Ralph's Just Desserts

Ralph was a typical 7-year-old boy. He had ruffled brown hair and pale blue eyes, not to mention a gentle smile. He loved playing baseball with his best friends: Jim and Tory. He also had a bright green bicycle which he typically rode around his neighborhood on in his spare time.

While Ralph was usually a well-behaved kid, he could get rather cranky when he didn't get his way. An example would be when he wasn't allowed to go outside and play with his friends when he forgot to do his homework the night before.
Ralph would stomp around in his room, shouting about how angry he was. And he'd continue to make a mild fuss until the next day when he was finally allowed to leave his room.

But that hardly compares to the time when Ralph threw a tantrum and actually got want he wanted by doing so.

***

"Come on, Ralph," said his mother as she gently nudged him. "Time to wake up."

Ralph grunted as he rubbed his eyes and looked at his bed-side clock, which displayed that it was 8:35 AM.
After his mom left the room, Ralph slowly sat up and placed his feet on the floor. He stretched and left out a big yawn, but was then surprised by the rumble of his empty stomach.

"Boy, I'm starving," Ralph said groggily, rubbing his eyes.

He then walked to his closet and changed out of his pajamas. He put on a red cross-stripped button-up shirt, which was then neatly tucked under his dark-blue shorts.
Once he was dressed, Ralph left his bedroom and made his way to the kitchen to get some breakfast.

But he was rather disappointed when he saw what was placed on the table.

"Oatmeal again?" Ralph moaned. "Why do I always have to eat oatmeal for breakfast?"

"Because," his mom started. "...oatmeal is very good for you."

"But it's gross and yucky!" he protested, stirring to rather bland goop with his spoon. "Why can't I have a candy bar for breakfast?"

"Because candy isn't for breakfast," his mom said. "Now hurry up and eat your oatmeal or you'll be late for school."

Ralph crossed his arms, made a pouty face, and said quietly: "Well, I'm not gonna eat it. I want candy!"

True to his words, Ralph had not eaten his oatmeal when he got on the school bus that morning. And because he refused to eat breakfast, he remained very hungry, with his stomach still growling loudly on the bus-ride to school.

When the bus arrived at school, Ralph tripped on his shoe-lace and fell face-flat onto the concrete sidewalk.

"Ha ha!" laughed a boy behind Ralph. "Forgot to tie your shoes, dweeb?"

"Leave me alone, please…" grunted Ralph, turning to face the boy. "I'm not in the mood, George."

"Aw, did widdle Ralphie wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?" mocked George. "Boo hoo!"

George was the biggest kid in Ralph's class, in more ways than one. His father was the school's gym coach, so he made sure his son was beefy. With his gifted strength, George terrorized most of the other boys in the school, making him the school's official bully.

Once he was done laughing at Ralph, George turned his attention to the last kid who got off the bus: Alex, the chubbiest kid in school.

"Hey everybody, it's the fat kid!" yelled George.

Ralph watched as Alex just simply walked past all the other kids as they pointed and laughed at him.

"What did you eat for breakfast, Fatty?" asked George. "A whole bakery store?"

"I bet he doesn't even know what a vegetable is!" shouted a boy.

"It's an earthquake! No wait, it's just him walking!" yelled another kid.

Alex was used to being taunted about his weight, so he just quietly ignored the teasing and went on his way. George put his foot out in front of Alex's path and Alex fell to the ground. The kids laughed even louder as they watched Alex struggle to get up.

Finally the bell rang and everyone quickly rushed inside to their classrooms, still giggling and snickering whenever Alex walked past them. This was pretty typical, so Ralph hardly paid it any mind.

As the school day droned on, Ralph irritably massaged his belly as it continued to grumble and growl. It didn't help that the lesson was focused on the importance of nutrition.

"The key to a good lifestyle class is healthy eating," chirped the teacher, pointing to a poster displaying a food pyramid. "Because eating healthy is what gives us the energy to function properly. So it's important to eat lots of fruits and vegetables instead of things like candy and chocolate."

Ralph's stomach churned at those words. He couldn't help but think about all the sweets he wanted to eat.

As the day went on, Ralph was looking forward to lunch. Not just because he had skipped breakfast, but because today was Tuesday, which meant the school cafeteria would be serving pizza and ice cream sandwiches.
But when he finally got the front of the serving line, Ralph's blissful plans were put to a halt.

"Hey! Where's the pizza and ice cream?" complained Ralph when the lunch lady had instead placed a salad and a fruit cup on his lunch tray.

"Sorry, kid," said the lunch lady. "The menu for Tuesday has been changed to a more healthy selection."

"Ah, phooey!" exclaimed Ralph.

He then angrily stomped and took a seat at a table with Tory and Jim.

Tory was witty little boy, with black spiky hair and a pair of simple glasses. In contrast to Jim who was a more rambunctious kid with messy red hair and a barrage of freckles.

