MsCezanne's Odyssey

A black screen.

A loud resounding thump.

The screen is white, but out of focus.

Another resounding thump, the camera jumps slightly with it.

The screen focuses, it's a white tiled floor.

A third thump is heard, the camera jumps again, it's getting closer.

The camera pans around something fuzzy and green is approaching.

Another thump as the fuzzy green shape fills the frame.

The camera pulls back, it's a towel wrapped around someone. A woman's legs are seen from beneath the towel and take a step. The resounding thump is the sound of her walking. The steps are in slow motion, the legs are plump and can be seen to wiggle and jiggle in slow motion with each step.

She walks past the camera, the camera focuses on how enormous her back side appears when wrapped by the towel. She steps on a scale, and we return to normal camera speed: there is a blood curdling scream. The woman turns around, and is revealed to be Megan Stewart, her hands on her face, and her mouth hanging open.

Music plays, and the titles come up: "The Comeback: Megan Stewart". A subtitle appears after the credits, declaring "Episode 2: Turning it Around"

***

Megan is standing on the scale in the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. The towel is large and fluffy, and Megan looks absolutely gigantic wrapped up in it. Her hands are clapped over her mouth, and her eyes are wide as she looks between the camera and the readout on the scale.

The camera moves and zooms in past her pudgy toes to the readout on the scale: 186 pounds.

Megan turns and runs from the bathroom.

Geraldine is sitting on the couch, she's dressed in shorts and tight top, revealing her slender figure, and reading Variety. Megan runs into the room, still wrapped in her green towel and sits down on the couch. Geraldine bounces up and down with the force of Megan's weight hitting the couch.

Geraldine turns to Megan, "So how much?"

Megan whimpers.

"160?"

Megan whimpers and turns her head no.

"170?"

Another whimper, and a finger pointing upwards.

"Not 180!"

"One hundred," Megan's voice is trembling, "and eighty six pounds."

Geraldine whistles, "I'm sure glad I'm not you! But we'll get through this. Your agent called, you've got an appointment with a nutritionist, and a personal trainer. You'll look like me again in no time."

Megan smiles at Geraldine.

"Oh, one more thing," Geraldine adds, "I've got an audition!"

Megan's smile turns to a scowl as Geraldine gets up and walks out of the room.

***

The camera is again focused on the scale, the view turns, and in slow motion Geraldine walks into the washroom wrapped in a towel that is tight to her curves. As she approaches the scale the towel drops away to reveal Geraldine in her underwear. She steps up on the scale, and the readout quickly displays 120.

Geraldine smiles at the camera and walks away with a sexy swagger.

***

Megan is sitting in an office. She's wearing a tracksuit that appears a size too large. A man walks into the office, he's tall, dark hair, well tanned. He's wearing bicycle shorts and a muscle shirt to show off just how fit he is.

He smiles and takes her hand, "I'm Eduardo. I'll be your personal trainer Miss Stewart." As she stands up, he looks her over with a bit of disdain, "I see I have my work cut out for me!"

A montage video has Geraldine being weighed and measured, poked and prodded, and finally doing a variety of fitness tests. At the end she poses in a sports bra and shorts, which have her flesh bulging around them, for her 'before' pictures.

***

As the last flash from Megan's picture goes off we switch back to her house. Geraldine is sitting at the kitchen table with a stack of photo albums. She's flipping through them, and stops to hold a page to the camera.

"See? That's not long after we met. We were working together at some place off the strip. Everyone told us how much we looked alike." The camera zooms in, Geraldine and Megan are standing, wearing matching uniforms, looking practically identical.

Geraldine stands up and mimics the pose to show that she has changed very little since the picture was taken.

She sits back down at the table and grabs a cookie to eat. The camera catches, for just a moment, that there is a whole plate of cookies beside the stack of photo albums. Geraldine reaches for another cookie and continues flipping through the pictures.

***

Exhausted by her fitness test, Megan is now talking with Angela, an impossibly tiny blonde woman, about eating habits and propre nutrition. Angela lectures about food groups, eating strategies, what to avoid.

Finally Angela equips Megan with a massive binder. "This has all your recipes, and you're going to eat every day. After a week we'll see how you're doing."

***

Megan comes home, and sees Geraldine looking at the pictures, "what are you doing?"

"Looking at pictures of you when you were hot like me," Geraldine grinned. The plate of cookies is briefly in view, and clearly empty. "Come on, I'll get you a snack."

Geraldine reaches for another bag of cookies, and Megan stops her. She flips open the binder, "Nope, I'm scheduled for..." she walks over the fridge, opens it up and searches, "... aha, carrot sticks!"

"Suit yourself," Geraldine sets out another plate of cookies as the two friends start pointing at old pictures of each other.

Labels: FA, fiction, Geraldine, Megan, TV show, weight gain

The TV Turns on.

A woman's hand reaches for a bowl of chips.

It's the 'The Stumbles', a movie revolving around an family of spies who can never seem to get anything right, except for saving the world.
The woman's hand reaches for a bottle of Coca-Cola.

Megan Stewart played a Stumble Cousin who helps out in a car chase.

