Lauren closed and then opened her eyes in the dark, tossing and turning as she felt the presence of another underneath her skin. The Other taunted her because she was stupid to believe the information she was putting together. “It’s easy to convince yourself of somebody else’s guilt, if you don't have all the facts,” she heard the Other say.
Lying between sheets of doubt, she drifted in and out of the light coming through the half-open door.
Lauren slit the throat of the Other, who prevented her from acting. There was no killing her. She became angry. Riding the waves of anger and loneliness, she saw a young woman standing with her fists over Amy through the crack in the door.
"I can't help you all the time, Anne. You've got to understand, my pension is small."
"Stop eating so much then. How can I expect to get any money from you if you eat all the time?"
Lauren’s eyes became more focused than her ears. She stared at the purple jeans covering Anne's skinny bottom. They reminded her of the Calvin Kleins she wore. For a second she thought Anne had stolen them. She touched her own bottom and discovered she was still wearing her jeans.
"I can't do this anymore!" Amy exclaimed.
Her voice sounded desperate, but Lauren didn’t know what to feel for either Anne or Amy. Were they performing this scene for her sake?
"I'm your daughter!" the young woman yelled. She slapped Amy several times to remind her of the rôle mothers were supposed to play as martyrs.
"You didn't come out of my womb. You were incubated like most, but the original buyers felt they had been sold a defective product. Besides, the warranty on you had run out. They kept you as long as they could. The Company couldn't take back a product that had been altered by time. The buyers threw you in the Dump of Defective Beings. That's where I found you. You were so thin and so dirty I felt my heart break. I brought you home and adopted you."
"Another of your likely stories! I don't remember you adopting me. I've always been your daughter. You're trying to get rid of me. You just don't want to give me my money. And I know how much you hate me! I've looked at your will while you were stuffing yourself at COWS, U.S.A. I'm not even in it! How can you sit there and smile like a stupid sow when you're denying me my future?"
"I'm leaving everything to the poorly incubated fetuses of the New World!" Amy exclaimed.
"Why? Why are you so stupid, Mother? I'm poorly incubated myself, and I deserve all your money," the young woman's hands took control of themselves, tearing tufts of Amy's hair and throwing them in her face.
Amy's features were not visible to Lauren. She couldn't imagine anything other than a stoic and inured smile with lips pursed in irony.
Why was Amy not defending herself? Was she one of those Christian martyrs Lauren had heard of but never met? How could she turn the other cheek to such an ungrateful egg that needed more time to incubate?
For a second, Lauren was inspired by the abuse played out by daughter against mother. The Other wanted her to get up and go to the defense of Amy. Lauren was tired and told the Other to mind her own business. 'Let them sort out their dirty laundry!' she thought, and closed her eyes.
The Other, however, wasn't about to give up. She called Lauren a coward for not wanting to help a woman who had taken her in.
"Why should I help her when I'm going to cut her heart out tonight?" The Other sank under the sheets and shut her mouth, leaving Lauren to her own devices.
The young woman stopped begging for the money owed her, took Amy's purse and dug out a large wad of money. She threw several bills in Amy’s face and said, "You should be grateful I don't let you starve! I am a kind person, but you just bring out so many bad feelings. You're toxic, Mother! You need help."
As Anne turned away from Amy, Lauren got a good look at her face. The young woman had high cheekbones, a broken nose, and peacock feathers for eyebrows. Lauren thought she looked like her, but it wasn't her. She could have been Irene, Isabella, or any other girl off the street. Besides, she was in bed, and the girl was named Anne. Lauren didn't think she could ever be such a bitch to her own mother.
The front door closed and reopened.
A tall, thin man came into the room and embraced Amy with his large dirty hands. He was wearing rags, and his skeletal fingers had the looks of rakes. What was the village gravedigger doing in Fat City? Here, with Amy MacGregor? And why did she allow such a filthy man to caress her cheeks and hair?