"Can you believe this?!" Ralph said angrily, gesturing to the small bowl of lettuce. "They got rid of pizza for this!"

"I know!" agreed Jim. "We're kids, not rabbits!"

"But at least we get these neat little fruit cups for dessert!" said Tory, trying to brighten the mood, unsuccessfully.

"Yeah, I guess" said Ralph, popping one of the juicy fruits into his mouth. "But it should be ice cream…"

If he hadn't been so hungry, Ralph would've refused the fruit cup along with the salad, but wound up eating all the semi-sweet chunks of melon, orange, and grapes. Although that was still hardly satisfying for him.

Despite his still quite crabby mood, Ralph managed to blow off his steam during recess. Ralph was quite skilled on the monkey bars and jungle gyms; often climbing back and forth and even hanging upside down. Ralph also had a swinging contest with Jim and raced both Jim and Tory up and down the slides. After that, Ralph had managed to make it through the rest of the school day.

After school, he invited Jim and Tory to play some baseball outside in his backyard. The three boys loved to play baseball together, each taking turns throwing, catching, and hitting the ball. The game soon turned into the boys just chasing each other with the ball in a sort of variation of Tag.
The boys continued playing and laughing with each other until the sky started to grow rather dark.

Once Jim and Tory had gone home, it wasn't long before all that playing had stirred up Ralph's appetite again.

"Ralph, time for dinner!" his mom called from the back porch.

"Coming, Mom!" he called back from the tool shed as he put away his baseball equipment.

As Ralph quickly ran back into the house, his stomach began grumbling louder than ever. But his once calmed temper was soon heated again at what he saw. Placed at his spot at the table was a big plate of steaming spinach with a bowl of baby carrots.

"Spinach and carrots!?" he gasped, losing his once ravenous appetite at the sight of the cooked vegetables.

"That's right," said his mom, placing a big bowl of spinach in the center of the kitchen table. "Eat up! It'll help you grow big and strong!"

"But Mom, I HATE spinach!" moaned Ralph.

"Well if you're not hungry for spinach…" said his mom, walking back to the oven. "…I've also made some broccoli."

"Eww! Yuck!" cried Ralph, gagging when his mom placed a bowl of broccoli onto the table.

"Go ahead and dig in, there's plenty to eat," said his mom. "And I even got something special for dessert. If you eat all that's on your plate, you can have some."

Ralph's eyes lit-up at the sound of that. He then forced himself to eat what he could of his spinach. The warm, leafy food tasted very bad and nasty to Ralph. He could hardly bring himself to swallow each bite. He constantly took big gulps of milk to help it go down. Once in a while, he would even just drop some onto the floor without his mom noticing.

"Okay…I'm done…" gasped Ralph, holding up his empty plate. "Now can I have dessert?"

"What's the magic word?" his mom asked.

"Now can I have dessert…please?" Ralph said, trying hard to sound pleasant.

"Okay, I suppose so," his mom said with a smile. She then got up and pulled a white box out of the fridge.

"I hope you saved room, cause this is a special dessert…" she then reached in and put a slice of cake on Ralph's plate.

After gazing hungrily at the slice, Ralph immediately grabbed his fork and shoved a piece of the cake into his mouth. Only to spit it out after noticing the disgusting taste.

"Ugh…what kind of cake is this?!" asked Ralph, wiping his mouth with his arm.

"It's carrot cake," said his mom. "It's much more healthy than regular cake. And this one has extra carrots in it!"

"NO!" yelled Ralph, pushing his plate as far from himself as he could. "I'm sick of all this healthy stuff! I want to eat food that tastes sweet! I want candy! Ice cream! And cake! Real cake! NO MORE HEALTHY JUNK!"

"Now that's enough!" his mom scolded. "If you're going to be that way, then you can go to your room right now, young man!"

"Hmph!" said Ralph, crossing his arms. He stormed out of the kitchen, stomped up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door.

"I hate oatmeal for breakfast! I hate fruit and salad for lunch! And I HATE spinach for dinner!" he pouted as his stomach grumbled loudly again. "I never wanna eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner again! I wish I could just eat nothing but desserts! All day, everyday, all the time!"

At that moment, something hit Ralph's bedroom window with a "bang". He open his window and noticed a small package with a note tied to it.

Ralph slowly opened the small box and inside it were two cupcakes. One was a big chocolate cupcake with red icing and sprinkles, the other one was smaller, looked more bland, and had green icing.

He then opened the note and read it aloud:

Heard your life's gone bitter, so here is something to sweeten it.

Eating the red chocolate cupcake will make your life as sweet as can be.
But when you've had enough sweets, then eat the green carrot cupcake.

Use them well.

"Huh…" muttered Ralph, glancing back at the two cupcakes sitting in the package.

Before he could think about this odd gift any further, Ralph's stomach grumbled again, urging him to eat the red cupcake.

"Sure…why not?" he said, picking up the cupcake.

