Lisa and her new acquaintance Tilly were now sitting in a park a few blocks away from the restaurant. Although the park was situated in the fattest town in the world, the overweight citizens still partook in activity. However, it was food related activity. People were having picnics, barbeques, and ice cream socials. Lisa was surprised so many fat men, women, boys and girls could fit in one place. Even the babies were fat. A chubby bundle of lard was being pushed in a stroller built for twins. Lisa couldn’t figure out if the mother was pregnant again or if she was just fat like the rest.
Tilly and Lisa sat in an alcove created by pine trees. Being more normally sized the girls could hide in this place were other people couldn’t get to.
“So Tilly, tell me what it’s like living in the fattest town in the world—ah, dang it! Excuse me.” Lisa had been fiddling with a tape recorder without very much success. Then ribbons tape scribbled out of it.
“You are horrible at this journalism stuff,” Tilly commented.
“Hush it.”
“You don’t want to know much about me anyways. I’m just the girl that bloats herself up with water weight in the basement. People talk about doing kinkier stuff on the internet.”
“I’m not that kind of reporter!”
“I know. But if you really want to interview someone noteworthy, I can take you to them. Scratch that; I can take you to where they should be.”
After a ten minute walk Tilly led Lisa to the outskirts of a shopping district. It didn’t look particularly out of place to Lisa. It had shops, restaurants, out-let malls and other buildings generally associated with such complexes. “What’s so special about this?” she asked Tilly.
“Just one thing before I tell you: Do you believe in magic?”
“Huh?”
“This place is magical, because it tends to distort space and time around itself. Stare hard, but not too hard, and the answer will come to you.”
Lisa was tired of riddles. All right, she thought, I’ll play your stupid little game. She gazed ahead. A Green Mill. Nothing surprising there. Right next to it was an IHOP. Still nothing surprising. She continued looking down the businesses in the block building, checking off the list of franchised eateries in her head, until she realized that she had yet to see a single clothing, electronics or bookstore.
She gasped. “There’s nothing but restaurants here!”
“Ding ding ding!” Tilly replied with mock enthusiasm. “Two points for the reporter. This area is called ‘The Eats’ by the locals. It’s infamously known around the world for containing a branch from every operating commercialized food chain in the country. Although the Hard Rock Café is nothing to write home about; all the pins are just fat guys playing guitars.”
“Amazing!” Lisa said. “But why would so many competing restaurants be built here so close together?”
Tilly pointed to another building. “Have you ever seen one of those before?”
Lisa squinted up at the sign. “ ‘La Grub Shack?’ What is it?”
“The latest corporation to jump on the pita sandwiches bandwagon. No other building of it exists in the entire US of A. It is still in its testing phase.”
Lisa gasped in surprise again. It was very easy for her. “Is South Barkalow some kind of testing ground for soon-to-be chain restaurants?”
“It very well could be. Rumor has it the mayor accepts big offers from food corporations to test their new eateries in South Barkalow. That is how all this cropped up. As you might have guessed, most of South Barkalow’s economy is controlled by food business. Isn’t this lovely? Over four square miles nothing but restaurants. Let us go in deeper.”
Tilly led Lisa through the urban labyrinth of places to eat. Just like the park, this was probably the only place in South Barkalow where the citizens were dynamically active. Families of human walruses walked to and fro. They could have their choice of any cuisine: Mexican from Acapulco; Italian from Olive Garden; Chinese from PF Chang’s; or ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery.
“What about the healthier food chains, like Subway?”
Tilly shrugged. “Those places are not as ‘shiny’ or ‘clean’ as their counter parts back in the real world. I dare say the Subways here would not help Jared keep off those two hundred pounds.”
Although she was the most physically fit of all the citizens of South Barkalow, even Lisa was getting tired from all the walking she had done that day. “You haven’t mentioned much about this person we are going to meet. Is it some important official, like the guy who develops this place?”
“Nope; just another of the many consumers of The Eats. However, this one is a bit more interesting than the common fare here.”
Lisa was dying to know who she was about to meet. “You haven’t even told me what gender this person is. Who are we meeting?”
Tilly, as usual, did not give a direct answer. “It is not too much farther. In fact…”
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
