Chapter 1

This started out as my brother’s story, and later became my own. But I’ll begin with my brother.

My brother, Tom, was an average kid growing up. He did fairly well in school and enjoyed playing baseball, football, soccer, and basketball – basically he was a jock. During this period of my brother’s life, I had little to do with him since I was his annoying younger sister. There was an eight-year age difference, so we had little in common other than we enjoyed sparring with each other on a daily basis.

It was when Tom was sixteen that our sparing disappeared. But, then so did he. His attention was pulled in another direction. He became totally enamored with a girl by the name of Nancy Roland. She was a leggy blonde cheerleader with huge breasts; sparkling green eyes, and had the IQ of a piece of toast. She seemed to be equally taken with my brother and fawned all over him. I mean he wasn’t the captain of the football team, but he was still a good player and was well liked by his peers. He was also strikingly handsome, although he didn’t seem to notice. He was just six feet tall, had rich black, wavy hair, hazel eyes, and a muscular build with broad shoulders.

He and Nancy went steady for about a year. They went everywhere together – to games, movies, and parties. Tom began to slack off in school and dropped out of most of his other activities at school to spend more time with Nancy. Just as everything seemed to be going well for Tom, the bottom fell out from under him.

Our father passed away that year suddenly from cancer. We had no idea. One minute he was fine, and then he was dead from an inoperable brain tumor. He and Tom were very close and it hit Tom hard.

Tom pushed everyone away from him for a time. His stupid girlfriend was too shallow to understand his feelings, and she began to put a lot of pressure on him to see to her needs. Tom also began to take a renewed interest in his schoolwork and began to excel especially in his math and business classes.

“I was the man of the house and had to make sure I could take care of all of us,” he told me later. “Getting a good education would pay off in the long run.”

He did spend more time with Nancy. As a result, he began skipping football practices, which got him thrown off the team. Tom was a bit upset, but decided that he wasn’t a good enough player to get a scholarship anyway. He continued to dig his heels into his schoolwork. This was when he began to have a problem with his weight.

Tom’s active lifestyle had made it easy to stay slim. He lifted weights, ran, and practiced whatever sport he was into at the time. His ravenous appetite never showed on his thin, muscular body. It did now.

Within three months of his layoff from the team, poor eating habits, inactivity, and his sweet tooth, he put on sixty pounds. Just as much as Nancy was concerned about her image, Tom was unconcerned about his. He continued to put on weight at an alarming rate. After he packed on another thirty pounds, Nancy gave him an ultimatum – either lose the weight or lose her. I was glad when Tom gave Nancy her walking papers. What a shrew!

Tom did get a full scholarship to a university in Green Bay and decided to major in finance. He did well and got top grades. His weight topped out, too. Tom blew up to 302 pounds. It was odd how his weight was distributed. It rested mainly in his belly which made it appear as if he had an over inflated beach ball under his skin tight t-shirt.

Tom’s new found weight didn’t seem to overly hamper him. He was still active. He walked, played racquetball and golf, and swam. The pounds stayed on since he would weekly meet up with his friends at a local family-owned Italian restaurant to drink beer and eat until he was ready to explode.

There were a few women Tom was interested in college. He had a winning personality and was very good looking despite the extra weight. Most women weren’t put off by it and he dated often. But, there was never anyone special after Nancy Roland.

After college, Tom was offered a good job at a top firm in New York City. He was very successful and soon moved into a one-bedroom apartment near Lincoln Center. He was able to indulge in custom made suits from a local tailor that agreed with his widening gut, which was put to the limit regularly with his sampling all the fine restaurants around the Big Apple.

As Tom wined and dined clients, he moved up through the company at a remarkable velocity. But, then again so did his weight. Tom ballooned to over 400 pounds. His belly looked as if it had been inflated regularly with helium and protruded over his belt - a bulbous orb