Rolling meadows

Chapter 4 - Welcome to Rolling Meadows

As we all filed in, I looked around at my fellow study participants and if I hadn’t known why we were all here, it could have been mistaken for a work conference. There were many reasonably young people, some dressed nicer than others, but overall entirely unremarkable in terms of other demographics. Waiting in a chair on a makeshift stage at the front of the room was Dr. Carter, the same woman who had ultimately enrolled me in the study. She was looking severely over our group as we all shuffled in. Beside her were two other people. One was a shapely woman with a Mediterranean complexion, the other a tall, dark man with a well-trimmed beard that had the slightest bit of grey in it. I couldn’t help but fantasize over him for a moment until Mae sidled up next to me and gave me a little bump with her hip.
“Hey there babes, wanna sit together?” she cooed while guiding us towards some seats. I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice so I went along with her. All in all, there were probably about 100 people filling the seats in the room and there was some mingling among the participants until Dr. Carter stepped up to the microphone at the front and called for everyone to take their seats.
“Good afternoon, good afternoon. My name is Roseanne Carter, and I would like to personally welcome you to Central City University’s landmark longitudinal weight gain study. As the lead of this study, I am so beyond pleased that you all agreed to join. This cannot happen without all of you, and I look forward to seeing how well our time together progresses. Here with me, as some of you have already met, are my colleagues, Dr. Evi Galatas and Dr. Christopher Austin. Each of us will be checking in with you as the study progresses. We all want to make sure that you fulfil the goals of the study, and we wouldn’t want any of you falling away. Now, a few logistical pieces: after this introduction, please go to the main dining hall, where there will be a couple final bits of paperwork to fill out, and where you will receive your Rolling Meadows ID cards. These will allow you 24/7 access to all the communal facilities here, such as the dining hall, gym, and apartments. They will serve as your keys, so please do be careful not to lose them. While designing the study and living facilities, we wanted to ensure that every possible lifestyle was accounted for. As such, we decided to make all the facilities open 24/7, just in case you get the 2AM munchies or want to go for an early morning swim. Now, without further ado, please go to the dining hall for the conclusion of our introduction. As you leave you will be assigned a group. Please stay with your group for the remainder of the day. Thank you!”
With that, the group started to file out and towards the dining hall. As everyone entered, there was a murmur of excitement as eyes were laid on the glory and splendor of the place. It was a light and airy hall with several stations set up for custom made food, as well as what appeared to be a long buffet, surely to be stocked with the most fattening of foods. In front of this was a sort of check in station, where everyone was to fill out a couple of final registration forms and have an ID photo taken. I stepped into line, and right behind me was a familiar face.
“Ryan?” I asked the man behind me.
“Oh, wow, Autumn! I didn’t expect you to be here. What are you doing here? Did you join this study too?”
“No, I just wandered in. Of course I joined. But you did too?”
The conversation continued between Ryan Peterson, a junior accounts manager at Central City Finances, the same office where I was working. Our teams had worked together on a couple of projects, so we had some working rapport. I had always thought of him as kind of cute, but never thought of him as the kind of person who would get fat. In fact, I distinctly remember him talking about his workout regimen with some of our colleagues. Definitely not the kind of person who seemed like he would want to bulk in any way other than muscularly. I got to the front of the line, promising to meet up with him later on. I did all I needed to for registration and was issued an ID card with a little photo of myself on it. I wondered if I would be able to recognize my face after all this was over. Regardless, I was informed that I was to meet with my assigned doctor for the preliminary checkup and assessment.