Part One
“Miss Williams! Get in here!” blasted Harley McLaughlin’s voice through the intercom on Jo Ann’s desk. Not that she really needed it; Jo Ann had heard her from down the hall.
“Damnit all,” she thought. “I had just sat down and it’s taking more energy to get my fat ass up.” With a sigh and a grunt, Jo Ann popped herself back onto her feet to waddle down to McLaughlin’s office. Being twenty-three weeks pregnant and two hundred and nine pounds, she officially considered herself in waddling territory.
Jo Ann lamented how her life had gotten her to this point. Three years ago, she was a fresh community college graduate of just slightly better-than-average GPA and no more desire (or money) to be in school. She had landed the job as a secretary for the law firm Johnson, Peabody, and King, thinking this would be a great learning experience and maybe give her an edge later in life.
Her widened hips brushed against a passerby; an intern with too many books in his face and not enough sense. That contact flushed the idea of an “edge” right from her mind. She had been a moderately thin gal when she started working for the law firm, but a fifty-four-pound gain will take the edge right off anybody. Her new boyfriend, Leo, loved her lusciously chubby body, something her ex (whose name she swore never to repeat) would criticize her for relentlessly. When Leo had weighed her around Christmas (something she had been adamantly avoiding) and found out his girlfriend weighed in at one-ninety, he had gotten so excited he popped a baby in her. Not that she was complaining. Sex with Leo was fantastic. But gaining another nineteen pounds had its ups and downs.
As Jo Ann approached McLaughlin’s door, she tried to give herself a once over, ensuring no fat was visible around her waist between her maternity-style blue blouse that fit her rather well currently and her tight black business skirt that really needed to be put into the back of the closet. She also checked to make sure no crumbs were visible in her cleavage or on her face as best she could. She had just scarfed down a doughnut before McLaughlin called.
Steeling her resolve, Jo Ann pushed open McLaughlin’s oak door. McLaughlin’s office was spacious, as all of the offices of the senior lawyers were. Jo Ann’s former apartment could have probably fit in there. Real oak paneling, luscious gray carpet, and warm earth tones on the walls belied a soothing atmosphere of compassion and order. The idea was to help inspire cooperation and trust between the people in the room.
Too bad the owner of the office was a harpy. Harley McLaughlin sat behind her imposing desk, her thin fingers in the shape of a steeple before her angular face. McLaughlin was in her mid-forties, though the only reason Jo Ann knew was because the firm sends out an email with everyone’s birthday every month. McLaughlin looked ten years older than that though. Her crow’s feet were strong, as were her frown lines. The skin was stretched too tight around her jawline and cheeks, but sagged under the eyes. Her piercing blue eyes held equal parts intelligence, contempt, and displeasure at just about everyone. She had pulled her yellow-blonde hair into a bun so tight that it had to have come from military-training of some kind, though Jo Ann could only guess. Incredibly light streaks of grey could be seen stretching from her temples back into the bun. McLaughlin was wearing a black pantsuit that was crisp and elegant, with a deep red button-up blouse. The color scheme made her look paler and even older. Simple diamond stud earrings pierced each ear and the barest hint of makeup could be seen on McLaughlin’s face.
“Probably just enough foundation to cover up the evil,” Jo Ann thought.
Jo Ann had barely walked in the door before McLaughlin said, “What is this?” Her voice was made of ice and steel, hardened most likely in the pits of Hell itself.
Jo Ann waddled over to the desk, her brain having not a clue what McLaughlin was talking about. “Let me see,” she said as she came up to the desk. Jo Ann was five-five, three inches shorter than McLaughlin, which made it all the worse when McLaughlin was sitting down. The first thing the woman saw was Jo Ann’s hefty bust or bulging middle. Jo Ann had learned to keep herself a respectable distance away, if only to keep the scathing remarks to a minimum.
