chapter 28 jason makes some changes

Now that Elaine was so huge she could not or would not get out of bed, Jason lost interest in her. He'd done the same thing when his wife had reached the same size. Now Sarah had slimmed down to a size twelve. She had to take supplements just to stay healthy because her body couldn't not absorb them properly from her tiny stomach and shortened bowel.
He had also slimmed down. He was no longer the fit triathlete he'd once been, but he went to the gym, he was reasonably fit and trim.
He loved his wife. He felt guilty about forcing her to eat so much and gain all that weight.
After a great deal of deliberation, he proposed to her again. They renewed their vows on the Greek island of Cos in a quiet private ceremony. They composed their own vows. The word 'obey' was left out althogether.
But Jason felt there was something missing in his life. He tried to fill the gap by doing more exercise and restricting his calories. The release of endorphins post work out was good, but it would not satisfy the hunger within him. He was always hungry, from the minute he woke up to when he went to bed.
He realised it was the hunger that was making him unhappy. It made him short tempered and argumentative. What would happen if he satisfied that hunger? Would his moods improve? He knew he would probably gain a bit of weight, he would gave to exercise more to compensate. He was willing to try it, as a psychological experiment.
He didn't tell Sarah to start with. He didn't want her to start worry about him when really there was nothing to worry about, he had this under control.
The first thing he did was at work. People were always bringing treats in to share. Home baked cakes and biscuits, scones, pies and sweets.
He would just have one, or one slice. It was no more than other people had, but it was more than he'd eat before.
If he fancied a biscuit to dunk in his coffee, he would have one, or even two rich teas or plain digestives. He soon found them uninteresting and bought his own supply of chocolate hobnobs.
If he was peckish in the middle of a shift, he'd buy a small packet of crisps from the snack machine to eat.
If he was hungry on his way home, he'd buy a chocolate bar and eat that.
They were not big changes, but he forgot to increase his exercise regime to compensate. He put on a couple of pounds. He knew he had, but he did not think a couple of pounds would make that much difference to his overall health.
Sarah had noticed a change in his moods. He did not snap at her any longer. He had more patience too. She had always loved him, but she loved the mellower Jason much more. She had no idea that he had been less strict with himself and now gave in to tempting snacks and had slowed down on his exercise. He still ate the same things at home as he always did.
Their roles in the house had changed since Sarah had come home from hospital. Jason no longer expected her to sit around all day doing nothing. They worked the household chores out between them. They took turns in cooking, shopping and other such mundane things. Sarah had got herself another job. The future looked bright.
Then, Elaine got ill. She had an infection in a sore that had developed in her leg through not moving enough. The infection had spread to the rest of her body. She was hallucinating and everthing.
Sarah watched as the paramedics struggled to get her down the stairs and into the special extra wide ambulance that transported her to hospital.
She knew what it was like to be so huge. She knew how it repulsed the nurses and how humiliating it was for others to have to do the simplest things for you. Jason did not seem interested at all, so she visited her. She tried to visit every other day, just to keep her feeling positive. Treating the infection alone was not enough for the doctors. They could not bear her to go home and be in the same position in a few weeks when she developed another sore. They found she was diabetic, her blood pressure was raised. Her cholesterol was raised. They were all issues directly related to her weight and her diet. They told her she HAD to lose weight or she would die.
Sarah helped her to comply with the treatment. She could be rehabilitated. It was possible to lose weight and feel better about herself.
Jason missed having Sarah around when he came home from work. He made himself feel less lonely by treating himself with food. He might give himself an extra potato, an extra knob if butter, an extra slice or two of meat.
When he did the shopping, he found himself browsing the cake aisle for delicious sweet treats that he could have when Sarah was out. Anyway, he thought to himself, he deserved a reward for doing all the shopping in the first place.
He gradually replaced all the low fat foods in the store cupboard with their standard versions. Butter was so much nicer than low fat spread. Whole milk actually tasted of something. Skimmed tasted like water that had been turned white.
He was fed up of boring sandwiches and salads for lunch when he was at work. So he started to throw his packed lunch in the bin and go out of the office for something to eat.
Fast food was all right, but he had an hour for lunch, which was more than enough time to sample the local restaurants, especially if he could telephone his order ahead of his arrival.
At first, he would just eat a small meal. A baked potato with a tasty filling, a piece of quiche, that kind of thing.
But then again, why didn't he go the whole hog? Sarah would never know. He would work his extra dinner off in the gym. It would be fine. So he justified a restaurant dinner every day at lunchtime. Of course a restaurant dinner was not complete without a dessert.
In the evening, when Sarah was home, he pretended he'd made do with his packed lunch and put away his second dinner of the day.
Of course, his indulgences had their effect on his figure. He was starting to lose his muscle definition and fill out. He thought about reining in his appetite again, but he was actually enjoying the freedom of being able to eat what he liked. He didn't mind putting on a little weight. He hated being skinny. But he didn't know what Sarah would think, so he kept his extracurricular eating secret for now.
He didn't want her to know how much weight he was putting on. He refused to let her see him naked. He got ready for bed in the bathroom. He bought new shirts and trousers when the old ones started to get a little tight.
Before he got ready in the bathroom, he would check himself out in the mirror. He had not just filled out and lost muscle definition. He was starting to develop a little paunch. He knew he should have been horrified. The sight of his tiny pot belly should be enough to send him straight to the gym, but it didn't. He liked it, he was proud of it. He knew he shouldn't feel thus way, but he wanted to see it grow bigger!
At work, he analysed his thoughts over coffee and half a dozen chocolate hobnobs. Was there something the matter with him?
First he'd fattened his wife up to immense proportions. Then, Elaine had tricked him into gaining weight, but he'd lost it. Then he'd made Elaine huge. Now, was he starting on himself again? Why was he doing it? Why did he enjoy watching people grow bigger and bigger? Why did he lose interest when they became so huge that they couldn't no longer care for themselves?He could not answer his own questions. The thought came into his head about going back to the gym and eating a healthy diet again. It sounded like too much like hard work.
He enjoyed his coffee more when he had a biscuit to dunk in it. He would have to give that up if he went back on a diet. He enjoyed leaving the office at lunchtime and sitting down to a proper meal. He'd found a pub a few streets away that served very substantial lunches. He tried to restrict his visits there to once a week because the portion sizes were so huge that he struggled to get through them and he did not want to get used to feeling so full all the time. He didn't need a pudding or a starter when your main meal was so big!
Then again, what would happen if he did go to that pub every day for lunch? Would he get used to eating so much? Would he want to eat more?
He decided to try it out, in the interests of science!