chapter 4

ACHAI'S SMILE

Achai, the foreman of the fatting barn was smiling when he pulled his silver truck into his parking spot, the sun hadn't rose over the horizon yet, and though the winter was cold and windswept, Achai himself felt very warmed. He whistled as he opened the oor to the barn and entered flicking on the lights and seeing the massive barn full of those Sesanach girls, the new thin ones, the ones ho had been here awhile and were larger or the ones that were massive and reaching their limits soon. There was one he was particularly proud of, Number 8276, the girl was nothing more than skin and bones when she first came here, now not a year later he and his staff had managed to force her up to 250 pounds. Achai loved his job, and he was proud of his work, of course he was the kind of person who took pride in everything he did.

Ichrine had noted that Achai was the type who took pride in all he does the first time she came to his home, his lawn was perfectly gardened and groomed, every room in his house was a perfect medly of his ecclectic tastes, and then his indoor garden was impecable. She remembered he had one an Award from Bardeboa Home and Garden Magazine for that indoor garden. That was several months ago, and the reson Achai was so happy this morning was because he had woken in Ichrine's arms.

As they lay in bed early in the morning she asked him "Do you like your job?"

"Of course."

"You like making those girls fat?"

"Yeah" Achai paused "I know it's a strange thing but if it's your job you have to like it or you won't be good at it."

Ichrine traced her fingers on Achai's strong chest, "It's not strange." and she rested her head on him and purred.

He sat down at his desk and started thumbing through yesterday's paperwork, taking a sip from his coffee, all the while humming along.

A MINOR INCONVENIENCE

Number 8276 suckled the feeding tube with no thought or emotion, no comprehension of the world around her or what wass going on. She had been here almost a year and was rounded and sagging down now, obesely fatted, from her once 100 pound body she had grown in a short time up to 250 pounds and the numbers on her scale slowly rose as the sweet greasy paste filled her fat stomach. She had grown so fat so qwickly that all over her body her skin had been stretched so taught that all of her blue veins and white body fat were visable, her breasts as they hung down enlarged were white bads with faint bue lines, her belly the same, her rump, covered in cellulite rose up in the air above her, even the fat on her back rose up above her. She was once the perfect image of beauty, if she had been effarian that is, but since she was sessanach this was her fate, to be fattened and she had beome incredably fat, incredably fast.

A small pain started in her neck then moved to her shoulders, a pain which she never noticed, she just sucked away on her feeding tubes, the pain became more strong and though her nervous system felt it she never knew it was there, suddenly the pain moved to her chest and her body began to shake, her eyes rolled back into her head, and without ever noticing a thing, or knowing she ever existed, Number 8276 went through life completely unaway and passed from it completely unaware.

Hawking held his fingers to his temple. The Apothecary red-faced and exasperated screamed at Achai, "I found the grease, sugar, and lard mixes in her stomach to not be the regular feed, you were supposed to kill her metabolism with that greasy feed, not kill her." Achai, though responding calmly had thoughts of socking it to the Apothecary right between his thick glasses, "Our files show that the attendant Jaicone had changed her to the regular feed after one month of her being at the fatting barn."

"Then explain to me..."

"Gentlemen!" Hawking interrupted the apothecary, "It is a minor inconvenience that this girl died prematurely", he stood and adjusted his shirt, "The fact that something like this hasn't happened on this estate for fifteen years shouln't make you forget that sometimes even we can't stop nature, and things like this happen. Is it still possible to use her in some way?"

"No," the apothecary grumbled, "her meat soured on the autopsy table"

"No matter, with her fat to meat ratio should only would have gotten $8 a pound at market anyway, and there's thousands other." Hawking thought for a moment "like i said, it's only a minor inconvenience. Have her thrown in with the expired field slaves to become fertilizer."