by Wilson Barbers
She thought of them as Mall Women, the trio of fat ladies that she saw every time she went shopping at Golden Mall. Waddling down the hall or seated by the fountain, dressed in sweats or jeans that showed off every bulge in their bulky bodies, they'd be talking among themselves, animatedly oblivious to the rest of the mall crowd. If they were any older, Lisa might not've even paid any attention to them. But all three looked close to her in age, and the first time she noticed them sitting together outside Baskin- Robbins, it was with a sense of There But For The Grace of God.
An aggressive young businesswoman in her late twenties, Lisa couldn't help but view the corpulent trio with a certain amount of elitist scorn. All that these chattering porkettes had was a lifetime of gossip and endless dieting, she thought. That was no way for a modern, intelligent woman to live.
She was thinking that last on the first day of her Spring vacation as she drove into the mall parking lot. The leave wasn't her idea, but her boss at the office had coerced her into it as a means of getting rid of accumulated vacation days. To be honest, she wasn't sure how she was going to fill up a whole week: leisure just wasn't her thing. The first solution that struck her was a day of shopping, an obvious choice since Lisa did much the same thing on those weekends that she wasn't spending overtime at the office. Shopping did have its own special allure (perhaps she wasn't different from the porky trio, after all), though she didn't think she could spend a full week at it. It would do for a start, however.
Golden Mall was her favorite stomping ground. A lot of area folks had recently transferred their allegiances to the newer Campbell Shopping Center on the other side of town, but the place seemed high-tech for her. She loved Golden's indoor landscaping, its abundance of plants and fountains, its combination of the pastoral and commercial. Those few times that she'd spent at the new place, Lisa had left feeling frazzled and alienated. She'd never seen any of the Mall Women at Campbell, come to think of it.
Striding into the east side entrance at mall opening, Lisa took a look at her reflection in a mirrored post. She was dressed casually but neatly, her trim figure packed into a pair of tight-fitting black suede pants and loose cotton blouse, her short brown hair cropped to connote efficiency. Her face was sharply sensual, with perhaps too much chin to be beautiful, but the young businesswoman knew she was capable of making herself look sexy. It had been several years since she'd had a regular man in her life, and while she occasionally missed it, she typically kept herself too buy to do anything about it.
Perhaps she could do some prowling over her vacation.
As if by invitation, a deep male voice cleared to her right. She turned to see a dapper young man in a lightweight Farrah suit, a name-tag identifying him as the Mall Manager. "Excuse me, Miss," the interloper said, "but may I speak to you?"
"Perhaps," Lisa answered, giving him a once-over and deciding to hear him out. The young man - whose name was Matt - looked like he might be worth getting to know better.
"Let me get you a cup of coffee," the mall manager offered. "I'm pretty certain that you'll want to hear this." He lead her into a nearby Hardee's, gestured to one of the girls behind the counter and sat Lisa down in Non-Smoking booth. "You may not know this," he said, "but we're coming up on the anniversary of our mall's opening. One thing that we like to do is celebrate that occasion with one of our regular customers." The counter girl appeared with Lisa's cup of java along with a packet of non-dairy creamer. It wasn't their usual creamer, Lisa absently noticed, taking a tentative sip of her drink; there was a pleasantly sweet aftertaste to it
"So when's the big event?" she asked.
"Sunday," Matt answered. "But we prepare for it all week. One of the things we at Golden Mall do is identify a special customer for us to indulge. We give her the run of the mall all week."
She gulped her coffee, not quite sure that she understood what Matt was saying. Above them, the muzak switched on, playing of muted version of Smokey Robinson's "Shop Around."
"Basically, anything you want in our stores that's for sale can be yours," he continued. "The only stipulation is you have to be able to carry it out in one trip at the end of the day."
She'd noticed his shift in pronouns. "Me?" she asked.
"Why else would I be talking to you now?" Matt said. "We'd like you to be a Celebratory Customer." He smiled at Lisa, showing her a row of appealingly crooked teeth. "That is, if you can accept a week of freedom to consume as avidly as possible."
