A very filling day

chapter 1

It was a Friday morning, and I was finishing up a repair. Everything about the robot worked, but the drive chain was worn. Not having anything in the shop or on the truck, I headed over to the neighboring town to the farm supply store. I could have ordered it or found another store, but I had a reason to go. On the way, I stopped at their auto parts store and found a very low profile socket set, which saved me a visit to the Internet.

It was lunch time by the time I left there, so I started looking for a place to eat. I pulled in to the parking lot of the Golden Buffet. Between the fish, roast beef, corn, chicken, pulled pork, green beans, and hush puppies, I cleared about 3 plates and finished with a bowl of ice cream. I left feeling full, but surprised that I could have probably eaten more.

I made my way to the farm supply store, pulled in the parking lot, and shut off the engine. As I stepped out of the truck, I saw her leaning against a column in front of the store, smiling. I had seen here there before, but hadn’t had much communication other than paying for things. She was probably about 5’ 6” and rather petite. She started the conversation.

“Going shopping today?”

“Yeah, I need to get some drive chain to finish a repair.”

“We should have that…”

“Are you on break?”

“Sort of… We’ve had a couple people call off, so I volunteered to work a split shift. Now I’ve got four hours before I have to be back. I was just standing here trying to figure out what I want for lunch since I didn’t have much before I came here and now I’m staying later.”

She seemed to be trying to get up the courage to ask, “If you aren’t in a hurry, maybe we could get something to eat?”

As I responded that I had just had something to eat, I thought I saw a flash of disappointment, so I added, “I think I could eat some more, though… Did you have somewhere in mind?”

“I feel like I’m starving, so I thought maybe the Golden Buffet…”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll get the chain when we get back.”

It was a short trip back to the Golden Buffet.
The cashier raised her eyebrow when we walked up to the counter, but I just shrugged my shoulders, paid, and we sat down.

We talked and ate. I made a couple trips through the buffet. On her second trip through, she got some fish and hush puppies.

After taking a bite, she said, “I guess I should have tried this before I got three pieces. I’ll just set it here for them to pick up, unless you want it. I’m going back up for a piece of chicken.”

“Slide it over. I’ll eat it before I have some chocolate pudding.”

She got up to get some chicken and I started on the fish and hush puppies. She came back with a couple pieces of chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, and green beans. A different plate was set in front of me.

“I got you some chocolate pudding while I was up. I didn’t see any bowls there, so I put it on a plate…”

“Thanks…”, I said. As I finished the last 2 hush puppies, I surveyed the mound of chocolate pudding on the plate. I pulled the plate over.

“I think I should have worn a larger shirt”, I said looking down at my belly filling out my shirt. The buttons hadn’t begun to gap open, but if I raised my arms up, I bet the shirt would have stayed up.

“You’re fine”, she said, “I think I’ll have room for one more plate after this one before I get dessert.”

She finished off her plate while I was working on the pudding. Her third plate had a bigger piece of chicken, some roast beef, potatoes, and carrots. As she came back to the table, I could see that she was starting to get full, though no where near as full as my belly. We ate and talked a bit more.

Though it felt like the pudding kept refilling the plate, I eventually came to the end. She had slowed down by the time she finished the plate, and her belly was more noticeable. Her shirt had been looser when she started, but had rounded out a bit by the end.

“Well, I guess I’ll go get some ice cream to finish.”

I waited for her to come back to the table. I was glad the robot was on a lift table, since bending over was probably out of the picture for a while.

She came back with two plates, setting one down in front of me.

“I got you some ice cream, too. You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.”

Her plate had a piece of cake along with the ice cream. I couldn’t just let her eat alone…

Somehow, I managed finish my ice cream. It had some sprinkles and chocolate syrup, too. She made it through the piece of cake and part of the ice cream before she stopped.

“That’s all I’ve got”, she said. “Are you done?”

I replied, “Yes. I’m hoping I can scoot around to get out of this table.”

As we got up to go, the effects of dinner were plain to see. My shirt buttons just started to pucker open. I had to lean forward a little as I walked. Her belly had pushed up her shirt just a little bit, showing a sliver of skin between her shirt and belt.

As we sat in the truck, she reached over and poked my belly.

“Did you get enough to eat?”, she said.

“Yes, I think so.”

“That’s good.”

“I just hope I can make it through the store to buy some drive chain.”

It was a short trip back to the store. I made it through without incident, though I saw a couple people staring. I bought the drive chain, and she walked with me to the front.

“We close up at 9”, she said, “if you want, maybe we could catch a movie?”

“Yes, that will be fine. I’ll stay away from any wafer thin mints between now and then.”

It wasn’t real far back to the shop, so I headed back. I surveyed the damage from my early dinner. Between our conversation and watching her eat, I had been distracted and not payed attention to the full feeling. I was quite full, when I sat down, the material around the buttons on my shirt pulled a little. When I reached up to get a box off a shelf, my shirt did stay up, showing the lower part of my belly. When my screwdriver rolled off the table, I used a pickup tool to get it so I wouldn’t have to bend over.

I finished the repair, showered, and put on fresh clothes – a better pair of pants and a shirt that wasn’t as tight but wasn’t too loose. Moving around had eased the tension in my belly, but I still looked full.

I arrived back at the store a few minutes before closing and waited for her to come out. The lights went out, and I stepped around the truck.

“You didn’t have to change clothes…”

“Actually, I did… I’m not used to being so full, and got grease on the front of my shirt when I got too close. Is that a new shirt you have on?”

“Yeah. I spilled Coke on myself a little while ago, and got this t-shirt. I didn’t realize it was a fitted t-shirt until I put in on right before I came out. Maybe I should have gotten another one.”

It was a fitted t-shirt. She was still full from lunch as I could tell by the way her belly rounded out in front. Though she pulled it down, the t-shirt kept riding back up to around her belly button, leaving a bit of flesh sticking out over the top of her pants.

“You look great to me”, I said.

“Thanks… Well, I guess we’d better head to the theater.”

It was close to time for the movie to start, so I bought the tickets while she wandered over to the snack bar. I got two tickets, and she got two drinks and a giant bucket of popcorn. I noticed as we entered the theater that there were many empty seats.

I should have taken that as a sign. The movie was a flop – very little action, politically driven plot, and wooden acting. It paved the way for mindless eating as we slowly drained the bucket of popcorn. As we reached the half-way point, she brought out a large box of chewy candy, opened it, and started eating some of it. I kept going with the popcorn, and periodically, she would stick a piece of the candy in my mouth.

I couldn’t tell you the name of the movie or even part of the lame plot. By the end, my thoughts were directed to whether I was going to pop. I looked over, and she looked like she was three months pregnant.

We didn’t even stay for the very end of the movie. We slowly made our way to the truck and got in.

“Looks like we both better stay away from wafer thin mints for a while…”, she said.

“Definitely.”, I replied.

I drove back to the farm store.

“If you’re not busy tomorrow, maybe we could do something…”, I said.

“I’m off tomorrow, so yes. Here’s my number.”

She slid out of the truck, and slowly walked to her car.

We parted ways.

Until tomorrow…