chapter 4

Peter walked into the lecture hall and placed his briefcase on the desk at the front of the room, steeling himself for the morning’s class. He opened the case and pulled out some handwritten notes. There was a curry stain in the top right-hand corner of some of the pages, he noticed. As he placed the notes down, something fell out from between the pages onto the desk.

A picture of him and Mary Jane.

Peter picked it up and regarded it for a moment. It was old, taken before they’d been married. They both looked so happy.

He placed the photo to one side of the desk, face down. It had been nine months since they’d split. He still wasn’t over her. With a sigh, he glanced down at the large swell of his stomach. It reminded him how he’d broken his scale when trying to weigh himself a few weeks ago. It had a 350 pound weight limit, and just the thought made his spirits sink. Since then he’d stopped being able to button his sport coat from the Big and Tall store around the huge globe of his belly.

“What am I doing to myself?” Peter muttered.

“Sorry, sir?” asked a student, sitting at the front of the classroom.

Peter shook his head. “Never mind, it was nothing. Now, let’s begin the class...”

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Immediately following the end of his lecture, Peter hastily grabbed his briefcase and went to leave, almost knocking over a student who had approached him. He couldn’t remember the young man’s name. He was as tall as Peter, and had a very athletic build. Peter apologized, and tried to step around the fellow.

“Um, I have a free period, so I was just going to hit the gym,” the student said.

Peter nodded absentmindedly while continuing on his way out the door. “That’s very nice.”

“You know,” the student continued, “faculty are allowed to use the gym facilities too… If, you know, you were interested. I could even show you some stuff?”

Peter paused, his mouth opening but no words coming forth. Oh my gosh, Peter thought, even my students think I need to start exercising!

“Thanks… I’ll, um, think about it,” Peter said, and rushed out of the room as quickly as his bulk would allow.

Five minutes later Peter wasn’t at the gym, he was at the cafeteria with the four lunches he’d ordered using his faculty discount, stuffing them into his mouth as quickly as possible, trying not to be late for his next class.