chapter1

It was August when Leo's old friends came and stayed with us. Leo, Henry and I shared an apartment not too far from the university. We were about to start a new semester of grad school. I was dating Leo at the time, but it was more of an open relationship rather than a serious one. We were poor; we barely could make rent some months. So when Leo told me that two of his old friends from Argentina were going to be staying with us for a couple nights, I was a little annoyed. "One of them will have to sleep on the couch" I said, "While the other has to sleep on the floor."

"That's okay" Leo said, "They're used to that lifestyle."

"What do they do?"

"They're poets."

I laughed.

And they're just doing some travelling. I owe them, so I said I could keep them here for a while. I think what's going on is that Miguel is in town trying to find a girl he used to know. Her parents are from this city and he think she might be here. It's really important to him."

I rolled my eyes. Poets; like that was a real occupation these days.

Miguel was a skinny, long-haired kid who didn't talk much and spent most of his time sulking. Even though I wasn't happy about them being our guests, I made sure we treated them well, so I made sure they were fed and had comfortable accommodations. Henry had some culinary experience that he put to good use with the little cash we had. Miguel's friend's name was Tony. He had a short beard and glasses, and in contrast to Miguel, was rather plump. He was definitely the more extroverted of the two. I liked him right off the bat.

A "couple nights" turned into a couple of weeks. I was a light sleeper and usually needed to get up during the night to go to the bathroom and get a drink of water. Miguel slept on the living room couch while Tony slept on some blankets on the floor. Miguel was a snorer but Tony wasn't as bad. Sometimes I could hear talking when I woke up in the night; in which case I stayed clear of the living room. The two were rather mysterious. We made small talk but I still didn't know much about them.

This was a hard time for me and Leo. He became grumpy. He was worried about money. Miguel spent all day sulking and visiting people looking for this girl. Tony, at least, was writing or looking for work. "Those guys just sit around and eat all of our food. Especially Tony, he's so fat. If they weren't such old friends I would kick them out by now."

It was true. Tony ate a lot. And his clothes were too small, in addition to not having very many. One day he told me he had found some part time work editing some lady's local magazine. How he could find work like that, I don't know. But after he started making that money, he started buying food. And then he started snacking more. I was fascinated by his eating. I started keeping track of what he ate every day, and it was nearly double what Leo or I ate. I soon realized that I was obsessed by his widening girth. I could not stop thinking about it.