, but Betty tried her best to ignore it and downplay her struggles.

"Sorry big Mama, can I just sneak by you real quick?" Ally, one of the fry cooks asked.

"Sure thing, sweetie!" Betty replied.

Betty had no choice but to shuffle awkwardly out of the crevice between the prep counter and grill. It was a high traffic area of the kitchen, but then again, the whole kitchen was a high traffic area. Betty felt useless, and sighed as she waddled over to the dishes, washing them up as fast as she could. After helping the dishwashers get caught up, her belly growled hungrily, the smell of ribs, burgers, fries, and wings wafting into her nostrils.

"Honey, can y'all throw a few burgers, and some ribs, and maybe some fries on the grill? Just g'head and bring 'em on by my office when they're ready, OK?" Betty asked.

"No problema, gordita." Lorenzo replied before snapping his fingers and shouting something in Spanish at one of the chefs.