chapter 4

Back at the Mendez household, night came and so the restaurant had closed its doors. It was nearing 10pm, so as tradition, Isabel, Carlos and Gloria all gathered 'round the big living room TV to watch an episode of the family's favourite game show, "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?". Carlos and Isabel took up the seats of the couch, whilst Gloria took up the large recliner to the right of them with her similarly wide frame.
There was a notable exception, however. At the left side of the couch, another recliner; similar in size and build, laid empty with nothing but a few cushions and a woolly rug draped over the brown leather. This was Carmen's old spot, the place where she sat all through her childhood. She'd always make her mother laugh with her quick wit and heckling at anything and/or anyone she could see. Gloria sorely missed the times she could spend with her daughter, but had gotten used to the daily disappointment of her daughter not returning until late at night after doing God knows what with her friends. Hopefully the bowl of pretzels balancing on the summit of her mountain of a belly would help ease her sorrows.

The blue rays of the TV screen shone outwards across the darkened room as the first contestant strolled their way onto the stage. She was quite the plumpy girl, more stout than the average blond you'd see on a mainstream show such as this. She had decided to dress professionally for the occasion, but it looked moreso like a bad wardrobe malfunction. Her white blouse had all but exacerbated the outline of her potbelly, ready to flow out of her darkened blue jeans. If the saying really were true; the camera adding ten pounds to her frame was making young Sally from Cleveland, Ohio nearing dangerously to the 200lb point of doom.
Of course no one other than a guy like Carlos would be jotting down mental notes such as these, but he couldn't help but find slight pleasure in the little jiggles the womanly figure made as she plopped down on the seat.

"What would you do with 1 million dollars?"
Carlos asked his wife with a smile. He had questioned her about this countless times over the years, but she always humoured him with a different answer every time.

"Hmmm..well.."
Gloria stopped munching on her tortilla chip for a second of thought.
"Maybe I'd like a crane."

Carlos' eyes shot up like a rocket.
"A-A what now??"

"A crane."
Carmen responded casually, returning her guacamole dipping duties.
"Y'know… for carrying heavy things..."
"For things only a crane can lift out of say...a bed, maybe."

Carlos took a heavy gulp out of shock and/or a coping mechanism for the answer that his ears had just received. Gloria couldn't help but smugly chuckle at her husband combusting beside her. She knew exactly what makes that man tick.

Fortunately for Isabel, all this talk had been drowned out by her airpods. She didn't particularly care about watching TV with them anymore, in fact she'd much rather spend the night in the comfort and privacy of her own room. But Gloria would never stop yapping about "family traditions" or "being a Mendez!" or whatever else she would shout at her in Spanish if she ever so dared to ditch her parents. But yet, she knew it'd break her mom's heart if another one of her daughters drifted away. She decided that since it had only been a few days since her return home, Gloria deserved a little bit of normalcy with her back around.

Just as the show transitioned to it's ad break, a loud sound of a creak shrieked throughout the room as Carmen flung open the front door with force. A strong, sour faced frown was all the family could see of her through the dark as she paced angrily up the stairs. The frown only grew further downward when she heard Carlos' question.

"How was school today hun-"
Was all Dad could fit in before the slam of another door cut him off abruptly, leaving the three of them to hear the loud, moody stomps of rage still audible from the ceiling above.

"My patience is going thin with that girl, Carlos."
Gloria said sternly, wiping the excess cheese dip from her fingers onto her increasingly exposed lower stomach fold.

"I would've thought by now, by her age, she would mature a little bit. Mature as a young woman! But no, I do not see that in her. Her weight... I will just be upfront, it's unhealthy!"
Gloria continued between mouthfuls of junk.

"She is not up to the size and standards of a real Mendez woman!"
She said almost angrily, poking a finger deep down into her cellulite-ridden gut.
When speaking English, she lacked the fluidity and brevity that she would sport in her native tongue, but she still always did a good job of saying what needed to be said to her husband.

"I just wish she was more like her sister. Isabel does not need instructions, Isabel does not need help. She is growing into a young beautiful Mendez all by herself!"
She waved her flabby arm towards Isabel, who, not clued in to the speech, just smiled with a nod and a thumbs up. They must've been talking about her superior intelligence to that brunette bimbo stomping above them right now.

"Something must be done, Carlos…"
"Carlos? Are you even listening, Carlos???"
She bellowed, staring a hole through him for a second. Noticing him still entranced by her index finger in amongst her rolls, she wedged it out and proceeded to use it to throw an especially sharp dorito at her husband's cheek.

"Ow!"

"What can be done, Carlos?"

"...W-What are we talking about again?"

"HOW CAN WE MAKE CARMEN GROW UP??"
She shouted, almost in a tantrum-like state.

"OH um, well...there's a job opening at the restaurant downstairs? Maybe she can fill it in, I know that most of the students working there take our leftovers home, which I tell them SPECIFICALLY NOT to do, by the way, but I'm sure Carmen can resist the tempta-"

"Oh honey you're the best! I will talk to her in the morning!"
Gloria squealed, victoriously digging back into the chips full throttle.
Carlos was clueless as to what Gloria said prior, but hell hath no fury like a landwhale scorned, so maybe it was best to leave Gloria plan whatever she wanted to do with their little girl.

--

Night went and morning came as Carmen peeled her slender frame out from underneath the bedcovers. She was in no mood to experience another day of school life, still in disbelief at what she had seen on that damn bulletin board the day before. Nevertheless, she still had to trudge on and get dressed.

"Bench??"
She continued to mumble angrily to herself, aggressively pressing balm against her lips.

"Ha! That old has-been bitch thinks she's hot shit for doing this, thinking I'm not starter material? She's just jealous I broke every record she set without breaking a damn sweat!"

"I think I gotta Coach a lesson on who's REALLY the boss of the team!"
She sneered with a grin and nodded in approval, finishing off the last touches of her foundation before heading downstairs to the kitchen for a quick bite to eat.

To her surprise, though, when entering the kitchen she saw Gloria waiting for her, sitting at the table all formal like. For one, it was a shock to Carmen being ambushed like this, but more weird to her was seeing her mother up and about at any time before noon.

"Hello my sweet pea!"
Gloria exclaimed excitedly.

"I decided that, since your father usually brings you to school and everywhere else these days, I thought maybe I'd shake things up and bring you today! How does that sound, hun?

"Uhhhh, ok...?"
Carmen said with relative indifference, grabbing a singular orange for the morning ahead.

Carmen never really rode in Gloria's car much, so she was never really familiar with the interior of it. She was surprised to see that the inside of Gloria's BMW was as pristine and spotless as could be, a far cry from the food stains and foul odours one would assume associated with a woman as grossly girthy as Gloria. This wasn't because of any chronic OCD by any means, but because of Carlos' incessant insisting over the years to instead drive Gloria anywhere she needed or wanted to be, allowing her to lounge about and munch on any snacks contained in the dashbox of his Chevy. You'd wonder why Carlos would go into all the trouble, but the result and reward of a fat, gluttonous, pampered wife quickly was more than worth all the time and effort he made.