Without another word, he took a huge bite of the cupcake and moaned with delight as the soft, sweet taste filled his mouth. Once Ralph had eaten the whole delectable treat, he licked any crumbs still on his fingers and let out a small burp.

"Mmm, now that was good!" he said happily.

Ralph then looked back the box. He picked up the box and stared at the green carrot cupcake still in the package.

"A carrot cupcake?" Ralph scoffed. "What a joke! Like I'm ever going to eat that!"

Without a second thought, he closed the box and shoved it under his bed. Ralph then suddenly let out a huge yawn.

"Boy, I'm really sleepy…" he said quietly. "And it's not even my bed-time yet..."

As his eyes became harder to keep open, Ralph took off his shoes and promptly laid down on his bed. After a few minutes, the young boy had fallen fast asleep.

***

"Time to wake up, Ralph," Ralph's mom said from the other side of his bedroom door.

"Uhh…" groaned Ralph, rubbing his eyes.

He sat up straight and tried to remember everything that had happened the night before. Sure enough, he had fallen asleep, and he hadn't even changed into his pajamas before going to bed. He was still wearing the same red button-up shirt and blue shorts he wore yesterday.

"Okay, I'm up," Ralph said to his mom.

Once he left his room and walked down the stairs, he remembered the bland breakfast that was no doubt waiting for him in the kitchen.
But this time, Ralph was genuinely surprised by what he saw on his plate at the table.

On his plate were three huge chocolate bars and a small bowl of M&Ms. And next to the plate was a big glass of chocolate milk.

"Wow!" exclaimed Ralph. "I actually get to have candy for breakfast?"

"Don't be silly…" said his mom. "This isn't breakfast. You're having candy for dessert. Now eat up."

"Uhh…okay!" said Ralph, a little confused, but eager to eat the candy.

Without wasting another second, Ralph munched away at his sweet "breakfast". Taking huge bites of the sweet and delicious candy bars, followed by a handful of M&Ms, Ralph enjoyed every single bite.

When Ralph had finished his entire plate, his mom offered him more candy. This time she added more goodies into the mix: starbursts, gummy bears, milk duds, and even reese's pieces. And Ralph continued to eat them all, glugging glass after glass of cold, creamy, chocolate milk.

Soon, Ralph had eaten so much candy, that his belly had started to grow big and round. When he had finally had eaten his fill, he could feel his shirt starting to get a little snug around his stomach. Ralph had never been so full in his life, his full stomach even bounced and sloshed a little as he walked outside to wait for the school bus.

When the bus arrived, Ralph sat right next to Jim, who's stomach also looked very round.

"You'll never guess what I had for breakfast," said Ralph.

"Candy?" Jim guessed.

"How did you know?" asked Ralph.

"My mom gave me candy for breakfast too!" said Jim, rubbing his stuffed belly. "It was delicious!"

"Yeah…" sighed Ralph, patting his stomach. "Best breakfast ever!"

When it was lunch-time at school, instead of giving Ralph a bowl of salad, he got an enormous ice cream sundae. A sundae with four different flavors of ice cream, all of which were drenched in chocolate sauce, with a huge blob of whipped cream, and was coated in flood of sprinkles.

"Now this is more like it!" said Ralph, placing his lunch tray across from Jim and Tory's. "Candy for breakfast and ice cream for lunch! Now that's sweet!"

"I don't know…" said Tory, looking at his own un-touched ice cream. "My mom said too much sugar makes me kinda hyper."

"So…" said Jim with a mouthful of ice cream. "…is that bad?"

"I don't know," said Tory. "She never let me have enough until today."

"Well…" said Ralph, shoveling another big bite into his mouth. "I guess we'll find out!" After he had swallowed, Ralph let out a big belch, followed by an "excuse me".

Sure enough, even though they were completely stuffed, all that sugar had made the kids rather excited and hyperactive. As they played on the playground during recess, they had ten times the energy they would've normally had.

They ran, jumped, and laughed all around the jungle gym. Climbing, sliding, swinging, and using as much sugar-energy as they possibly could. They ran circles all around the playground, laughing as they endlessly chased each other around in their completely out of control sugar rush.

When the bell rang at the end of recess, everyone seemed to have slowed down, although they were still a little fidgety.

Before dinner, Ralph had managed to burn off the rest of his excess energy by riding his bike a couple of times around the neighborhood. Ralph had lapped the block about fifteen times when surely enough, all that biking had made him hungry again, and he couldn't wait to see what was for dinner.

"I hope you're hungry, because I made all your favorites," said Ralph's mom as he took a seat at the dinner table.

On the dinner table were three different flavors of pie, a platter of freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies, and a huge chocolate cake with a thick layer of pink frosting.
Ralph grew even hungrier just by looking at the table of desserts.

"Go on and dig in," said his mom with a smile. "It's all for you."

"Oh, boy!" said Ralph.

He then grabbed his fork and took a huge bite out of the cake.