The TV channel changes, it's now 'Dino Attack', a group of explorers stumble on an island which has mysteriously appeared off the coast of California. The island is populated by prehistoric creatures.

The woman's hand puts down the empty chip bowl and reaches for a giant chocolate bar.

Megan Stewart's character is eaten by a Tyrannosaurus despite being told not to go ashore.

The TV Channel Changes. It's 'What have you Done?' The movie is a spin off of 'The Stumbles', starring Megan Stewart. The movie didn't even make enough money to cover her salary.

The woman's hands discard the wrapper for the candy bar and reach for an entire chocolate cake.

There is a knock at the door, it opens and a statuesque blonde stands in the door way. She bears a strong resemblance to Megan Stewart, but she's not, instead she says 'Megan Stewart, what have you done?'

The camera pans to reveal a flabby Megan Stewart sitting on the couch surrounded by empty dishes and wrappers, about to eat the chocolate cake.
Music plays, and the titles come up: "The Comeback: Megan Stewart". A subtitle appears after the credits, declaring "Episode 1: What have you Done?"

***

We're introduced to Geraldine. She's a typical struggling actress from the Midwest: tall, blonde, skinny, waitress. She had been friends with Megan, who had been just as typical, before Megan got her big break. Over the years they'd drifted apart, but now that Megan needed a friend, Geraldine has come back into her life.

Geraldine comes in and sits down beside Megan, "Seriously Megan, what have you done to yourself? You were so thin, so cute before, now this?"
Megan laughs an ironic laugh before replying, "Well, when 'What Have you Done?' flopped, I sort of withdrew. I tried really hard to avoid falling into drugs and alcohol, and you know that's not easy out here, but I did. Still I needed something, and when you've got $10 million in the bank, you can buy a LOT of pizzas before anyone says anything. I spent some time feeling sorry for myself. Word got out I'd given up acting, and I sort of believed it myself."

"Yeah, I'd heard that too. I actually thought you'd gone back home to Missouri!"

"I really thought about it, but I've got a good place here, and I had the money to keep it up, and I just couldn't go back home a failure. I certainly couldn't go home as a FAT failure!"

"So what now? Are you going to act again?"

"I think I'm ready. At least, I'd like to. But who's going to put this in their movie?" Megan gives her belly a big slap and lets it wobble for the camera.

***

Megan is wearing an outfit that is two sizes too tight and makes her greatly resemble a sausage. She's moving gingerly, aware that the outfit could tear at any time. She makes an aside to the camera, "this is the biggest size they make. I know it doesn't fit, but, there's not a lot of designer things in my size any more".

She opens the door, and a pull back reveals that she's entered a talent agency.

She sits down opposite a mature well appointed man who smiles earnestly, "Megan! Megan Stewart! I haven't heard from you in years. I'll be honest though, not a lot of people have been asking for you either. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Megan reaches into the candy dish on his desk and says, "I'm ready to work again. I needed some time off, to get my head back together. I know I can do better than 'What Have you Done?'. You know I can. It's time to let everyone know it!"

"Well, I'll put the word out that you're back. I know the entertainment shows are going to love your... new look. I don't know if I'll be able to get you any parts until you... well, lose your weight."

"I'm way ahead of you. I've got a friend who's going to help me get back the body that made me famous! In fact, I think I'll bring her in for you to meet, she's very good, I think you can work your magic for her."

***

Meanwhile Geraldine is back at Megan's house. She's cleaning up the kitchen, making comments and faces about how much a pig that Megan's become.

After a little while Geraldine stops to find a snack. "Healthy... healthy... she's got to have SOMETHING healthy in here."

A video montage shows her going through the cupboards and finding cookies, Twinkies, candy bars, going through the fridge and finding half eaten cakes and leftovers from various delivery places, going through the freezer and finding a variety of ice creams and frozen desserts, but nothing healthy.

Eventually she comes across some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. "You know," she confides to the camera, "I've never actually had this. I mean, you see what it did to Megan! I'm sure a taste won't hurt though."

Through accelerated video Geraldine eats the entire pint and licks her lips. "That IS good. I wonder how much of this she has?

***

"So I've been to my agent," Megan tells Geraldine as they're sitting at the kitchen table. "I'm going to lose a few pounds, and then the word will be out that I'm back!"

"Losing that weight isn't going to be easy," Geraldine warns. "In fact, I think we need to clear out all this junk you've got, you know, to remove temptation."

"I've thought about that," Megan replies, "but I was thinking, it's always going to be there, so if I can keep it around, and still resist the temptation, then I'll know I've really won."

"Oh, one more thing," she continues, "I'm going to get you in touch with my agent. We're going to be stars together! Just like we always dreamed."

Labels: fiction, Geraldine, Megan, show, weight gain

The next few weeks were a whirlwind for Geraldine. The show was gearing up for production. It would be called Megan: The Comeback. It would focus on Megan's efforts to bring back her career. Geraldine was billed as a co-star, and would be shown as the life that Megan didn't have.

The show wasn't going to be scripted, however, the producers did have plans for the girls. They were told what sort of conversations they should have on camera, the kinds of remembrances they would have, and what their daily routines were going to consist of.