McLaughlin roughly handed her the paper. Jo Ann blinked at it as she remembered what it was, though she had emailed it. To Human Resources. It was her maternity leave paperwork.
“It’s my maternity leave paperwork,” Jo Ann stated. “I’m going to go on leave soon. To have my baby.”
McLaughlin stared her, then down to her swollen midsection. “I see. I thought you were just getting fatter.”
Jo Ann blushed angrily and she bit back a scathing remark, her hands slipping down unconsciously in front of her belly as if to protect her tiny bundle from the hurtful remark. She had told McLaughlin a week after she found out. “No, ma’am. This isn’t just me anymore.”
McLaughlin narrowed her eyes. “It will be your responsibility to train someone new to handle your responsibilities while you are away. Your form said you would be gone for ten weeks. The firm only allows for eight. Where are you getting the other two?”
“I’ve been saving my PTO, as best as I can.”
“Uh-huh,” grunted McLaughlin. She snapped her fingers and held out her hand for the paper back. Jo Ann gave it back and McLaughlin did a quick squiggle of a signature. “Not a day over, Miss Williams, or you will be in the unemployment line faster than you can say, ‘breach of contract.” Am I clear?”
The fury that had been slowly building in Jo Ann since she walked into the office nearly boiled over, but she got herself under control. If only barely. “Yes. Ma’am.” She handed the paperwork back to McLaughlin to sign.
“Where are my morning reports?”
“Printing as we speak.” There was no point in telling McLaughlin that the ages-old printer had been under repair that morning, which had caused a significant slow down in printing capabilities. McLaughlin did not care about the problems of “the help,” as she so elegantly put one day. She just wanted it done.
“I see. Have them here as soon as possible. I have a dress you need to take to the dry cleaners on your lunch. It is there by the door. I need it back by ASAP. Understood?”
Jo Ann nodded. “Anything else, ma’am?”
“Ray and I have lunch meetings today. See to it lunch gets ordered and is here before the meetings begin. Panera will be fine, you know my standard order. Check with Ray, see what he wants.”
Jo Ann groaned on the inside. Raymond “Ray” Johnson was a middle-aged man with a thinning hairline, a huge paunchy middle, and a perverse attitude towards the secretaries. In the time Jo Ann has been with the firm, Johnson had gone through eight secretaries. She knew that three of them had quit because he would not keep his hands to himself and the last one, Heather Jones, had quit under suspicious and sudden circumstances. All of them, every single one, had gained a noticeable amount of weight while they were with the firm. Human Resources could not touch him without someone coming forward though, so he remained with the firm. But, after Heather disappeared almost a year ago, they (though Jo Ann was pretty sure it was the other two partners) put a freeze on his hiring ability. He had been without a secretary since.
“I’ll ask him.”
McLaughlin gave Jo Ann another critical look. “See that you do. Now go, you have work to do.”
Jo Ann nodded again and turned to go out. She got two steps away from McLaughlin before the old harpy hissed. “Miss Williams, I can see the color of your underwear on your fat ass through the hole in your skirt. Get that rectified immediately or I will write you up for unprofessional wear. Am I clear?”
Jo Ann mentally cussed herself out. She had noticed something this morning when she lowered herself into her car, but she had hoped it was the springs or something else related to the seat. But, no, she had torn a damn hole in her skirt and then showed it to her evil boss. Her face flushed with embarrassment. “Why didn’t I wear black panties today?” she thought.
“Yes, right away.” She hustled as quickly as she could, her chubby thighs slapping against one another. She grabbed the dress in its opaque bag that was on the coat rack by the door on her way out, then stormed back down the hall to her desk.
She threw the dress onto her desk and started angrily muttering under her breath as she prepared to leave. Her neighbor, Bev Nichols, saw Jo Ann’s cross mood. Bev was an African-American woman in her forties with the beginning of a streak of gray at her widow’s peak. She was comfortably overweight at around two hundred and sixty-six pounds, most of which was centered around her hips and belly. She was wearing a loose dress made of a silky material. It was covered in psychedelic colors and patterns.