Amy called the man Phil, but no matter how many times his name came out of her mouth, Lauren saw no resemblance between the man and her dad. And what would her dad be doing here now unless he was looking for her to apologize for having kicked her out into this world?
The gravedigger kissed Amy on the lips, which Lauren found disgusting because neither of them looked like anyone she had ever seen on the screen. How could they put their lips together in front of her? She hoped they didn't strip and copulate before her very eyes. She would rather be blind than see a grossly obese woman naked in the arms of a dirty gravedigger! She closed her eyes tight to black out the light. She wished for this scene to be over and for those two odd creatures to vanish.
But no matter how hard she concentrated on her wish, the gravedigger and Amy remained seated next to one another. He listened to her complain about Anne, who was unripe as a sour apple that needed more time to realize her own nature.
The gravedigger kissed Amy on the lips and left the room. The front door closed again.
A phone rang in the distance. Lauren opened her eyes and saw she was no longer in bed, but in a field of yellow orcharosamums. Two little girls were trying to tear the flowers out of the ground. Lauren picked the girls up and told them the orcharosamums belonged to her alone because she had named them. She placed the girls up in an apple tree from which they couldn't climb down.
The little girls cried for their mothers, but Lauren ignored them and walked towards the ringing phone, which was in the center of the orcharosamums. She picked up the cell and said, "Lauren speaking!" All she could hear was a dial tone. The phone rang again, and she answered "Lauren speaking!" Again there was only a dial tone. Tired of being toyed with, she threw the phone into the field as far as she could. The phone kept ringing as the little girls ripening on the branch yelled, "It's our mommy calling."
Lauren walked away from the tree.
She opened her eyes, thinking the phone was still ringing. She tossed and turned, needing to pee. Warm between the sheets, she tried to hold it as long as she could, but she was forced to get up.
Half asleep, Lauren rushed into the bathroom, pulled her pants off and sat down. As she did, she heard a voice say, "I was here first." She shrieked, jumped and pulled her pants up. She was horrified to see Amy sitting naked on the toilet seat.
The sight of her body and its fold of flesh reminded Lauren of a giant walrus. Disgusted, she started to run out. But before she could take the first step away from herself, Amy's hand wrapped itself around her wrist and pulled Lauren close to her bosom.
"Let go of me!" Lauren yelled and pulled.
Amy told her to shut up and to have a good look at her huge sagging breasts, stretch marks and veins, and small nipples that had never felt a baby's mouth. She made her touch her breast to see how heavy it was and what a burden it was to carry everywhere she went. She made her feel her belly and the folds beneath it.
"I know how you look at me, Lauren. I must be an ugly sight, probably the ugliest sight you've ever seen in your life. It's only flesh, just like yours!"
Lauren struggled to free herself. Amy let go and Lauren returned to bed, frightened. She opened her eyes, her heart beating hard and fast. She thought she'd had a nightmare. There was no way she could ever get as obese as Amy MacGregor. Her flesh was different.
She still needed to pee, but didn't get up for fear Amy might still be sitting on the toilet. She crossed her legs and hoped she could hold it until morning, when she thought it would be safe to use the bathroom. But Lauren's bladder was more powerful than the fear of finding herself face to face with Amy. She ran to the bathroom, sat down and felt a relief throughout her body and mind. She was alone on the toilet seat.
Lauren reminded herself why she had come to Fat City. To find Amy MacGregor, cut out her heart and leave with it as quickly as possible. She decided she had all the facts necessary to overcome her hesitation. There was no room for doubt. Otherwise, she would be stuck with Amy forever.
Without moral reservation, Lauren walked into the dark kitchen, pulled a knife out of the drawer, and went straight into Amy’s den. The room snored as Amy breathed. As the knife touched Amy’s right breast, an invisible hand grasped her wrist, and the light came on.
"What do you think you're doing?" Amy asked.
The woman pushing the knife from her chest didn't look anything like the 'walrus' she had sat on in the bathroom. This woman had fiery red hair and was as beautiful as any model Lauren wanted to become.