It sounded too good to be true, and she showed her skepticism in her face.
"Don't believe me, eh?" Matt sighed. He waved the counter girl over and then told Lisa, "Try it out. Order something for breakfast. It's yours for free."
Okay, Lisa thought. She'd call this bozo's bluff. She was feeling unusually hungry at the moment, though she typically didn't eat much of anything until lunch-time. Pulling from memory, she defiantly ordered two biscuits with ham plus an order of hash browns. "I'd like some more coffee with this cream, too," she added, and with that last the teenager smiled broadly.
"Sure thing," the girl said, dashing off to fill her order.
"So how'd I get picked for this honor, anyway?" Lisa asked, turning back to Matt. "Surely there are more regular shoppers than me." She was thinking of the Mall Women, who always seemed to be in the building.
"But you came through the door." The manager said. "I guess you could say the place itself picked you." He sat and watched her consume her first biscuit. "If you're still hungry," he concluded, "you can always go back for more. Remember it's all on the house." With that, he pulled out a notecard and took down her name, address and occupation. "See you around," he said, suddenly standing and straightening out his jacket. Lisa nodded, her mouth too full of hash brown to be able to say anything as the young man dashed out of view. What a way to start a vacation, she thought.
She still didn't quite believe Matt's line though, so she sat there finishing off her coffee, half expecting the counter girl to come over and ask for some cash. The restaurant started to fill up, and the smell of breakfast grew even stronger. Lisa felt her stomach growling hungrily. At that moment, the teenager reappeared by the booth. "Would you like something else?" she asked prettily.
This was definitely unusual: she'd never been waited on like this before in a Hardee's! Lisa sat there thoughtfully, listening to the voice of her stomach. "I think I would," she finally said, craning to read the menu hanging over the counter. "Another pair of biscuits and some hash browns and a chocolate chip cookie - plus some more of this coffee with cream!"
"Sure thing!" the counter girl chirped. She was back with a tray in less than a minute, almost as if they'd been anticipating Lisa's second order.
Lisa made short work of her second breakfast, then she decided to really test Matt's words. She'd get up and walk out of the restaurant, and if nobody raced out to stop her, she'd go shopping for some clothes. Maybe she'd buy a baggier pair of pants: that second helping had her feeling uncomfortable in her suedes. First thing she'd do was check out the clearance items in Fashion Bug.
Once she made it out into the hall unscathed, she began to reconsider her initial impulse. Why be so tentative? If she could have her way in the mall, why not make it a real celebration? There were plenty of outfits outside her price range that she'd looked at the past. She'd scout around and pick the ultimate wardrobe for herself.
Lisa spent the rest of the morning scouring the women's shops, stopping only at a Hot Sams for some pretzels and the Cookie Factory for some sugar to keep up her shopping strength. Her appetite was unusually intense today; perhaps it was due to her celebrant status. As she entered each store, the clerks nodded happily at her, silently acknowledging her special role, though she was damned if she knew how they recognized her so readily. Lisa was still weighing outfits in her mind when her stomach told her it was time for lunch. Waiting in line at the Old Country Buffet, her pants button suddenly popped open.
What's this? she thought, looking down at the gap her somewhat rounded belly was making at the top of her slacks. Looked like she'd overdid it with that second trip to the Cookie Factory. Stepping out of line, her hands shielding the embarrassing gap, Lisa made her way to the General Nutrition Center scale nearby. It told her weight and biorhythms without asking for a quarter - even the machines were celebrant friendly! According to the scale, she'd gone from her normal weight of 112 to 124 , all in the space of a couple hours.
This is ridiculous, she told herself. People didn't gain weight this fast. There had to be something wrong with the scale; perhaps it was weighted upwards to make potential customers feel the need for some sort of diet product.