“The old harpy again?” she asked. She had voice that glided over the ears like southern honey.
“I hate that old bitch,” Jo Ann half-whispered. “She has no heart. I wish… gah! I wish she would just understand how hard life is for us. Would certainly humble the hell out of her, that’s for sure.”
“You really want that?” Bev asked with a quirked eyebrow.
“I’d give just about anything for her to live a life like our’s, yeah.”
Bev nodded, then handed her a card. “Take her dress to this dry cleaner, they’ll help you.”
A look of complete puzzlement and disbelief came across Jo Ann’s chubby features. “Bev, there’s no such thing as magic.”
Bev’s brown eyes twinkled. “What’s that line, ‘there’s more things in heaven or earth?’”
Jo Ann scoffed, but she took the card. She mentioned that the lunches needed to be ordered for Johnson and McLaughlin to Bev, then headed off to this mysterious dry cleaner. And to buy a new skirt.
Twenty minutes later, Jo Ann pulled her much-abused Honda Civic into the little strip mall that the dry cleaner was located at. It was not in the city proper and it was not in the best part of the suburbs. There were only a few shops in the little mall left; a cheap donut place at the corner of the building, a consignment store, and the cleaners. The rest were either boarded up or had “For Lease” signs in their dirty windows.
Jo Ann stared up at the store’s name. It was on a one-piece sign, with red lettering on an off-white background. It read “Fat So’s Tailor and Cleaner Services.” There was the image of a fat, smiling face next to the words in a Chinese-inspired painting. Jo Ann shook her head, both at the name of the place and the fact she was even there. But, if even a part of what Bev said this place could do was true, she really wanted to find out.
Grabbing the business dress and her purse from her passenger seat, she hauled herself up out of her low car. “If I keep getting bigger, this thing is going to be a pain in my ever-growing ass,” Jo Ann thought. She bumped her door closed with a well-padded hip and waddled on inside.
She was greeted to smell of cleaning chemicals as soon as she came inside. It was not so pungent that she felt she needed to worry about passing out from lack of oxygen, but there was no mistaking this place for anything other than a dry-cleaners. For its location, the front-end was kept very clean and tidy. It had an almost welcoming aura to it. The metal counter was shiny and rust-free, the cheap linoleum was waxed and polished, even the two lazily circling ceiling fans were dust-free. There was a wide path that led into the back, lined in clothing bags that were either awaiting pick up or to be worked on. Off to Jo Ann’s left was set of double doors.
What Jo Ann really noticed was the huge woman behind the counter. She was wearing a multi-colored muumuu that fit her billowy frame quite well. She had distinctly Asian features, most likely Chinese. Long, silky black hair framed a round, moon-shaped face with cheeks that bulged so much they narrowed her dark, almond-shaped eyes. She had deep dimples around her plump lips. It gave her the appearance of always smiling and looked very reminiscent of the store’s logo. Her neck was a bulging collar of pale flesh beneath her face. She had huge shoulders lead down to hefty upper arms and plump, dainty hands. Twin mounds of flesh, each one as big as an over-ripe watermelon sprawled out atop the slope of a massive paunch that disappeared behind the counter. Jo Ann could only image the size of the woman’s hips and thighs. She shuttered as the idea of herself taking up that much space crossed her mind.
Spread out before the woman were half a dozen boxes of donuts from the place down the row. Each box still had several donuts in them, but none were full. She was happily munching on a strawberry glaze as Jo Ann crossed the threshold. Jo Ann had two inclinations; first, that the donut place and this place were tight, and second, that the donuts were probably this woman’s breakfast. Maybe even a light snack.
“Welcome!” boomed the woman, her Chinese accent apparent but not thick. Her voice matched her size. “I’m Sing So, the proprietor’s wife, and welcome to Fat So’s! What can we do for you today?”