"So soft and moist…" he moaned as he chewed. "…just the way I like it…"

After savoring his first bite, Ralph quickened his pace and started scooping huge chunks of the cake into his mouth, chewing massive amounts of cake at one time before washing them down with a gulp of chocolate milk.
Ralph also tried each of the different pies: blueberry, apple, and cherry. All were baked to perfection, with warm crust and sweet, juicy fruit.
Near the end, Ralph sampled the cookies. Each and every bite simply melted in his mouth with soft, sugary dough and gooey chocolate-chips.

When the cake plate had nothing but crumbs, the pie tins were licked clean, and every last cookie was gone, Ralph leaned back and let out another loud belch, again, followed by an "excuse me".

Chocolate smudges and crumbs were smeared all over Ralph's lips and cheeks. And all that food in his belly had made it grow even bigger until it felt very stretched and full. After eating his delicious and expansive meal, Ralph lazily retired to the couch in the living room, rubbing his aching belly as it digested.

"Ohhh…" Ralph moaned happily. "…I'm so full!"

"Enjoyed your dessert, Ralph?" asked his mom.

"Oh yeah…" said Ralph. "…it was great, Mom."

"Well, I hope you saved some room…" his mom said. "…cause I just finished making a fresh batch of brownies!"

"Brownies? Ohhh…" said Ralph, grabbing his stomach which grumbled in protest. "Alright, I'll have one…" he said as he lifted an open hand.

One, soon became two, followed by two more, then about five more, and then Ralph had eaten just one more. Overwhelmed by the amount of treats, Ralph soon fell into a deep, food-induced sleep back in his bed. Sure he felt like he was going to burst, but he really loved this change of menu in life. Even though he was completely unaware of the consequences that were bound to happen soon…

***

"Ralph!" called his mom from down stairs. "Time to get up!"

"Uhh…" moaned Ralph, rubbing his eyes. "Morning already?"

Leftover and half-eaten desserts were scattered all over Ralph's bedroom. Trays of brownies were sitting on his desk, empty chocolate milk cartons and jugs littered his bookshelves, and many sampled pies and cakes were laid next to Ralph's bedside table.

Three weeks had passed since Ralph had started eating nothing but desserts, and it was really starting to show. The once rather slim and small boy had grown to nearly four time his original size.
His face had become noticeably rounder, with his cheeks puffing out slightly and a double chin starting to form around his neck. His upper legs had thick layer of fat to them, which led up to his very wide waist.
But the thing that had really grown was his belly, which was now a huge ball of squishy fat. Ralph could feel the strain of his shirt as it tried to contain what it could his girth. About two inches of his stomach poked out from under his favorite red shirt, and resting on top of his expansive tummy was a vanilla cake with purple frosting and rainbow sprinkles.

As he started to stretch, Ralph heard a loud creaking noise, followed by the sound of wood breaking, and before he knew it, his mattress had hit the floor and the cake on his belly splattered onto the carpet.

"Oh, man…" he muttered. "…I think I just crushed the bed!"

As Ralph lifted his very heavy body into a standing position, the floor creaking slightly as he did so, he examined the remains of his bed.
Sure enough, it had broken. The wooden frame was broken in half with the mattress tipped slightly forward among the wreckage.

"Come on, Ralph!" yelled his mom again. "Come eat your dessert or you'll be late for school!"

"Coming, Mom!" he yelled back.

The whole house nearly shook with each step that Ralph took down the stairs and into the kitchen. When he finally got to his chair, Ralph was out of breath and was ravenously hungry.

"Here's your dessert…" said his mom, placing a large bowl of candy in front of her overweight son.

"Uhh…Mom…" said Ralph, still panting a little. "I think I…smashed my bed."

"That's okay," she said, nonchalantly. "I'll shop for a stronger one later today. Now hurry up and eat."

"Okay…" said Ralph, thinking that his mom would be a little more concerned about his bed breaking.

Putting it out of his mind, he grabbed the bottle of chocolate sauce off the table and drenched his bowl of candy in it. Ralph then took his spoon and ate away at his big bowl of chocolate covered candy.
Having being fed so much delicious food all the time, Ralph's appetite had become almost as big as his stomach. Instead of drinking glasses of chocolate milk, Ralph just drank it by the gallon and his bowls could now hold about three bags of candy.

Three bowls later, his belly had grown so big that his shirt buttons started to stretch his shirt out, exposing his stomach in between each button.

"There's the bus," said Ralph's mom, looking out the front window. "You better get going!"

"Right," said Ralph after drinking the last of his chocolate milk and grabbing a bag of cookies to take with him.

"Have a good day at school," his mom called as he waddled out down the sidewalk.

Alot of the other kids on the bus where about as fat as Ralph was. And like him, many of their shirts couldn't even cover their whole stomachs, and they were all munching on treats they brought with them. One boy was lazily shoving whole cupcakes into his mouth, while another was drinking straight from a chocolate syrup bottle, and Alex had his face buried in a massive pie tin.