Whatever her actual weight was, the fact remained that she felt cramped in her suedes; she definitely needed to get into something more comfortable. So she went into the first women's shop she could find and pulled a lightweight frock off the rack. It was a size six, her usual, but she was unable to easily get into it in the dressing room. Undaunted, she tried the next size up, found it roomy and comfortable.
Her momentary embarrassment gone, she rediscovered her appetite. Smiling broadly at the salesgirl as she walked past the register, Lisa returned to the buffet feeling ravenous. An hour-and-a-half later, she left the restaurant to get a bigger dress. The one she was wearing had started to split at the seams.
Three dress changes later, the mall was getting ready to close and Lisa left feeling sated and satisfied. She carried two bags full of clothing in her newest size and didn't feel the least bit guilty about her growth. The time she'd spent at The Nut House, Cookie Factory, Hot Sams, Fannie May, Orange Julius and Baskin-Robbins was enough to get her mouth watering all over again. What a way to spend her vacation!
Tuesday morning, she got to the mall before it opened, and Matt was at the entrance to greet her. "I see you've been enjoying your new status," he said, appreciatively looking her up and down. She'd grown more feminine looking with her additional weight, Lisa noticed as she passed the mirrored post. Her breasts were rounder and more womanly, her hips fuller. She wondered if Matt was the type of man turned on by a little girlish avoirdupois. Lisa decided to try him out by asking him to breakfast.
As they sat over coffee, she asked him for info about the mall's coming anniversary. "I've never seen anything about this in the papers," she said. "I'd think you'd be making some kind of media event out of your celebration."
"You'd think so," Matt answered. "But some things we've got to do for ourselves. It's good for morale to be able to serve a customer like you: totally appreciative for the bounty we've given you, happy in the face of your good fortune. This is our fourth such celebration, and I believe it is an important element in our long life." He stirred his creamer into his coffee, and Lisa noticed it was the restaurant's usual brand. This time she'd been served her coffee with the cream already in it.
"Don't you worry about the competition?" Lisa asked, lifting a forkful of scrambled eggs to her mouth. It tasted wonderful.
"A little," he admitted. "But all it says to me is that we've got to make this year's celebration our biggest ever. . ." With that, he winked and once more left Lisa to her breakfast; she remained at it for another hour.
She was into the plus sizes by afternoon, her clothing selection limited by her growth to Lane Bryant and Fashion Bug Plus. Most women might have panicked at this sudden change, but somehow it all seemed natural to Lisa. Besides, she was having too much fun to worry about it. She'd carry a bag of chocolates or cookies with her into the stores and peruse each item appreciatively, happily eyeing each new selection of clothing as she grew into it. She could look at the same items in different sizes, and it was as if she was seeing each for the first time.
By day's end, the chubby celebrant was up to a size eighteen: her face had rounded and developed the start of a second chin; her elbows had developed two dimples; her legs had grown shapelier. She was Rubenesque and lovely.
That night, Lisa left the mall with two arms full of books and compact discs, no clothing. Every outfit that she'd brought home yesterday was already too small for her, s she reasoned, so what was the point of carrying out new clothing when the week wasn't even half over? She'd pick herself a new wardrobe when the week was up.
The rest of her vacation week passed in much the same way: an orgy of shopping and eating (with a growing emphasis on the latter.) She spent hours in the mall's buffet, gorging herself on plate after plate of free food; once a day she cut a swath through the entire Hardee's dinner menu. By the middle of Wednesday, the vacationing plumper had passed 200 pounds, her rounded paunch pushing past her breasts, her thighs lushly rubbing together.
Thursday morning and she was a physical double for the youngest of Mall Women, a short brunette named Amanda who weighed in the neighborhood of 270 pounds. Friday afternoon and she was over 350, with two extra chins obscuring her jaw line and a belly gone into its second blubbery fold. By Saturday night, Lisa had reached 480 pounds. She was wearing dresses that would have been beyond the plus-size stores' resources if Matt hadn't ordered them beforehand. The manager was gauging her growth each breakfast, approvingly taking in her expansion as they chatted over coffee. Their Hardee's time grew increasingly prolonged; it was clear that Matt was fascinated by her billowy development.
