Another email here. Another update to the numbers there. Slurrp.
Claire drank from her diet coke - one of the side effects of being an ex-dieter, even if you don't care about calories anymore, is that normal sodas become unpalatable. They taste like soap.
Besides, reasoned Claire, I'm still diabetic. This didn't stop her from scarfing down a handful of chips, which she'd have to level out with some insulin.
Another email here -
Claire knew this wasn't just another meaningless HR email by the fact that it was personally sent by Haley's account. She knew this meant trouble, especially when the subject line read:
"PARKING NOTICE - PAVING"
A similar note to what ran through Claire's head of "Oh, god, no," rang out from Dana's office. It was plain what this was, but Claire clicked in anyways.
"Happy Hump Day everyone!
So in response to reports of potholes near the building, we're shutting the main parking lot next to the building for repaving starting tomorrow. Luckily, we've managed to grab some space in a nearby lot, just one block away!
P.S. - for ADA compliance, Disabled employees will still be able to receive wheelchair assitance from Doctor Hedy!"
Claire gritted her teeth. She knew damn well that Hedy was never amenable to considering Claire's rampant obesity a disability, no matter how it impeded her ability to breathe or walk extended distances.
"A block away!?" she groaned as she began the monumental effort of standing, "That's practically on the motherfucking moon! Haley's trying to damnit kill me!" Hannah was already in the doorway - she was obese once more, and getting fatter, but she was not yet as immobile or unfit as Claire or Dana. "I could try to drop you guys off at the very edge of the lot. Save you some of the walk."
Claire thought and then nodded. "Yeah - we park, then you go find a park. You can handle the walk. Dana and I just straight-up can't, especially if we wind up on the whole other damn side and we have to basically walk TWO blocks.
They closed out that day, went home to their nice suburban houses, and prepared for the trial to come. They took their medication, drank their coffee, ate a fast-food breakfast that was certainly doing no favors to their cholesterol, and prepared for the trial to come.
Sure enough, the great glass cage that was the office building was inaccessable directly - crews of men ranging from wiry to lean to nearly as rotund as Dana were filling the holes. Yet the fat ones were at least decently static.
The same could not be said as Claire and Dana found a park, and were then so-kindly ferried by Hannah until they came to a great jam in the parking lot. Three cars stood gridlocked trying to find a park. "Shit," said Dana, "We've only got thirty minutes. Just let us out right here." Hannah nodded. "Gotcha. Hop on out and I'll meet you at the office."
All the while, Haley's sadistic blonde form stood on the third floor, watching over the sad scene as the butterball and the landwhale rolled, almost literally, out of Hannah's hatchback. At least Dana seemed to be able to take the first few steps without problems. Claire seemed to struggle to even get the motion of her fat-laden pillars of legs to move smoothly against her gut. She was still able to waddle somewhat servicably, at least from a distance.
However, Claire practically had to waddle side-to-side to build up the inertia to move forward. Her fat stubby legs fought to carry the hundreds of pounds of adipose on her frame as Claire already became breathy not even a little ways out of the car. Dana at least took a few more steps to get winded, but Claire fought her fat-laden chest and her great hanging apron of a belly for breath, as the swinging entities of fat denied her lungs a clean inhale.
Her lungs were fighting her own ribcage and her heart for space in a torso ever-more pressed by visceral fat which shook with each step and impeded the basic motion of expansion. In less clinical terms, Claire felt like her lungs could only go so far before she felt the pressure of her own fat body pushing them back.
It felt like a marathon, and Claire had not even walked a quarter of a block. By the time she had even gotten half a block towards the office, her knees began to ache, her joints began to creak under the strain of walking. Claire kept pushing as her forehead began to grow from a trickle to a steady bead of sweat. Her chest rose and fell with struggling breaths that became more gasping every step forward.
"Jesus...Plehease," she breathily exhaled. Dana was doing somewhat better, leading her by some margin, and Hannah had practically raced ahead. This was to say nothing of her normal-sized co-workers. Even the few a bit less than Hannah's size generally were able to struggle on with a few drops of sweat and a grumble. Most of their thin co-workers couldn't hide their glances at Claire and her sad, pathetic and sluggish attempt at walking a block.
Dana saw Claire begin to sag as they approached three quarters of a block. "C'mon...girl... Don't make me... carry your fatass too... My own's enough..." Haley smirked as she disapppeared from the window, not that Claire could make the effort to lift her head and see her.
Dana put her arms underneath Claire's left armpit, supporting some of the heft of the woman as Dana struggled to help haul the now unabashedly gasping bipedal amalgamation of lard towards the door. It was barely a quarter of a block away, but for the two unfit fatties, it could be an eternity away.
As they finally neared the door, two employees were kind enough to open the doors for Claire. It made her briefly wonder how pathetic she must seem that they had to stop and open the doors for her.
Then it became apparent that it was like they had opened the gates to hell as Claire stopped, gasping for breath, her lungs burning and her joints refusing to go on as she felt her momentum carrying her right. Dana exerted herself, calling, "Whoa, WHOA," as she strained to hold Claire on her feet.
That task was no good, so the best Dana could do was to gently guide her to a nearby bench. It was meant for two, but Claire took nearly the entire seat up.
And Haley damn-near physically brushed past Dana to almost-mockingly go up to Claire with a face of concern.
Unbeknownst to them, the concern was real. Haley was worried for a moment that her little stunt might have killed Claire. She looked all the part of a heart attack patient, gasping for breath and grasping at her chest as she winced.
Haley enunciated loud and clear as a small crowd began to gather in worry, "Claire? You okay? Do you need me to call an ambulance?" Claire physically couldn't answer, but she simply shook her head.
Claire saw a brief motion from an employee near the wall. It struck her that they were moving for the AED kit on the wall. "M'Fine..." mumbled Claire, "J'st... L'ng Walk..." She could begin to breathe somewhat again through burning lungs, struggling to oxygenate blood through ever-shrinking arteries to her struggling heart.
A few moments clarified the issue as Claire eventually stood and made her way to the elevator, and Haley's smug look was now replaced by one of pure disgust.
Plainly, Haley didn't care if her stunt had killed her out of any sense of not wanting Claire to die in general. She was more concerned that such an event would draw attention. That it would bring too much heat from the suits on top.
As if to cap the humiliation out, as Claire drank, of all the rare beverages, some actual water in the office, another email popped up from Haley, personally directed at Claire:
"Re: Your Incident:
Claire,
I hope that little near-death experience will get you to straighten up. Anyone should be able to walk one block unassisted barring major physical impediments. In case you were too blinded by your own sweat to notice, Anna nearly had to get the defibrillator out because everyone thought you were having a heart attack.
That's how in distress you looked. I'd say go to the gym, but I'm afraid it'd kill you at this point. So I don't know what routes you really have out at this point."
As if to concur with Haley's last sentence, Claire bit into a brownie. One thing was certain, however. Something was slowly beginning to tic within Claire - her acceptance of Haley's humiliation could only go so far.
Yet, inertia still had a way to carry her. It was a crack in the dam of her ability to grin and bear Haley's mistreatment, but the dam had not yet burst.
And even amid Haley's magnificent bitchiness, there remained a few things that reminded Claire why she stayed here, beyond the money.
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