After spotting and empty seat next to Tory and Jim, Ralph squeezed into the spot next to them. The size of the obese boys made for little seat space. While they would've normally talked with each other, the boys instead spent the whole time eating the food they brought with them.

The bus ride to the school took quite a bit longer than it was before, due to all the overweight children riding it. Although this hardly bothered the kids as it gave them more time to eat. When in finally arrived in front of the school, the bus' frame couldn't bear the load anymore and collapsed, causing the bus to break down and black smoke to pour out of the engine.
The driver casually opened the doors, and all the kids slowly squeezed their way out of the cramped bus.

Ralph watched as some of the other kids weren't walking into the school, but actually rolling like giant beach balls through the front door. After watching some of the other kids try over the past few days, Ralph decided to try it for himself today.

He bent his knees and fell onto his sizable backside and shifted his weight forward, and sure enough, he was starting to move forward. Ralph carefully repositioned himself so that as he rolled his head and limbs wouldn't touch the ground. Soon Ralph had rolled his way in the school hallway.

"Hey everybody!" called an even bigger George, who's black t-shirt wasn't even close to fitting his massive body. "It's the fit kid!"

True to those words, a rather slim boy with buck teeth and taped-up glasses walked down the hallway.

"Look at him, what a weirdo!" mocked one boy.

"And he's even wearing a shirt that FITS him!" cried another. "What a dork!"

"Oh yeah…" thought Ralph, as all the other kids pointed and laughed at the skinny kid. "…I guess no one makes fun of you for being fat anymore."

"What did you eat for breakfast, Skinny?" asked George. "One little piece of broccoli?"

"He probably doesn't even know what dessert is!" yelled another boy.

"Hey! Let's shove him in his locker…because he'll fit!" said George.

He reached out and tried to grab the fit kid by the shirt, but he just stepped out of George's reach. After wiggling his arm a little, George started walking after the fit kid. The fit kid was simply walking down the hallway, but George grunted with every step he took. Sure his legs were beefy enough to support all that weight, but his enormous body was still really weighing him down, making it really hard for him to "chase" after the fit kid. Soon, George tripped on his untied shoe lace and fell to the ground with a loud thud that shook the hallway. 
The fit kid then smiled and continued to his classroom untouched.

"Cool!" thought Ralph. "George is now too fat to bully anyone anymore."

George rolled over onto his back, panting heavily and wiping the sweat off of his forehead. He then got out a chocolate bar and began eating it.

"It doesn't get much better than this!" Ralph thought.

Soon, the bell rang and Ralph leaned onto his side and rolled his way to class.

All the overweight students sat quietly in their seats while the still-slim teacher babbled on and on about the physics of the solar system. Something about  "a planet's orbit" here and "its relativity to its size and distance from the sun" there, Ralph, as usual, was half-hardly paying attention.

Finally, the lunch bell rang and everyone wasted no time in going to the cafeteria. Were they found more desserts already laid out on the lunch tables.

As Ralph made his way toward Jim and Tory, he glanced at some of the other kids who were happily eating away at their massive spread. Ralph could almost swear he saw their bellies getting bigger as they ate.
One boy with blonde hair was loudly chewing a frisbee-sized cookie, when he began to take another bite, his belt snapped off and fell to the floor, allowing the boy's stomach to bulge out a little more.

When he got the table, Ralph greeted his friends with a quick glance before he picked up an entire cake with purple and pink icing and started taking huge bites out of the warm, soft, chocolatey dessert.

Jim was also busy eating an entire stack of those frisbee-sized cookies, his belly bulging further out of his dark green shirt as he ate. When he finished, he licked his fingers clean and grabbed the next one. Tory was eating a cake similar to Ralph's, only he was almost finished with his.

When Ralph was about half-way through his chocolate cake, he heard a loud creaking sound. And the next thing he knew: he was sitting at floor-level. He looked down to see that while he was still in his chair, the legs on it had broken off.

Pretty soon, alot of the other students chairs creaked and collapsed under the girth of the kids sitting in them. By the time recess started, nearly all the lunch room chairs had be smashed into scrap.

Even though he felt very stuffed, Ralph was looking forward to playing on the playground. But as he waddled toward it, he could see that most of the other kids didn't seem to have the same idea.

All of the obese kids were just laying on the ground, with their round bellies sticking up like giant, tan globes, which were slowly rising and falling with each kid's forced breath. The only sounds were the soft breeze and the occasional belch from one of the kids followed by an: "excuse me".

"Wanna go on the swings?" asked Ralph, standing next to a lethargic Jim.

"No…*BURP*…thanks…" muttered Jim.

"Why not?" asked Ralph. It wasn't like Jim to not want to play on the swing set.

"I'm too full…I just wanna take a nap…" said Jim with a yawn.

"Alright…if you wanna be a baby…" mutter Ralph under his breath. He then made his way to Tory, who was lazily fiddling with his glasses on the bench.

