Madeline Maple
Active Member
A young woman tries to keep her figure during Covid-19 quarantine. Will her family’s heavy history get the better of her?
Aly never had a normal childhood. Her family never went on picnics or trips to the amusement park. Not when you have a mother who weighs over 800 pounds. Aly grew up accustomed to her mom’s extreme fatness, but she also resented what it kept her family from doing. Aly never brought friends home from school, afraid of what they would say about her mother and the folding flesh that poured over her body. Aly felt ashamed of her mother’s belly that hung in partitions down her front, and she felt ashamed of her mother’s pillowy arms with the pendulous bags of flesh underneath.
Her family loved to talk about the so-called “Johnson genes.” When her mom was too fat to go to Aly’s piano recital, the Johnson genes were to blame. When her mom was too fat to build a snowman in the backyard, the Johnson genes were to blame. Aly was sick and tired of hearing about the Johnson genes. They seemed like a mysterious guiding hand that decided her family’s fate. Sometimes, late at night, Aly would lie awake fearing what the genes might have in store for her.
While Aly resented her mother’s fatness, her older sister Jordan seemed to embrace it. When Aly was in eighth grade, Jordan was getting ready to graduate from high school. Jordan, like her mom, gave in to the Johnson genes and weighed over 400 pounds. She was too big to fit into any graduation gown, and Jordan made the case that she should be allowed to skip the ceremony. Her mother was too big to attend anyway.
Jordan talked about the effects of the Johnson genes on her own body and how hard it was to stand and climb stairs. Wouldn’t it be easier if the family just celebrated the graduation at home where they all could be together? Her mom relented. Jordan skipped the ceremony, and she stayed at home with her mom while they shared an enormous feast to celebrate. Aly watched with a suspicious eye as her sister and mother ate barbequed rib after barbequed rib and brownie after brownie. Her dad loved to cook, seemingly oblivious to the gluttony on display.
As a kid, Aly would sometimes ask about the Johnson genes. Her mom had to admit that she didn’t even know the origin of the name. Johnson was neither her mother’s maiden name nor her grandmother’s maiden name. The origin of the Johnson genes was “lost to history,” her mother would explain. All she knew was that generations of women in her family had genes causing them to become very fat. Her mom never had anything else to say about it.
Aly was never satisfied by her mother’s explanation. After all, did genes make her mom drink an entire two liter of coke with dinner? Did genes make her sister eat three bowls of popcorn as a midmorning snack? As Aly entered her rebellious teenage years, she saw the Johnson genes as a polite fiction to explain away the effects of a sedentary lifestyle coupled with horrendous eating habits. She learned enough in biology class to know that a genetic predisposition to weight gain could be curbed by behavior, and she decided to take the matter into her own hands.
Aly resolved to avoid the fate of the Johnson genes.
But staying skinny was hard to do when one is constantly surrounded by huge amounts of fattening foods. Aly stayed small compared to her sister Jordan, but she still gained more weight than she wanted. She managed to stay small enough to attend her high school graduation, at least. At 250 pounds, her heavy breasts and ample hips could fit into a graduation gown, and her dad cheered when Aly crossed the stage to get her diploma.
Aly couldn’t wait to go away to college. Her sister Jordan stayed at home and attended a local community college. By the end of Jordan’s second year, she had to go to school online because her 550-pound frame made it impossible to come to campus and walk from class to class. While in college, Jordan met her future husband, Bill. Aly could hardly believe how Bill actually took pleasure in Jordan’s massive body. Bill was always hugging and squeezing his wife’s many rolls of fat. Aly recoiled in disgust.
At her going away party for college, her family held another massive celebration feast. Aly barely ate anything, choosing to push food around on her plate. She saw her brother-in-law Bill feed spoonfuls of chocolate pudding to Jordan. Aly glared at her sister’s bulbous body that now weighed more than 600 pounds, wondering how long it would take before Jordan was too big to leave her home much like her mother. Aly figured it was only a matter of time, and she knew her sister’s fate was sealed with a spoon and not her DNA.
Aly lost weight in college. She was away from the gaslighting talk of the Johnson genes and liberated from the endless supply of rich foods. In the weight loss, Aly found confirmation that the Johnson genes were nothing more than an excuse. Her weight settled at around 200 pounds, and she enjoyed her relatively modest curves that afforded an active lifestyle and a normal college experience. She once gained back 10 pounds when she went home over one of her winter breaks. As much as she missed her parents, she learned the hard way that she shouldn’t visit home too often. Instead, Aly chose to stay away at college whenever possible, feeling the freedom of a life unburdened by her family’s extreme fatness.