"You're not her," Lauren said, confused by the sight of what she thought was beauty. She dropped the knife.
"I'm not what?" the beautiful skin with red hair asked.
"You're not Amy MacGregor."
"Everyone I know is named Amy MacGregor."
"I'm not!"
"That's why I don't know you. So, what are you doing with a butter knife?"
"I was going to cut out the other Amy MacGregor's heart."
"With a butter knife? Do you know how painful that would be?"
"No."
"If you want to do the job, you should use something sharper than this. And why were you aiming at my right breast?"
"To hit your heart."
"Before you kill someone and cut out her heart, you should know where it's located. It's on the left side."
"I know that. I'm not stupid, you know."
"I know you're not, but before you kill anyone else in vain, you'd better get your facts straight."
"If I had known it was you in this bed, I wouldn't have tried to stab you."
"Why?"
"Because you're beautiful."
"Beautiful women are capable of the most heinous crimes, Lauren. I'm the one who stole your dad's heart. I guess you had better take it back. Here, take this knife. Watch you don't cut yourself! Hit my left breast hard," the beautiful woman said calmly.
Lauren stood dumbfounded with a large double-bladed knife, unable to move her arm.
"You've got to believe in what you believe, to be able to kill. I think your quest lies somewhere else," the beautiful woman said.
The light went out. The room resumed its snoring. Lauren walked backwards into the kitchen, put the butter knife back in the drawer. She returned to bed, where the Other lying next to her applauded her actions. Unable to bear any sort of compliment from someone so close to her, she slapped the Other unconscious and went back to sleep.
Lauren was being shaken out of the tree to which she had retreated. Up on her favorite branch, hidden in the aroma of apple blossoms, she felt safe.
The shaking continued as she held on tightly to the branch. She kicked her feet to keep invisible hands from pulling her down.
"Wake up! You can't stay in this room for the rest of your life," she heard someone say.
She cracked her eyes open. Amy was demanding she get up. Lauren wanted to return to her tree and sit on a branch like the cat she had been in her dream. As she was about to drop back to sleep, Amy's hand pulled her up, dragged her into the kitchen, and plopped her into a chair. When Lauren’s eyes adjusted to the bright kitchen light, she saw how dark it was outside the window.
"It's still night," she said.
"It's always night in Fat City, but at least the moon's always full," a woman said next to her.
Instead of asking why it was never day or why the sun never shined on this part of the New World, she suddenly noticed five women looking very much like Amy, except that each of them was a size smaller from one another.
The five women were smiling at her. She wondered if they had lost their mind because of the food they ate.
"I'm sorry, girls. This is Lauren. She's staying with me until she figures things out.”
"Hi, Lauren!" the five women greeted her, each introducing herself as Amy MacGregor.
"Why do you all have the same name?" Lauren asked.
"We all aspire to be like her!" they exclaimed together, pointing to the original Amy who was cooking them breakfast: eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and strawberry jelly.
"That smells good, Amy!" the five women said in unison.
Amy put the food before her friends and took a seat next to Lauren. All six Amy MacGregors filled their plates and began eating slowly. Lauren took one piece of bacon and nibbled on it.
The five women looked at her and said, "Don't be shy, dear. Eat more than that or you'll die of starvation."
"Don't force her to eat if she doesn't want to," Amy said.
"Let's get down to business!" the five women cried out, with the fervor of revolutionaries ready to riot for reforms.
Although the five women spoke all at once, they didn't miss a word or hesitate in their talk. It was as if they had rehearsed their speech in chorus or were so in tune with one another, they spoke the same language. The five women spoke while Amy listened. Lauren didn't know why they had to speak at all since they were saying the same boring thing.
These women were political, ready to defend the rights of all obese beings, and weren't about to be bullied by the boys in power.