“I…” Jo Ann’s voice caught in her throat as she looked at the immense Sing. She was hard pressed to remember a time she ever seen a woman so large in person. The encounter was throwing her game off.
Sing chuckled. “It’s alright, sweetie, I don’t eat people. You don’t get to six-hundred and nineteen pounds on rabbit food, though.” She slapped her belly as she said that and devoured the donut in her hand.
With that piece of knowledge in hand, Jo Ann suddenly felt galvanized to speak again. “I was recommended this place for a special job. By Bev Nichols.”
Sing’s constantly smiling face broke out into an even wider grin. “Ahh… Bev is great customer. One of our first’s. Who do you need altered?”
Jo Ann finally approached the counter and set the dress down. “This is my boss’s. She’s never been particularly nice since basically the day I started working for her, but as I put on weight and then got pregnant, she’s been a true harpy. I want her to know what my life is like, how hard it is being young, chubby, an un-wed mom-to-be, and thought stupider than you are. Hell, I wouldn’t mind if she actually got a little dumber. Not like handicapped or anything, but just average.”
As her emotions got riled up talking about McLaughlin, her stomach gurgled loudly and she was hit with a wave of hunger. It had been one of her coping mechanisms, to eat her problems away, which contributed to her ballooning weight. Without prompting, Sing handed Jo Ann a chocolate glaze. “Here you go, sweetie. I’ll take care of it. So, how old is this woman?”
Jo Ann thought. “Mid-forties? I don’t know her exact age, but I’d guess somewhere around forty-five.”
“Well, the most I can shave off a person is twenty years. That acceptable?”
Jo Ann blinked. She was not sure why she suddenly believed the fat China woman, but some part of her knew Sing was telling the truth. “Yeah, twenty years younger would put her within a year or two of myself, one way or another. I’m twenty-four.”
Sing nodded. “So, technically that’s a boon, to make someone younger. And with as much younger as you’re planning to make her, that earns you two free changes. So, how fat do you want her to be?”
Jo Ann was munching on the donut and had missed the part about boons and changes. She only heard the question. “Well…” she said, and her gaze shifted down to the dress on the counter. “This dress is a size two. Tack another two on it. I’m like an eighteen,” she half-heartily lied. She knew she was pushing the bounds of eighteen, as evident by the widening hole in her skirt. A thought crossed her mind. “Can you make it so her weight gain favors her ass? I’m so sick of her mocking mine.”
“Sure, honey, not a problem. One pear-shaped lady, coming up,” chortled Sing.
“Oh, but don’t short-change her up top. Like D-cup, or something. She’s kind of flat now and I want her to experience it all, you know?” She waved a hand around her own large body to indicate.
Sing nodded. “And you want her pregnant? Like you?” She handed Jo Ann another donut, which she happily munched on.
“Yeph,” Jo Ann said from around a mouthful of Boston cream. “Twenty-something weeks, if possible.” She idly scratched at her own pregnant bulge, little noticing the strip of white flesh that was beginning to peek out between the hem of her tightening blouse and the waistband of her skirt, which was starting to dig into her hips even more noticably.
Sing nodded again. “And, lastly, you want her dumber. What are we talking here?”
Jo Ann thought as she munched through the delicious donut. “I want her to work as a secretary, just like me, but where I have seniority over her. Average intelligence and maybe just a little ditzy, but still competent.”
Sing nodded appreciatively. “That is awfully nice of you. Most people go for ‘drooling and submissive.’ You’re different and I like that.” Sing handed her a third donut, a maple-coated Long John.
Jo Ann smiled as she accepted it. “I just want her to understand how hard my life is, you know? That doesn’t mean I need to get nasty about it.” As she bit into it, she noted her chest was feeling cramped in her blouse and her sleeves were biting into her upper arms. Her belly was getting big enough to touch the counter.