"Tory, you up for some jungle gym?" Ralph asked him.

"Maybe later, Ralph…" Tory mumbled. "…I'm kinda drained."

"Okay," said Ralph to himself. "I'll just play by myself then!"

He trundled his way over to the see-saw. Before he got on himself, Ralph spotted the fit kid from earlier.

"Hey!" he called out. "You wanna do the see-saw with me?"

"Uhh…I don't think that's such a good idea," said the fit kid, readjusting his glasses.

"Come on!" insisted Ralph. "It'll be alright!"

"Uhh…okay," said the fit kid meekly.

The fit kid got on the side that was already on the ground, with a nervous look forming in his eyes. Ralph then lifted his leg over the top of the other side and began to lower himself onto the seat. As soon as he sat on his end, Ralph found himself already on the ground with the fit kid screaming as he was flung into the air.

He landed in a pile of mulch and weekly said: "I'm okay…I'm…ow…okay."

"Okay, maybe not the see-saw today…" said Ralph. He looked around the playground and noticed the vacant swing set.

"This'll be better!" said Ralph, waddling over to a lone swing. "I can do this alone!"

He turned his back to the swing and slowly lowered his heavy body into the seat. Given his gracious size, the swing was rather small to Ralph. Even so, he managed to fit himself into the seat, causing the metal pole above him to groan a little. When his back-side was in the swing seat comfortably, Ralph began to raise his legs to start swinging.
However, Ralph's weight strained the metal frame and bent it. The metal chains Ralph was holding onto couldn't hold his weight either and they snapped right off the set, causing Ralph to hit the ground and land on his back.

"Ohh man…" he moaned. Luckily most of his fat cushioned his fall, but Ralph still felt a little sore.

Ralph lifted the disconnected swing chains in his hands and then looked up at where they had snapped from the rest of the set. He then dropped them and let out a deep sigh of annoyance.

"Come on, there has to be something fun to do…" he said, looking at the rest of the playground over his belly, which wasn't easy.

Ralph then took notice of the slide, since everyone else was too tired, there was no one waiting in line to slide down.

He quickly rolled himself over the slide ladder and started climbing up. Each step of the ladder creaked under Ralph's weight as he struggled to climb with his added weight. By the time he reached the top, sweat had drenched Ralph's face and he was gasping for air.

Before he could position himself to slide down, a bug began buzzing around Ralph. He took one hand off the ladder and tried to wave it away. When that proved to do no good, he recklessly took his other hand off the ladder and waved both of his hands to shoo away the bug. Ralph then lost his balance and fell off the ladder and once again landed flat on his back on the ground.

"Urgh!" Ralph grumbled, both in pain and anger. Not wanting to climb that now seemingly taller ladder again, he decided to try something else.

Ralph then decided to roll himself over to his favorite part of the jungle gym: the monkey bars.

"Why didn't I think of that before?" he thought.

The set only had three ladder steps leading up to the bars, so he didn't have to strain himself with climbing up. He grabbed the first bar and slowly lifted his legs off the steps. Ralph then grunted as he tried to keep his hands from slipping off. That extra heavy stomach of his made it even harder for him to hang on. Ralph tried swinging his legs up to one of the other bars to help hang on more, but his really large belly made it impossible for him to left his legs much higher than they already were.
Before his arms could get any weaker, the metal of the bars started to squeak and bend.

"Oh come on…" moaned Ralph under his struggled breath.

As expected, the bar he was holding onto broke clean off the row and Ralph found himself on the ground again. After looking at the damage he had accidentally done…again, Ralph finally just collapsed onto his back. His face was covered in sweet, his whole body ached, and he was very out of breath.

"Aw, forget it..." he moaned.

For the rest of the recess break, Ralph decided to just lay around like everyone else.

When the school day was finally over, Ralph invited Jim and Tory to come to his house to play baseball. But both boys declined, saying they wouldn't want to be late for dessert (which Ralph knew meant "dinner").
Since he had nothing better to do when he came home, Ralph decided to do something he hadn't done in a few days: ride his bike.

He opened the garage door and moved his bright emerald-green bike onto the drive-way. Ralph then grabbed his bike helmet and clicked the strap around his soft face. He placed his hands on the handle bar and carefully lifted his thick leg over the little bike. As he lowered himself onto the seat, Ralph could hear the bike's suspension groan, unable to support such a heavy load.There was also a small pop, followed by a soft hissing sound. Before he even got a chance to peddle, Ralph tipped to the side and into the grass beside the sidewalk.

Ralph reluctantly got to his feet and lifted his bike upright again. The bike was bent right in the center of the frame, making the seat two inches lower than it was before. If Ralph had sat on it again, he would've snapped it in half. He also traced the source of he hissing sound to the flat tires still loosely attached to the wheels.

"Oh, man…" he sighed, glancing down at his blubbery body. "I've eaten so much junk food and now I'm too heavy to do anything fun anymore!"