Senators with anorexic wives decreed that fat people were eating themselves to death and were a detriment to the nation's health and wealth. Obese people were contagious and had to be stopped from consuming the New World's resources.
At first small measures were taken to prevent men and women in Fat City (the name existed before fat became popular) from gorging themselves to death. Taxes were passed on foods that contained more than 20% fat content. Chips, candies, hot dogs, burgers, steaks, pork, rinds, cakes, pies and other foods suddenly became criminalized.
Eateries not in compliance with the strict dietary guidelines set by the Adipose Commission, were doubly fined. In spite of the high price of lard-laden foods, COWS, U.S.A. flourished by doing a booming business in beef, which baffled the buffoons in WC.
Determined to trim the fat off its people, the country's representatives decided almost unanimously to take drastic measures. That is why the Amy MacGregors were meeting this morning.
"I didn't mind paying a tax on fat, but now they want to weigh us all and tax us. I will not give the government an ounce of my flesh!" they said in unison.
Lauren was surprised to hear the government of the New World had nothing more serious to do than to weigh people to exact a tax from them. She felt the idea was stupid and unfair, even though she found fat repulsive.
"I'm with you!" Lauren cried out, carried away by the unfair practices of a government that had lost the key to the Constitution.
"Welcome to the Fat Freedom Movement, Lauren!" the five women exclaimed.
"Well done, Lauren!" Amy Macgregor said with joy, as she hugged her.
The women grabbed their signs. Amy took Lauren by the hand, and they all descended into the street, which was filled with masses of protesters. Their bodies formed a fluid swell of flesh.
Lauren and the women joined the sea of protest, waving signs and yelling, "Meat is what we eat!" "Fat Cats don't kill mice!" "Hell no, we won't pay!"
Lauren liked the slogan "Fat Cats don't kill mice!" even though mice didn't rhyme with cats. She replaced mice with bats to make the phrase more pleasing. But with all the voices beating their own drums, no one heard the phrase Lauren had rewritten to make it more original than the original.
She could hardly find room for her own body among the huge swell in the street. She could barely breathe. She couldn't wait for this protest to be over. Her heart was in the right place while in the crowd of enthusiastic women who had more at stake than she did. The fat tax had nothing to do with her because she was way below the weight norm. Yet, she was willing to stand up with these women who were being repressed because of their size.
Lauren grew tired of yelling the same phrase, her arm heavy from having to wave a sign that read, "I'm fat. So what?" when she was nothing but skin and bones. Feeling like a stupid hypocrite, she suddenly dropped the sign in shame.
When the massive wave reached the town square with its liberty bell in front of Independence Hall, several Amy MacGregors took the podium and delivered the same speech to rally their supporters.
Lauren was bored.
What good was carrying signs and chanting 'dumb' phrases, none of which would change anything? But Amy and her friends were of one mind. They believed their pound of flesh wasn't up for grabs, and their show of force was a statement warning politicians to keep their hands off their carving knives.
Lauren found herself at the front of the march with Amy holding on to her hand.
After the speeches were over, Amy, the best eater in the world, led her group across the bridge over a river that separated Fat City from those who supported laws against 'fat murdering carnivores!'
Lauren saw another group of protesters coming towards her. They, too, were carrying signs. Theirs read, "Fat Sucks!" "Beef Killers Need Killing!" "Meat Poisons Minds!" "Fat People Can't Think!" They, too, were yelling, but Lauren couldn't make out a single word.
Both protest groups marched towards each other until they reached the middle of the bridge. Lauren noticed how thin and meatless the opposition was. There was no way those skinny protesters could resist the push by all the Amy MacGregors. The Fat Freedom Movement quickly repelled the anti-meat, anti-fur, anti-carnivore rally, pushing some of the bony meatless bodies over the rails into the river below.
Suddenly, Amy lost her grasp on Lauren's hand as a blond-haired boy led her out of the crowd. She floated away from the women she had just begun to like.
Lauren and the young boy escaped from the mob still battling it out with signs.