One morning, the mall manager dropped a book by her tray. "Sometime when you're at home, you might want to check this book out," he said. Licking syrup off her sausagey fingers, Lisa perused the title, Magical Abundance In Primitive And Modern Cultures by one Ken Fisher. This, she thought, was a clue to Matt's interest in her. She read it halfway through that night in bed, a family-size pizza by her side. It seemed to be a study of societies where fleshiness was promoted.
That Saturday, Lisa ran into the Mall Women at Baskin-Robbins. She'd just been given a triple scoop of Kalhua and Cream and was sitting on a hall bench, her wide rear covering most of the seat, only a fraction of her body reflectable in the mirrored post. She'd never have thought she could enjoy the sensation of being so hugely corpulent, but she did. It was like being wrapped in a fleshy comforter. She seemed to have gained most of her last hundred pounds in the lower part of her body; beneath her tent of a dress, her thighs swelled in creases, while her calves folded twice with the press of gravity.
The portly trio appeared in front of Lisa just as she was finishing off her cone. With any further ado, the largest of the trio, a super-sized redhead named Erika, introduced the group.
"You must be the new celebrant," she said, a knowing leer on her jowly face. "We've seen you around before, but I'd never have guessed that you had so much potential. Matt sure knows how to pick 'em."
"You know all about the mall anniversary?" Lisa asked, wiping a drip of ice cream off her chins.
"Know about it?" the middle-sized Mall Woman (a 300-plus pounder named Annette) said. "We've been part of it! Erika here was the last customer!" The corpulent redhead patted her vast stomach for emphasis, a proud look on her fatly lovely face. All three of the women had beautiful faces, Lisa noticed. Before this week, all she'd noticed about the Mall Women was their size.
"Of course," Erika added, "I've also put on a few additional pounds since that ceremony."
They spent the rest of the evening outside Baskin-Robbins, sampling flavors and getting to know each other. All three of the Mall Women had been slim and single before their initiation into the ceremony, regular customers but nothing like they were now. These days, they spent as much time as possible in the mall. "Our husbands work here, of course," Annette said, "in various managerial capacities."
That night, Lisa went back home and more closely examined the book Matt had given her. There were several references in it to the use of ancient growth potions. Looked like someone in the mall had come across the recipe for one of 'em. It'd certainly worked to build up her appetite, she thought, remembering the special cream she'd been given with her coffee the first days of her vacation. Lying in bed reaching for a bag of car marshes, her fat forearm dangling, the weight of her upper arm sagging over her elbow, Lisa felt relaxed and happy. She just realized she hadn't thought of work all week.
That Sunday before closing, the Mall Women appeared to prepare Lisa for the big finale. She'd been sitting in Woolworth's restaurant in a booth that seemed to have been specially built for her obesity, chowing down on BLTs and vanilla malteds. "Are you ready?" Erika asked, and Lisa nodded. After going through the book, she had a pretty good idea of what was in store for her.
Leading her to the back room of Lane Bryant, the fat threesome pulled a silken wedding dress and spread it out for her inspection. Lisa was over a third of a ton now, a mass of cushiony fat rolls and folds. Her face was multiply chinned, her cheeks doubly dimpled. Her hair had grown fantastically over the last week, matching the rest of her accumulation: it hung fully over her puffy shoulders and back, parted down the middle like some medieval maiden's. She wasn't surprised to see Erika brandishing a garland for her head. This ceremony, Lisa thought, had its roots in something pagan.
It took some time for her to make her way across the mall to the ceremony. Over the past week the brisk-paced young businesswoman had grown into a ponderously moving matron. Breathing heavily as she moved each barefoot leg of her bottom-heavy body, her arms and upfront belly swayed with every step. The ravenous hunger she'd been feeling all week had disappeared; in its place was another kind of wanting.