“How much is al-“ Jo Ann started to ask, when suddenly there was a tearing sound and she felt a draft across her buttocks. The slowly growing hole had ripped from the pressure of her expanding derriere into a six-inch long tear, exposing her bright red panties and pale, cellulite-covered ass.
“Shit!” she exclaimed. “I needed to buy a new skirt before work. What am I going to do now?!”
Sing just handed Jo Ann another donut. “Go through those doors and pick something out, dearie. On the house, of course.” With that, the big woman started to rock her body back and forth. On the fourth swing, she hauled her mountainous body up on to her feet. Sing was about tall standing as she was sitting. “This…” she huffed, “will be… done… by the time… huff… you get… dressed.” Sing picked up the dress and shuffled on down the aisle.
Jo Ann could only look on in shock. Sing’s posterior was, simply put, huge. She watched as the two hemispheres of fat rolled and undulated with every shuffled step. A sudden breeze reminded Jo Ann that she was standing in the lobby with a massive tear in her skirt, exposing her own large rear. She quickly waddled her way into the side room.
The room was packed with clothes, most likely items that had been forgotten by their owners. “Or outgrew,” she thought. One of the Sings liked to keep things organized, as the racks were labeled based on gender and size. With a sigh, Jo Ann headed for the twenties as she polished off her fourth donut. Stripping out of her ruined skirt, she marveled that it had lasted this long. Peeling out of the blouse showed that at some point, she had blown a hole in both armpits. Hefting up her breasts, she was surprised it had not happened sooner.
“Damn, I really have turned into a big girl,” she thought.
It took her a while to find something and nothing made her more impatient than standing around in nothing but her skivvies. Nothing Sing had was maternal, so that threw out the two-piece options. If they got big enough to fit her pregnant belly, they were too big elsewhere. That left her with three dresses to pick from; a twenty, a twenty-two, and a twenty-six. The twenty-six, a flowy, light pink cotton sundress, was too big up top to cover her adequately for her job. The twenty was a navy-blue sleeveless sheath dress that was too tight around her pregnant belly. That left her with the twenty-two, a royal purple dress made of a stretchy, velvety material that needed to be a couple of inches longer in the hem, but fit everywhere else.
“Fuck’em,” she thought as she donned the dress. “Besides, I can hit the consignment store next door for some leggings. Hopefully.”
There was a full-length mirror tucked into a corner of the little room, which Jo Ann made use of. The plus-sized pregnant woman in the mirror was a far-cry from the slightly plump community college graduate from three years ago. Sure, her strawberry-blonde hair was still long, wavy, and a little mussed, but the rest of her looked like someone had hooked her up to an air hose. Her face seemed to get softer every day and she now had a full double chin. The dress had a V-neckline and gave a tasteful view of her swollen double-D’s. The three-quarter sleeves contained her large upper arms, lending them some shape and support. The dark color of the dress made it harder to gauge how large her belly was getting and even helped down play her wide hips. Turning broadside, however, showed off the obvious pregnant bulge. Huge and dome-like, there was no way to conceal it. Jo Ann noticed she was starting to carry lower. She also got a view of the biggest benefactor of her weight gain. Her ass had a prominent shelf starting under her lower back and, even with the increased dress size, still had the hint of panty lines. The slightly higher hem showed off some pale thigh fat folds and the barest hint of her saddlebags. Jo Ann would have to be careful about how she sat for the rest of the day.
“All in all, I look damn fine for a woman that is about to cross the two-fifty mark,” Jo Ann thought. She thought of what Leo’s reaction would be to see her in this dress and a sly smile crossed her face. “I’ll surprise him tonight, that’s for sure.” It never occurred to her that thirty minutes ago, she was forty pounds lighter.
Jo Ann waddled out with her ruined clothes in hand. Seated back at the counter was Sing, devouring another box of donuts. Laying across the counter, the dress lay in its new dry-cleaning bag. This one was clear, allowing Jo Ann her first look at the dress that would change her boss’s life. It was a sleeveless dress, made with a silky material. It had a quartered-pattern color scheme; black and burgundy. There was an optional cinch belt made of black leather.