Megan was going to be spending time with nutritionalists, fitness experts and personal motivators. Geraldine would continue her work, the restaurant was abuzz with the free TV time they would get after coming to an accommodation with the producers. Geraldine would also be consulting with a nutritionalist, though it would be offscreen. Her diet was going to be closely monitored, she'd have little choice about what she ate, though there would be plenty.

While reacquainting themselves with each other, Geraldine couldn't help noticing how much Megan seemed to eat. Megan just smiled back at her, "how do you think I got so fat so fast? I just love to eat! And you're going to love it too."

Geraldine was still apprehensive. She didn't want to get fat, but she didn't want to toil in obscurity either. Maybe she wouldn't gain all that much weight. She doubted she'd get as bloated as Megan had.

The show began filming, and the girls quickly learned how to stage conversations. It was was billed as 'reality', though it was anything but. It was acting, and it was very tough, they had to act like themselves, but they had to act like they weren't acting. When you're surrounded by cameras and lights and microphones, being yourself becomes impossible, unless you're a skilled actor. The girls proved themselves quite adept.

Even though she knew she'd be eating a lot, Geraldine couldn't believe how much she was eating. She ate what she was told to, and she felt like every time the camera was off she was told to stuff her self, and every time the camera was on something was put in front of her. She felt like she'd eaten more in the first week than the previous year.

By the second week of filming, Geraldine had become used to the 'always full feeling' that had been forced upon her. Her body was still aching to work out from time to time, but she was getting used to the more sedentary lifestyle she was leading as Megan's 'Rock'.

The theme was Megan getting her life back together, getting her weight under control, her name back out there, and eventually getting a movie deal. Their conversations ranged from 'what happened', 'what've you been up to', 'remember this' to 'what are your dreams for the future' kind of stuff.

Labels: fiction, Geraldine, Megan, show, weight gain

5 pounds? 10 Pounds? 100 pounds? How much weight would you have to gain for your life to change? Would it change for the better, or would it make things much much worse?

This is the story of Geraldine, one of thousands of beautiful young women who make their way to Hollywood, only to be lost in the thousands of beautiful young women who make their way to Hollywood. Geraldine was far from average, she was a statuesque blonde who took excellent care of her body. She was a competent actress and would hit it big, if only she could get her big break.

Over the years the big break does not come. She keeps her head above water, avoids serious troubles that claim so many of her peers. She keeps her dignity, she keeps her hope, she works a series of odd jobs, watching as the other statuesque blondes get their break, or far more often sink into the moral morass that Hollywood is known for.

One night she was closing up a restaurant and she came across someone alone at a table. The woman was slumped over, sleeping, or perhaps passed out. As Geraldine approached her, fearful of the coming confrontation, she noticed that the woman wasn't particularly slender. In fact, as Geraldine reached the table, she noticed the clothing seemed a few sizes too small for their owner. With a start the woman sat up and looked directly at Geraldine.

Geraldine took a step back. It was Megan Stewart. They'd been 'friends' before Megan was discovered and went on to have a few bit parts in blockbusters before starring in an absolute flop, and falling off the map of fame. Back then they could've been twins, but not now. Where Geraldine still watched her diet and never missed a work out, Megan was bloated, soft, flabby.
A moment later Megan recognised her. "Geraldine! You! Perfect, you're hired!"

"Um," Geraldine was a little surprised by this greeting. "Um, what?"

"My show. I've got a show. I mean I could have a show. It's not much, you know, washed up actress got fat, lets laugh at her. But it's a show. It's on TV. I need a best friend though. I need you on the show."

Geraldine could barely keep up with Megan's rambling. She sat down with her 'friend'. Details like 3 years without ever seeing each other vanish when someone mentions 'show' in this town. "I'll do it."

The very next day Geraldine was sitting with her agent who was telling her that she was very lucky to get such a break. She wouldn't become a zillionaire making the show, but she'd move into a nice condo, she'd have her expenses covered during shooting, and most importantly, she'd have exposure on national TV. Fake or not, Megan really was her friend!

Geraldine took the time to get to know Megan again, catch up what had happened. It was pretty simple for Megan, she'd gotten so much money so quickly, that when her career crashed, she fell into self pity and gained 70 pounds.

She'd had the good taste to do it outside the tabloids, which was critical to the show. Everyone knew who she was, but seeing her new state would add 'a hook', so the producers told the girls repeatedly. The drama would be presented by their opposite lifestyles, Megan getting back into shape and Geraldine gaining weight.

"Hold on," Geraldine interrupted the producers' discussion. "Gain weight? When? Why? No!!"
"Oh yes," one of the producers went on without missing a beat. "It's in your contract, at least 2 pounds a week."

Before the next mouth could open Geraldine was on the phone with her agent. He knew about it, but being fat and famous was better than being skinny and poor. She'd signed the contract, she had to do it.

"It's not so bad," Megan consoled her later. "It really is fun getting fat, just really hard to find work. Try it, you'll love it. I know," she patted her belly for emphasis.

Labels: fiction, Geraldine, Megan, show, weight gain