When college graduation came around, Aly was broke and saddled with student loans. She had no choice but to move back in with her parents. She got a job at a local Starbucks and started saving for her own apartment, steeled by her determination to keep her weight under control. By this time, her sister Jordan was on the far side of 700 pounds and being cared for by her husband Bill. It helped Aly feel more in control of her own body when she would visit Jordan and see her sister’s nearly immobile body with her lifeless breasts sagging to the sides of a distended belly that pushed her legs far apart.
While living at home after graduation, Aly was dead set on saving money. But that meant eating at home rather than going out for a salad or some other healthier option. Her dad loved having his baby back home, and he showered Aly with heavy meals loaded with carbs and cheese. Her mother was constantly snacking, and the kitchen was always stocked with chips and candy. Aly found it hard to find healthy food to eat.
After a year of living with her parents, Aly, much to her chagrin, had gained back all the weight she lost and more. Pushing 300 pounds, Aly was horrified to look in the mirror and see her distended breasts and puffy hips riddled with cellulite. One day her mother watched as Aly struggled to zip up a coat, clearly having outgrown the garment. Aly turned bright red when her mother had the audacity to start talking about the Johnson genes at work. Her mom was trying to help Aly feel better about the weight gain, but it made Aly furious. Aly knew her eating habits were the true culprit, not some made up genetic nonsense.
The day couldn’t come soon enough when Aly saved enough money to get an apartment with a friend from college. She lugged her 300-pound body out of her parents’ home and into a fashionably furnished apartment in a hip part of town. Without the heavy meals from her parents, Aly could once again lose weight. She never got down to her college weight, but she managed to diet to 250 pounds. She loved living her own life. She loved going out with friends, and she loved visiting bars and clubs. Dating was a regular occurrence, and she even had a steady girlfriend for a short while.
While living on her own, she would sometimes go back to visit her parents. When at her childhood home, she set a rule to never come during meals and to refuse all snacks. The tactic worked, and Aly was happy to live her own life without the weight of her family dragging her down.
After a year or two living with her friend, Aly started to see news about a virus in China that was deadlier than the traditional flu. She didn’t think too much of it until she heard reports that the virus had made its way to the United States. It was March of 2020, and she started to feel scared as businesses shut down and local news reported a high percentage of positive cases of the virus now called Covid-19. Her roommate was quite the germaphobe and was terrified by the burgeoning pandemic. Aly pleaded for her roommate to stay. Instead, her friend moved out to be with her own parents. At the same time, Aly was laid off from Starbucks and the lease on her apartment ended.
Although it was the last thing she wanted to do, Aly had no choice but to move back home with her parents yet again.
[Continued in next post]
Quarantine Genes
By Madeline Maple
By Madeline Maple
Aly never had a normal childhood. Her family never went on picnics or trips to the amusement park. Not when you have a mother who weighs over 800 pounds. Aly grew up accustomed to her mom’s extreme fatness, but she also resented what it kept her family from doing. Aly never brought friends home from school, afraid of what they would say about her mother and the folding flesh that poured over her body. Aly felt ashamed of her mother’s belly that hung in partitions down her front, and she felt ashamed of her mother’s pillowy arms with the pendulous bags of flesh underneath.
Her family loved to talk about the so-called “Johnson genes.” When her mom was too fat to go to Aly’s piano recital, the Johnson genes were to blame. When her mom was too fat to build a snowman in the backyard, the Johnson genes were to blame. Aly was sick and tired of hearing about the Johnson genes. They seemed like a mysterious guiding hand that decided her family’s fate. Sometimes, late at night, Aly would lie awake fearing what the genes might have in store for her.
While Aly resented her mother’s fatness, her older sister Jordan seemed to embrace it. When Aly was in eighth grade, Jordan was getting ready to graduate from high school. Jordan, like her mom, gave in to the Johnson genes and weighed over 400 pounds. She was too big to fit into any graduation gown, and Jordan made the case that she should be allowed to skip the ceremony. Her mother was too big to attend anyway.
Jordan talked about the effects of the Johnson genes on her own body and how hard it was to stand and climb stairs. Wouldn’t it be easier if the family just celebrated the graduation at home where they all could be together? Her mom relented. Jordan skipped the ceremony, and she stayed at home with her mom while they shared an enormous feast to celebrate. Aly watched with a suspicious eye as her sister and mother ate barbequed rib after barbequed rib and brownie after brownie. Her dad loved to cook, seemingly oblivious to the gluttony on display.
As a kid, Aly would sometimes ask about the Johnson genes. Her mom had to admit that she didn’t even know the origin of the name. Johnson was neither her mother’s maiden name nor her grandmother’s maiden name. The origin of the Johnson genes was “lost to history,” her mother would explain. All she knew was that generations of women in her family had genes causing them to become very fat. Her mom never had anything else to say about it.