Jo Ann waddled up to the counter as she started to dig out her credit card. “That was quick work. How much?”
Sing shook her multi-chinned head. “You’ve already paid, dearie. Just tell people about us. We do quality work.”
Jo Ann thought it was odd that Sing said she had already paid but elected to ignore it. She picked up the bag with the dress, thanked the immense woman, and left. She dropped the dress off in her car and went down to the consignment store. Twenty minutes later, she left the strip mall with a new pair of XL leggings covering her fat thighs. The only pair they had in her size was white, which drew even more attention to them. But the firm would not be able to cite her for professional indecency, so she decided to make do.
She did have an odd encounter as she was getting into her car. Once she was behind the wheel, she noticed that her belly was pressed against the lowest part of the wheel. She had to readjust it to a higher angle. “Weird, how did I not notice this before I got here?” Jo Ann thought some more about what Sing had said about her having paid already.
A disheartening thought went through her mind. “Did I get changed too?” She gripped her belly in both hands, feeling its mass along with her swollen womb. Her breasts ached and her stomach growled, even though she had just scarfed down a handful of donuts. She tried to find some hole in her memory but found nothing. She had been a plump graduate that gained fifty-plus pounds while working for the firm, then got pregnant and gained twenty-four more pounds. Just brushing past the memory of the sex leading up to her pregnancy had her sensitive nipples harden and her womanhood become quite warm.
Then the slide on the steering wheel’s adjuster sprang back and the wheel slammed down a level. Right into her belly. “Of course…” she sighed and laughed at herself a little. “It’s not magic, it’s just your lousy car literally falling apart!” She chuckled to herself for thinking such a ridiculous idea. She started the lousy piece of junk up and headed back to the office, only stopping at nearby Starbucks for a vente Frappuccino and two hot, ham-and-swiss sandwiches. This was all polished off by the time she arrived back at the firm.
Jo Ann was thrilled that McLaughlin was not in her office when she dropped the dress off. She immediately got back to work, with the rest of the day going about usual. She did have to interact with Johnson toward the end, which always left her feeling like she needed a full decontamination shower after.
“Ahh, if it ain’t the lovely Jo! How’re ya feeling today, mama?” he leered. His dark eyes were fixated on her V-neck, but they drank in all of her. He had a Southern drawl, which most of the time Jo Ann found sexy, but coming from Johnson set her teeth on edge.
“I’m doing fine, baby’s fine. I just need these papers signed for Ms. Laughlin,” she said with a forced smile as she placed the binder of paperwork on Johnson’s desk.
“Ya know, that old bat works you too hard. Ya could transfer, become my secretary. I’d treat ya right, darlin’. You know it.” He tried to put one of his hands over her’s on the binder, but she carefully pulled her hand away just in the nick of time.
“Hah, well, sir, you flatter me, but Ms. Laughlin just approved my leave. She would be very cross with me if I jumped ship now.” This was not the first time he had made such an offer. Nor was she the only one. He had been trying to poach secretaries for months now, to zero success. But that did not stop him from trying.
Johnson pulled his hand back as well. “Well, just consider my offer then. After the baby. We’d make a great team, ya and me.” He winked at her and leered even more at her pregnant middle. Jo Ann started to become quite uncomfortable.
“I’ll… I best be getting back. You know?” she said as she backed out of the office carefully. One does not turn their back on a predator. She controlled herself enough to keep from bolting.
“Of course,” he said. His eyes never left her body until she was out of the room.
“I think I might throw up,” she thought. Instead, she downed her discomfort in the remainder of the pastries someone had brought back from Panera. There were more than a half dozen in the box and she glutted herself on them all.
“I can’t wait until my boss gets a taste of my life,” she thought. “I just hope I don’t have to wait long.”