When Dustin told Ty about making the football team, Ty asked if Dustin could talk Coach Fowler into letting him help as equipment manager. The very next day at
school, Ty and Dustin went to talk to the coach during lunch hour. They were surprised to find Coach Fowler on the scale in his shorts with a handful of candy
bars. Coach was patting the scale, and chuckling to himself as he stuffed one candy bar after another into his mouth. He stopped and stared when he saw Dustin
and Ty walk into the room.
"Oh, hi guys," he finally said, between mouthfuls of chocolate, his gut bulging prodigiously over the thick band of his shorts, "what can I do for you?" Dustin paused
a moment, a little perplexed by coaches appearance, then he began to explain that Ty was interested in helping with the football equipment. Coach seemed
genuinely interested in letting Ty join the team, but he also had a look of concern on his face. He told the boys that he might not be football coach much longer,
because his wife resented all of the time he was spending with his players.
"I'm trying to get her to divorce me," he said bluntly, "that's why I've been eating so much for the past four months. The boys were silent. Coach explained that his
wife had hated seeing him get fat when he played football in college. He had now swollen well beyond his college weight, and his big fat gut was forcing her to think
seriously about leaving him.
"I've gotten THIS fat," coach laughed, as he rubbed his bulging middle, " I figure I'll just keep growing, til she signs the divorce papers. The boys were amazed by
the coaches outrageous plan, but they admired the simplicity of it. Ty caught himself staring at the big belly that coach had packed on over the summer. He smiled
at the thought of coach growing bigger and bigger.
Suddenly, the beam on the scale banged upward with a loud bell-like sound. Coach's belly broadened considerably, pushing forward, and forcing the top of his
shorts to pop open. Rubbing himself thoughtfully, he shoved the small, bottom weight all the way to the right. Coach whistled loudly when the beam refused to
balance. His weight had exceeded the scale's three-hundred-fifty-pound capacity
"WOW," he exclaimed, marveling at his much larger gut, "those candy bars really packed a wallop!" Rolling off of the scale, coach lumbered to his locker, and
eagerly struggled to fit himself back into his street clothes. He was laughing giddily, excited and amazed by his sudden weight gain.
"Wait til Mona sees this," he spouted, grabbing the sides of his belly, and hefting the weight of it in his hands, "she's gonna have a cow!'' The big man was still trying
to buckle his pants as he hurried out of the room. Ty looked up at Dustin knowingly, and shot him a sly wink.