Aly was never satisfied by her mother’s explanation. After all, did genes make her mom drink an entire two liter of coke with dinner? Did genes make her sister eat three bowls of popcorn as a midmorning snack? As Aly entered her rebellious teenage years, she saw the Johnson genes as a polite fiction to explain away the effects of a sedentary lifestyle coupled with horrendous eating habits. She learned enough in biology class to know that a genetic predisposition to weight gain could be curbed by behavior, and she decided to take the matter into her own hands.
Aly resolved to avoid the fate of the Johnson genes.
But staying skinny was hard to do when one is constantly surrounded by huge amounts of fattening foods. Aly stayed small compared to her sister Jordan, but she still gained more weight than she wanted. She managed to stay small enough to attend her high school graduation, at least. At 250 pounds, her heavy breasts and ample hips could fit into a graduation gown, and her dad cheered when Aly crossed the stage to get her diploma.
Aly couldn’t wait to go away to college. Her sister Jordan stayed at home and attended a local community college. By the end of Jordan’s second year, she had to go to school online because her 550-pound frame made it impossible to come to campus and walk from class to class. While in college, Jordan met her future husband, Bill. Aly could hardly believe how Bill actually took pleasure in Jordan’s massive body. Bill was always hugging and squeezing his wife’s many rolls of fat. Aly recoiled in disgust.
At her going away party for college, her family held another massive celebration feast. Aly barely ate anything, choosing to push food around on her plate. She saw her brother-in-law Bill feed spoonfuls of chocolate pudding to Jordan. Aly glared at her sister’s bulbous body that now weighed more than 600 pounds, wondering how long it would take before Jordan was too big to leave her home much like her mother. Aly figured it was only a matter of time, and she knew her sister’s fate was sealed with a spoon and not her DNA.
Aly lost weight in college. She was away from the gaslighting talk of the Johnson genes and liberated from the endless supply of rich foods. In the weight loss, Aly found confirmation that the Johnson genes were nothing more than an excuse. Her weight settled at around 200 pounds, and she enjoyed her relatively modest curves that afforded an active lifestyle and a normal college experience. She once gained back 10 pounds when she went home over one of her winter breaks. As much as she missed her parents, she learned the hard way that she shouldn’t visit home too often. Instead, Aly chose to stay away at college whenever possible, feeling the freedom of a life unburdened by her family’s extreme fatness.
When college graduation came around, Aly was broke and saddled with student loans. She had no choice but to move back in with her parents. She got a job at a local Starbucks and started saving for her own apartment, steeled by her determination to keep her weight under control. By this time, her sister Jordan was on the far side of 700 pounds and being cared for by her husband Bill. It helped Aly feel more in control of her own body when she would visit Jordan and see her sister’s nearly immobile body with her lifeless breasts sagging to the sides of a distended belly that pushed her legs far apart.
While living at home after graduation, Aly was dead set on saving money. But that meant eating at home rather than going out for a salad or some other healthier option. Her dad loved having his baby back home, and he showered Aly with heavy meals loaded with carbs and cheese. Her mother was constantly snacking, and the kitchen was always stocked with chips and candy. Aly found it hard to find healthy food to eat.
After a year of living with her parents, Aly, much to her chagrin, had gained back all the weight she lost and more. Pushing 300 pounds, Aly was horrified to look in the mirror and see her distended breasts and puffy hips riddled with cellulite. One day her mother watched as Aly struggled to zip up a coat, clearly having outgrown the garment. Aly turned bright red when her mother had the audacity to start talking about the Johnson genes at work. Her mom was trying to help Aly feel better about the weight gain, but it made Aly furious. Aly knew her eating habits were the true culprit, not some made up genetic nonsense.
The day couldn’t come soon enough when Aly saved enough money to get an apartment with a friend from college. She lugged her 300-pound body out of her parents’ home and into a fashionably furnished apartment in a hip part of town. Without the heavy meals from her parents, Aly could once again lose weight. She never got down to her college weight, but she managed to diet to 250 pounds. She loved living her own life. She loved going out with friends, and she loved visiting bars and clubs. Dating was a regular occurrence, and she even had a steady girlfriend for a short while.
While living on her own, she would sometimes go back to visit her parents. When at her childhood home, she set a rule to never come during meals and to refuse all snacks. The tactic worked, and Aly was happy to live her own life without the weight of her family dragging her down.
After a year or two living with her friend, Aly started to see news about a virus in China that was deadlier than the traditional flu. She didn’t think too much of it until she heard reports that the virus had made its way to the United States. It was March of 2020, and she started to feel scared as businesses shut down and local news reported a high percentage of positive cases of the virus now called Covid-19. Her roommate was quite the germaphobe and was terrified by the burgeoning pandemic. Aly pleaded for her roommate to stay. Instead, her friend moved out to be with her own parents. At the same time, Aly was laid off from Starbucks and the lease on her apartment ended.
Although it was the last thing she wanted to do, Aly had no choice but to move back home with her parents yet again.
[Continued in next post]
