Chapter 1 - Just the start

Wake up some time around noon, laze in bed until 1 or 2 and play Solitaire on his phone, get out of bed and get to the computer to write until his joints start cramping, and then write some more. A typical Sunday for Lee Heighton.
A quick glance at Lee, and anyone could probably assume that he didn’t work with people. Given his occupation, you would’ve been mostly correct. Doubly so since the start of quarantine. Lee was a writer. Before Covid, he had published a couple novellas and some popular articles in a magazine his publisher had referred him to. But then quarantine started and he had decided to move a little further from the city and spend some time away from all the chaos of the pandemic. A lot of businesses closed, his publisher let a lot of people go, and Lee suddenly had a lot of spare time.
After some months of doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and watching Jeopardy reruns on TV, the magazine he had written for contacted him with a job offer. So now, Lee eats, writes, then sleeps.

The horribly tinny sound of his phone ringing was what woke Lee up. Face twisted into a scowl and eyes still not fully open, he reached to his bedside table, snagged his phone off of it, and stared at the screen for a couple seconds, willing it to stop. Unfortunately, it did not. So he answered it with a noise of displeasure.
“Yes?”
“Heya, Heightington,” came the awfully chipper voice on the other end. “Hope I didn’t wake you!”
“Deirdre.”
“That’s the one! Look, I know we discussed having the new article up and online by Tuesday, but I’d really like to meet up and see what all you’ve gotten done. Things are getting incredibly tight around the office lately and you know how my supervisors can be, they wanna see results ten times over! D’you think we could set something up? I really don’t wanna take no for an answer here, bud. Restrictions are easing up and I think they’re allowing outside dining at certain places now! How ‘bout I set something up for tomorrow around noonish and we can grab lunch and talk through the details?”
“Ugh…” Keeping up with Deirdre Hanson took far more energy than Lee had at all, let alone right as he’s waking up. Taking a few seconds to process everything the shrill woman had thrown at him, Lee could suddenly taste just how bad his morning breath was. Everything was unpleasant and Lee could not process it all. “Fine, Deirdre. Okay. Just. Can I go back to bed now?”
“Ah, I knew you’d come around!” Her high laughter pierced Lee’s ears and he held the phone a bit farther from his face. He could still hear her already typing away at something. “Alrighty, I’ve got a place all set up for tomorrow. I’ll text you the details? Great. Love to hear from you! Take care of yourself, bud!”
The phone call ended just as abruptly as it had started and Lee could feel himself getting a headache. He dropped his phone onto the bed beside himself and rubbed his temples. What exactly had he just agreed to?
Deirdre Hanson was who had gotten Lee set up with this magazine. She had enough influence in her job to get Lee hired, but not enough to allow him to do whatever he wanted. In all honesty, Lee didn’t mind Deirdre. He would even go so far as to say that he often enjoyed her. But only through a screen. Emails, texts, any written communication with her was tolerable. But when you were to meet the woman in person… God, she was a lot. At first glance, not many would think so. At an even 5 feet tall and incredibly petite, she would seem almost demure if not for the way she carried herself. Perfect posture, perfect makeup, perfect hair, Deirdre exuded confidence. And that confidence carried over into her tone, for sure. Chipper, peppy, upbeat; often annoyingly so. But one would suppose that you gotta take the good with the bad.



Lunch was at a cheap Tex-Mex restaurant at the edge of the city. Quite the drive for Lee, but when Deirdre said that things were gonna go one way, they ought to. So Lee got up a little extra early and made the trip into the city for lunch. He’d already eaten a late breakfast, but it was just some eggs and bacon and toast, and Lee was already feeling a little peckish. So he shrugged off the thought of breakfast and focused on what he’d order once he arrived at the restaurant.
The place wasn’t too full, surprisingly enough. With the cheap food and quarantine being loosened a bit, Lee had expected a much bigger crowd. But the restaurant was only open for outdoor dining, and plenty of people were still rightly paranoid about the virus, so really it made sense.
Lee weaved his way through tables and arrived at the front door, where one of the employees pointed him to a little table in a back corner. Their eyes said that they were smiling under their mask, but Lee seriously doubted it was genuine. He nodded politely and made his way to the table, ordering an extra basket of chips and queso to snack on while he waited for the life of the party herself.
Three baskets of chips later, Deirdre arrived in a flurry of words and papers.
“God, the traffic to get here was unbelievable! We’re in a pandemic, how are there that many people still on the road?!” She huffed as she sat down. The waiter that had been bringing Lee chips returned and took Deirdre’s drink order. They came back with her drink and another basket of chips. With a wink in Lee’s direction, they were off again. Deirdre took this as a sign to get down to business.
Truly, Lee couldn’t have told you half of what Deirdre had verbally assaulted him with in the time that they were sat at the restaurant. Nor could he have told you what all he ate, but apparently someone had taken notice.
“Do you eat like that every day? It’s a wonder you’re not 400 pounds by now if so.” Deirdre eyed Lee’s distended stomach while she spoke. The comment wasn’t out of the ordinary for her, if you took into consideration how little thought went into filtering herself. She was always honest and always painfully blunt.
Lee merely blinked.
“What do you mean?” He asked slowly, unconsciously rubbing a hand over his gut.
“What do I mean?” Deirdre nearly scoffed. “Heightington, bud, you ate three baskets of chips and cheese, a whole enchilada meal, half a dozen tacos, and three giant churros.” She stared at the offending glutton as if he’d grown a second head. Though Lee knew that this was due to his obliviousness and not necessarily anything to do with what he’d eaten. He considered it all for a moment and nodded slowly.
“I don’t eat like that all the time.” He said quietly. Now that attention had been drawn to it, he could feel the heaviness of everything sitting in his stomach.