"Ralph!" his mom called from the porch. "Time for dessert! Come inside and wash up please!"

As he dragged his wrecked bike back into the garage, Ralph shuddered as he thought about the amount of sugar awaiting him at the dinner table.

Sure enough, Ralph's mom had prepared a feast of sugary confections for him. Chocolate cakes drenched in chocolate syrup, pies by the baker's dozen, trays and tray of cookies and brownies, and a mountain of ice cream sundaes.

"Uhh…mom?" muttered Ralph.

"Yes, Ralph?" said his mom.

"Could I…" Ralph couldn't believe what he was about to say. "…have some vegetables for dinner instead?"

"What?" said his mom with a smile, she he laughed a little. "Why on Earth would you want vegetables for dessert?"

"Because…" began Ralph. "I don't want anymore sweets. I've eaten nothing but cake and stuff and now I'm too big to do anything." He lifted his belly. "Look at me, I'm like a blimp!"

"Oh, Ralph, don't be so silly!" his mom continued, in a tone Ralph had never heard his mother speak with before. "Little boys don't eat vegetables, those are for grown-ups. Little boys eat sweets."

"Mom, I want healthier food, please!" Ralph pleaded.

"Now that's enough," his mom said, stern but still smiling.

She then shoved Ralph into his chair which creaked as he sat down. And without warning, Ralph's mom shoved a handful of cake into his mouth. Ralph was enamored by the taste but after he swallowed it he tried to protest further, only to have his open mouth filled with another handful of cake.

His mom continued to shovel forkfuls of food to Ralph, who struggled to escape. His Mom had placed one hand on top of his belly, forcing him to remain in his seat and she continued feeding him with her free hand.

Ralph muffled cries of discontentment as his dessert was shoved into his mouth, bite by bite. While he couldn't have asked for better tasting food, he could feel his stomach growing even bigger as his mom fed him. The buttons on his shirt had finally reached their limit and started to pop off one by one as he belly grew bigger and rounder.

When every last bit of the food was gone, Ralph's mom finally stopped, and Ralph couldn't be more relieved. At this point, Ralph felt like he had eaten his original weight in food.  Dark brown smudges were coated all over his lips and cheeks. Only one button still remained done, with stretched red fabric on both ends trying to keep the boy clothed.

Before he could muster the strength to leave the chair, Ralph's mom quickly shoved a jug of chocolate milk to his lips and tipped it upward. Some of it spilled onto his cheeks, but his mouth was filled with to flow of thick, creamy chocolate flavored milk. Ralph instinctively swallowed, only for more milk to puff up his cheeks again, making him slowly chug the flowing liquid. Ralph could feel his aching belly grow heavier as the milk made its way down his gullet.
Ralph would've made a bigger effort to escape, but he could only focus on breathing slowly through his nose and he felt so sick from eating so much.

At last, the final button split off his shirt and clinked onto the hard-wood floor, leaving Ralph's shirt completely open, making it seem more like a vest than a shirt.

The jug was soon empty and Ralph's mom removed it from his lips, allowing him to moan in pain and let out a massive belch, he didn't even have the energy to excuse himself. Although, he mom seemed to be hardly in the mood to enforce such rules.

"Don't go anywhere…" his mom said with a smile. "…I've got more cakes in the oven, and I'll make sure you eat every single one!"

"Ohhh…." moaned Ralph, rubbing what he could of his huge and bloated stomach. "No more please, Mom…I'm full..."

His mom ignored him as she retreated back to the kitchen, when she did, Ralph saw this as his opportunity to leave.

"How do I make it all stop?" he thought. "I want everything back the way it was!"

And then Ralph remembered something, the thing that was written on that strange note with those cupcakes: "Eating the red chocolate cupcake will make your life as sweet as can be…But when you've had enough sweets, then eat the green carrot cupcake."

"The green cupcake!" Ralph thought. "If I eat it, maybe everything will go back to normal. Now where did I put it?"

He racked his brain, trying to remember what he did with the second cupcake.

"Oh right, it's in my room!" Ralph remembered.

"The cakes are going to take a little longer!" his mom called from the kitchen. "But don't worry, the next batch of cookies are ready!"

"Oh man!" grunted Ralph. "I gotta get to that cupcake before I burst!"

Ralph gathered every ounce of strength and lifted himself to his feet. His legs wobbled as he strained himself into a standing position. All that extra food in his stomach nearly made Ralph tip forward, but he quickly lifted his feet and struggled to walk out of the room.
Each step Ralph took practically made the whole house shake, but he continued to waddle his way to the stairs.

"Now just up the stairs…" Ralph panted and he whipped more sweat off his forehead.

But as he lifted his leg, Ralph's foot could barely reach the top of the step.

"Ugh…I'm so unhealthy, I don't have the energy to climb stairs!" exclaimed Ralph.

