Chapter 57 - the women of their dreams: part 3

130.
As she saw where Caroline was headed, Faye's waddle slowed. Up ahead, a crowd had gathered around a somewhat flimsily constructed stage. They were watching, spellbound, as a familiar young woman flew across its creaking boards. With her red-brown hair flowing around her and her powerful yet lithe body moving with a captivating intensity, Martha was a sight to behold. The girl was dancing with a vigour unlike anything Faye had ever seen.

For a moment, the fiery-haired girl too was spellbound. But then her attention drifted to the crowd, to all those people gathered there, and she took a step back, instinctively moving a couple of inches closer to her boyfriend.

"Come on, dear," said Caroline, turning to face the fiery-haired fatty.

"I don't know," said Faye.

The impressive, middle-aged woman raised a commanding eyebrow. "You did promise to help out, didn't you?"

"Well," said Faye, nervously shifting her weight from one foot to another, "I guess..."

"Then hurry up. We haven't got all day."

Faye hesitated a moment longer. Then, slowly, she set off, panting as she struggled to catch up with the older woman.

Walking by her side, Niall put a hand on the fiery-haired girl's plush shoulder. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to. You know that, right?"

"Yeah," nodded Faye, "but I did agree to help out. And anyway, I think I'll be fine."

"Well, if you say so, I guess," shrugged Niall.

Following a fair bit behind Caroline, Faye tried as best she could to squeeze through the crowd. But it did not prove as easy for her as it had for the far thinner woman. No matter how much care she took, her bulging body was constantly bumping into people. With her every step there came a grunt from a member of the crowd.

"Watch where you're going, ***," said a tall, matronly woman in her thirties as Fayes's billowing apron of a belly bumped her aside. As the fiery-haired girl turned to apologise her squishy, square shelf butt knocked a lightly built man, who had been standing beside her, off his feet. Before the girl could turn about again, causing yet more havoc, Niall put his arm around her sagging back rolls.

"Come on," he said as he guided his girthy girlfriend through the crowd towards the direction in which Caroline had vanished.

"There you are," said the tall, middle-aged woman once Faye had finally caught up.

She was standing, with her daughter by her side, by the railing at the edge of the stage, a rather fragile-looking barrier separating the enchanting Martha from her onlookers below. As Faye emerged from the crowd, Lettie's eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open in much the same way her mother's had only a few minutes ago. Though she seemed every bit as overwhelmed at the sight of the fiery-haired girl's girth as Caroline had been, there was not a hint of horror on her face.

"Faye," she said at last, smiling with astonished enthusiasm as she swiftly collected herself, "it, um, it sure has been a while."

"Yeah," said Faye, looking nervously towards the gorgeous, golden-haired goddess. "I guess it has."

"So," said Lettie as she threw her arms around the fiery-haired ball of flesh, "what have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know," Faye shrugged, "not much."

"No," said Lettie, squeezing the flabby, fiery-haired girl's soft, squishy arm, "I guess not. Looks like life at the bakery's been good to you, though," she teased, poking her finger into Faye's sagging midsection.

The fiery-haired girl smiled. "Yeah," she nodded, "yeah it has."

The music Martha had been dancing to stopped. As the Amazonian woman headed offstage to the sound of wild applause, Faye found herself faced with yet another wide-eyed stare.

"Is that..." stammered the lean, muscular girl.

"Yeah," nodded Lettie.

As her gaze travelled down Faye's bloated body, along all her layers of soft, shaking fat, Martha's upper lip curled with disgust.

"Dear god, girl," she erupted before stopping to think, "what have you done to yourself!?"

"Oh, come now," said Lettie, giving her friend's firm arm a light slap, "none of that. Be nice."

"Yeah, ok, sorry," Martha let out a sigh. "But really, you might want to try staying off the snacks for a bit."

As Martha had descended from the stage, Caroline Kincaid had stepped up in her place, a microphone in her hand.

"Martha Williams, everybody! Isn't she something?"

Another round of applause followed.

"And now, friends and neighbours," continued the slender, middle-aged woman, "it's time for something special. Our next contestant for the title of 'the Dancing Queen of Caulbury' is none other than my own daughter: Lettie Kincaid! Give her a big hand, everybody, as she steps up to show us what she's got."

"Sorry," said Lettie, flashing Faye an apologetic smile, "I've got to go."

The crowd dutifully cheered and applauded as the music started up and Lettie stepped onto the stage.

Faye watched as the golden-haired girl started to dance. Lettie knew her stuff, of that there was no doubt. As she started to move, leaping and spinning across the stage to the rhythm of the music, Faye was awed. The girl had obviously been training for years. Her form was almost perfect. With her elegance and her natural charisma, she was simply spellbinding. As she looked out across the crowd, Faye could tell that the golden-haired girl had worked her magic on them. They were all watching in silent astonishment. Taken aback at the skill and beauty that, in this moment, made her appear as more than an ordinary mortal.

Though she appreciated the golden-haired girl's obvious skill, Faye wasn't as captivated as the rest of them. She hadn't had much cause to call on it of late, but she still had an almost instinctive understanding of the art of dancing buried somewhere deep within her, under all her many layers of laziness and gluttony. As she watched Lettie, noting, as though she couldn't help it, all the minute flaws in her technique, a certain hint of longing crept into the fiery-haired girl's eyes. It'd been such a long time since she'd last danced.

As she studied the graceful way in which Lettie was moving her body, she remembered, for the first time in a long time, the joy that dancing had used to bring her. The flurry of excitement with which it'd filled her body. It'd used to be her life. She'd used to take such pleasure in the simple act of moving her slender limbs, in the perfect control that she'd used to have over them.

For the first time in a long time, Faye felt some hint of that strange sense of clarity that dancing had used to bring her. Without quite realising it, her fingers drifted to her old ring. She tried to tug at it, to get it to move, but it was stuck tight, wedged in place between oozing pillows of her own flesh. As she tried to budge it, a wave of excruciating pain ran through her swollen finger.

"Are you alright?" asked Niall as his girlfriend flinched.

"Yeah," nodded Faye, the memory of the pain already leaving her mind. "I think so, I was just, um, thinking."

"Oh really," said Niall, smiling fondly. "What about?"

"Nothing, really," Faye let out a sigh.

As Lettie finished her performance, Caroline was beaming with pride. The crowd, which had been standing in rapped silence only a few seconds ago, now broke into wild applause.

"So," said Lettie as she approached Faye, "what did you think?"

"You were gorgeous," said the fiery-haired girl, a wistful smile on her face.

"And now, for our next contestant," called Caroline once the applause had died down. "An enigmatic girl who hasn't been seen around here much of late, but I'm sure she'll put on quite a show. I give you: Faye, from the bakery!"