chapter 1

For as long as Nicola Angelo could remember he was compelled by two major burning desires: time travel and weight gain. However, upon reflecting upon his successes in both areas, Nicola couldn't help but feel disappointed in both regards.

Somewhat happily married to Elizabeth Gordon for one year, Nicola wished that his once chubby brides weight loss trend would cease. But so far, up to this point, she'd become a weight loss machine. And as far as his time travel theories and applications went, he was excited by his research finds but equally disheartened by his almost total lack or financial supporters.

All of that changed when Nicola went to the bathroom while weighting for his wife to meet him for their first anniversary dinner. A bright flash of light over took the bathroom and disoriented the scientist so much he almost fell. He would have hit the deck but a tall man like himself grabbed his arm and steadied him. Upon looking up, he stumbled backwards and this time did fall down on his ass.

With amazement overtaking shock, Nocola realized that he was looking at an older version of himself. He looked exactly the same in height and build with just hints of gray coming in around his temples. "I did it?", he asked feebly.

Smiling back at Nicola, his older doppelganger replied, "Yes, we did it".

"Oh my God I have so many questions, like how did we solve the problem reverse quantum..."

"Relax young gun", laughed his older self, "All in good time, but I'm not here for that. I'm here to save our marriage."

"Our marriage?"

"Yes, our marriage to Elizabeth"

"Oh, my God, what's wrong"

"Its nothing catastrophic but... just listen we both know that we don't like how skinny she's gotten"

Nicola thought momentarily of protesting, but as he couldn't bullshit himself, he simply nodded his head in agreement.

"Okay, so listen, she's gonna go off on the vegan kick tonight, and as nice as you wanna be, don't go along with it. If you do, we'll both be stuck with a skinny wife that we love but, well, you know.... Hey, I'll meet you back here in this very same bathroom at the same time next year", and with that there was another flash and his older self was gone.

As warned by his older self Elizabeth was on fire that night about the benefits of eating vegan. Little by little he chipped away at her excitement dampening all of her initial bluster with counter facts. He felt a bit bad that night but secretly rejoiced when Elizbeth ordered the 16 oz sirloin steak dinner.

As for major changes, Nicola didnt see much but did note that his wife's weightloss slowed and came to rest at a healthy 130lbs. He often wondered if that one event had changed anything in his future. And as time went on, he even convinced himself that it all had to be some kind of fever dream, but just to be sure, he made romantic reservations for the same restaraunt for their second year anniversary.

Again at the precise time Nicola excused himself from his anniversary dinner with Elizabeth. He thought himself foolish, as he left for the restroom. However, he was intrigued for two reasons. For one, if his future self returned, it would be proof of his success. And secondly, he wondered if his alteration into the "past" had any ramifications on the future, especially when it came to Elizabeth's future physique.

With only a few seconds to weight, Nicola was filled with the dread that he might be insane and had lost his mind over a year ago.

But all his fears were put to rest when the same bright light appeared in the bathroom. This time Nicola shielded his eyes and it didn't take him too long for his eyes to adjust. Standing before him was his older self, but this time much changed. While he didn't look to have aged any upon reflecting upon his doppelganger's skin and hair, this version of himself sported a pretty thick, middle aged spare tire and matching love handles.

"Oh my God, what happened to you?", asked Nicola.

"Oh, you mean this", said his older self blessed with the gift of having already lived through this life event 19 years prior, or today according to one's point of view. He have his belly a good shake and said, "Well, if you're interested, it worked. But as you can see, maybe just a little too well", chortled his older and heavier self.

Nicola had to know, so he asked, "How did you get so...", "Fat?", finished his older and fluffier self, ", before continuing, "And don't you mean WE there slim. You're the one that did this for us", said the chubby time traveler as he rubbed his paunch affectionately like it was his best friend.

A sticker for syntax, the younger Nicola asked, "Wait a second. What did do you mean by FOR us?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it. You know, change the time lines and all of that'

"Come on, what do you mean for us? Do we like all that extra pudge"

"Well, we didn't like it at first. It actually freaked us out and it wasn't until after years of therapy that Anne opened up to us about her proclivities towards weight gain."

"So you mean she wants me that fat?"

"Well... Not exactly"

"But I wind up liking being fat?"

"Um yeah, you could say that...."

"But?", queried his younger self.

"Well its just that Anne wants us, fatter."

"Fatter?"

&q uot;Yeah, fatter. As she changed her diet, so did we and....", he paused while shaking his sizable midlife paunch, "...so did we", he said with a chuckle. "But Anne recently told me that she wished I was as fat as she, so that's why I'm here. Just make sure that you both eat desserts from now on, ok?"

"Um, sure", responded Nicola.

"Look I know this is all hard to take, but I'll prove it to you."

"How?"

"Ti ghten your belt so that it's way too tight. Eat like mad tonight, and let your belly push out over your pants, and complain about how you've been putting on weight recently".

"Butt I haven't".

"She won't know that in her drunken state and when you get home, I'm sure you wont be sorry", said his older self before fading away.