"The triple-fudge brownies are done!" his mom called from the kitchen. "I want to make sure you eat your fill!"

"Uh oh!" said Ralph as his belly churned at the thought of more food.

He doubled his efforts and with surprising strength, Ralph lifted his foot up onto the step. As he slowly  but surely climbed up the stairs, each one creaking as he stepped, Ralph panted and gasped, but still made his way up. When he reached the top, he purposely fell onto his side and rolled down the hallway to his room, ignoring how weird the carpet felt on his exposed stomach.

"Come on, Ralph," his mom called. Ralph swore she was getting closer to him. "Time for second helpings!"

Ralph couldn't open the door with his hand since his belly was in the way, so he took a step back and  thrust his belly into the door, breaking it clean off the hinges as it fell onto the floor. Ralph quickly ran in, only to trip on his now untied shoe lace and fall face-flat into a leftover pie that was just beside his bed.

After wiping the cherry filling off his eyes, Ralph spotted the small box tucked under his smashed bed. Not having the time to get back up, Ralph made the effort to crawl towards it. Since the bed was broken in half, there was hardly any room to reach under it. Even so, Ralph reached his arm through the gap. He could hardly get his thick arm very far in, but the package was less than an inch away from his fingers.

"Ralph, time to stop messing around," his mom's voice called from the hallway. "Come back down stairs and eat your dessert!"

"No!" gasped Ralph in terror.

He wiggled and waved his arm around, trying his hardest to reach the box. A smile spread across Ralph's messy face as he felt the box's paper in his hand. Without haste, he pulled the box out and ripped it open again. Sitting inside was the single, green, carrot cupcake, looking as bland and tasteless as ever.
Ralph immediately grabbed it, tossing the box aside, and scarfed it down. It was the most disgusting and awful cupcake Ralph had ever tasted in his life, but he was glad it wasn't something with sugar.

As he finished the gross carrot cake, Ralph suddenly felt his stomach groan and ache sharply.

"Oh…no!" he said, clutching his stomach. "This is it. I've eaten too much and now I'm going to explode!"

He rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes. Wishing more than anything for his life to just go back to normal.

***

"Time to wake up, Ralph," Ralph's mom said from the other side of his bedroom door.

"Uhh…" groaned Ralph.

After rubbing his eyes, Ralph looked down at his body. His body had miraculously slimmed back down to his original size, even all the buttons were back on his red shirt. Ralph also realized that he was sitting on his bed, which was also fixed back to normal, and there was no trace of the leftover desserts left in his room at all.

Ralph was happy to be back to normal, but he quickly got up and looked around his room for the box that had the cupcakes and the strange note. When he couldn't find it, Ralph wondered if any of that actually happened or if it was all just a dream. The window was still open, just like it was the night he threw his tantrum when he got the box…

Before he could think about it any further, Ralph's mom called: "Hurry, Ralph, or you'll be late for school! Come on down and have breakfast!"

"Did she actually say…breakfast?" said Ralph, his stomach gurgling. "Yes! She said 'breakfast', not 'dessert'!"

Ralph hurried downstairs, happy to be able to walk swiftly again, and sat down at the table, were a big bowl of oatmeal was waiting for him. Without hesitation, Ralph grabbed his spoon and ate away. It tasted bland and soggy, but Ralph happily ate two whole bowls for breakfast.

At recess, having eaten what he could of the dry and leafy salad, Ralph was able to run around and play on the jungle gym with Tory and Jim. Ralph was also especially glad he could swing and climb around on the monkey bars again without breaking them.

Ralph even had enough energy to ride his bike after school around the neighborhood. While he only circled the block a few times, he really enjoyed feeling the air rush past him as he happily peddled around on his functional green bike.

Finally, when it was dinner time, Ralph willingly ate his servings of spinach and carrots. They still tasted rather yucky, but he was so happy that he wasn't eating his weight in junk food.

"This certainly is a pleasant change," his mom said. "Eating what's put in front of you without complaining, I'm impressed!"

"Yeah," said Ralph, after swallowing the last of his cooked spinach. "Eating healthy food is what gives me energy to do all the fun things I like to do. If I just ate all the sweets I wanted, I'd be too unhealthy."

"That's right," his mom said with a smile. "Although, there's nothing wrong with having some sweets every now and then."

Ralph's mom got up and walked over to the refrigerator. She opened the door, pulled out a white box and brought it to the table.

"So for eating all your dinner, I guess you can have some 'real' cake for dessert…" she said as she opened the box.

Inside was a very large chocolate cake with thick frosting and a light drizzle of chocolate sauce.

"Uhh…cake?" said Ralph, going a little pale at the sight of it.

"Sure, you've earned it!" said his mom, cutting a slice and setting it on his plate.

Ralph looked at the slice on his plate, with the sick feeling lingering in his gut.

"Sure…why not?" he said, shaking off the negative vide.

He slowly grabbed a piece of with his fork and ate the sweet dessert with a wide smile on his face.