The trio of former celebrants lead her to Waterbeds International, where the rest of the shopping area's employees were respectfully waiting. They stood along the fringes of the store, eyes focused on an extra king-size waterbed on display store center. The room was awash in bright green light, festooned with crepe and garlands. Standing before the bed was a tuxedoed Matt.
The Mall Women walked Lisa slowly up to the Golden Manager. "We bring this Celebratory Customer to you," Erika said, "in the hopes that your union will bring us all a fruitful five years."
Matt looked Lisa in the eyes and smiled slightly. "Do you come willingly?" he asked.
"Yes," Lisa said, and she knew that she meant it. This had been the fullest week of her life, but now she knew it all had been foreplay. Her massive body craved Matt's attention.
She got it. As the Mall Women returned to their husbands on the sidelines, Matt reached out for her. Hands outstretched, he grasped the sides of her widened body and rested his face on the space between her breasts. His chin poked into the top of her belly as he kissed her cleavage; through her dress Lisa felt the hangs of her belly press against his knees. Behind her shield of a dangling apron, she grew warm and most. Her whole body felt alive and sensual, as if each layer of avoirdupois magnified her ability to be aroused.
She raised her blubbery arms, feeling the hang of fat settling against her armpits, and Matt lifted her dress over her head. The audience gasped in approbation at her mall-built tonnage, the result of a week of unmatched consumption. All week long, Lisa's job had been to enlarge herself, and she'd gone at it with the same enthusiasm that she'd once brought to work. She smiled over at the watching crowd but quickly turned back to Matt.
The manager drank her swollen form in lustily: her pendulous basketball breasts dwarfed by the belly beneath them; her doubly dangling apron with its crease leading out of her navel; her overstuffed textured legs with their dough-like folds and sags. She backed onto the waterbed, and its cushioning softness was like her own fat limbs rubbing against her torso. Matt quickly doffed his suit and fell on top of her. His erection pushed against her belly fat.
There was a lot of woman for him to explore, and Matt went about it eagerly. She felt his lips trail across her spreading body; his tongue prodded every fold and dimple. The more he sampled her, the more aroused she became. Raising her legs with her fat feet on the bed rail for support, she opened her legs.
This, she knew, was the climax of her week's celebration. Matt thrust happily and heartily, sending waves across her layered body and the mattress. As big as she was, he readily hit her clitoris. She came loudly, thrashing her head to both sides as Matt kneaded her massive mounds of fat. Then she felt Matt shooting into her; a fiery flash of completeness surged through her corpulent body.
The observing crowd was unreservedly caught up in the moment; out of the corner of her eye she saw the Mall Women happily being grabbed by their husbands.
Her ceremonial lover stayed stiff for quite some time, and Matt used the opportunity to nibble her voluminous breasts, bringing new climaxes to Lisa's vast body. Eventually, she felt him start to soften, and as he did, Matt looked down on the wondrously obese woman that he'd helped to create and said, "We're married now in the eyes of the mall. If you'd like, we can make it legal tomorrow."
"I'd like," Lisa said, and with that statement she knew she'd irrevocably changed the course of her life. As the glow of orgasm faded, she felt her appetite returning and with it came a corresponding sense of fulfillment. All around them, the observing crowd was breaking up into couples and trios. As they lay together, Matt whispered his vision of their future together.
She was (he said) one of the Mall People now, the central fattest figure in a quartet of consumers who'd grown big under the mall's auspices. Soon she'd be even bigger than she was today: a mammoth of consuming womanhood barely able to walk to the center of the mall, seated on a bench concealed by her overflowing form. Stationed around her, cartons of mall food by their side, would be the rest of the celebrants, eating with Lisa and presiding over the mall.
It sounded heavenly.
"Nights after closing," Matt concluded, pulling a bulging bag of Fannie Mays from a drawer on the side of the bed, "will be ours, however."
Biting into a dark chocolate May, the sounds of celebratory copulation surrounding them, Lisa smiled and knew that Golden Mall was going to have its biggest years ever.
And it did.
Corrected version © Copyright 1998 - Oakhaus Designs