The Lunch Bunch
by The Observer

[The lunch bunch was a recent sighting reported on the Dimensions site; it is blended here with another event that resulted in some very happy consequences. Hopefully the experience of the participants makes you feel as warm as it did me.]

Charlotte Masters, Roberta Hummel and Marilyn Faust came from the same metropolitan area but attended different schools. They first met at fat camp when they were fourteen. Each was already a little chubby.

They enjoyed the camp --- the canoe and horseback rides, overnight stays in the woods, passes to the movies on Saturday night (which they all used as an opportunity to enjoy otherwise forbidden goodies). They even lost a little weight by not bending the rules too obviously --- but once they got back to regular public school they all gained their loss back plus a little more as well.

Over the next several years they stayed in contact, three heavy girls united against peer and familial pressure of their parents to "do something" about their weight. They occasionally did things together and helped one another with their studies. Food was frequently involved.

Marilyn, the 5' 6" brunette was the most outspoken --- simply declaring that she was "too busy" to try to change the way God had made her. She had a solid 3.5 grade point average, was active in the student body, and stayed out of trouble. She was also the heaviest, graduating high school at 175 lbs.

Charlotte, the 5"7 blond was more pragmatic. She had to buy her own clothes and so tried not gain too much in high school. But she shared Marilyn's feelings that, while the effort may have been very well intended, the camp was simply another control mechanism of society trying to grind people down. She graduated at around 160 lbs.

Roberta, the shortest at 5' 4" was also a brunette, and because of her height the most noticeably plump of the trio. She was also the best cook and conversationalist, in addition to being a seamstress. Some felt she was possibly also the sparkplug of the group. At graduation she weighed 170 pounds.

The three girls worked at different jobs during the summer, but for financial reasons all elected to attend Junior College in the fall. It was in this fashion that they wound up being classmates. They had heard of the fabled "freshman fifteen" and it was Roberta who first suggested that they might try to make it the "freshman forty."

"What for?" Charlotte had initially asked.

"Because none of us likes dieting anyway, so while we are still young we should see what its like to be a little fat. I have heard some people like it once they get used to it --- and I have a hunch that, for me, its true."

"Times are changing," Marilyn agreed. "You can get decent clothes form all sorts of places today. I certainly don't want to go anorexic just to please some fashion designer."

"I thought I was the only one who felt that way," responded Charlotte. "I know I am not a skinny person by nature. All my family is heavier than me right now --- but I have always felt guilty about enjoying myself."

"That's the point," said Roberta. "I have read that if a person is comfortable with themselves and their weight other people will be comfortable with them. I would like to see what happens if we give our bodies permission to become what they want to be."

Each of the three girls was living with their parents and all had jobs, which led them to decide to eat lunch together for what would be for each of them the largest meal of their day.

This was the background of what Jim Browning, sophomore and admirer of larger women generally, saw going on in the Junior College cafeteria that October --- three already plump girls cheerfully enjoying a calorie laden entree plus dessert each day. Not knowing the background he marveled but did not understand.

One day it would be "all you can eat" pizza. On another burritos with a burger. Another mashed potatoes and meat loaf. Whatever the main course it would be accompanied by a piece of pie, cake, or ice cream. And it did not take long for the results to begin to show.

For Roberta the gain came in her belly and hips, for Marilyn in her chest and arms, for Charlotte it was in here torso. The respectively clothing for each girl was becoming tauter by the week as Jim watched from afar. Mike Rogers and Ralph Morgan were occasional spectators as well. After a month or two the three men were each thinking how beautiful and uninhibited the girls were. But it was Jim who moved first, slipping Charlotte an invitation to go to a local Italian restaurant.

He was too skilled an FA to even ask her about her eating habits on a first date. She might, or might not, reveal that in time. But for now he wanted to build a relationship. He instead made a point of being a gentleman, apologizing for being "old fashioned" as he pampered her by insisting on opening and closing her door. He asked her permission before discussing various subjects, and responded to anything she said with a question designed to show interest in what more she would have to say. As a result she was so focused on the romantic flavor of the evening that dessert was just a way of prolonging the experience.

Charlotte's report to Marilyn and Roberta made them more than a little curious and they made a point of getting to know Jim by inviting him to sit with them the next week. He happily obliged --- initially to Charlotte's discomfiture, but this relaxed when Mike and Ralph made their moves. Jim welcomed their involvement but gently made it clear that he considered Charlotte to be "off limits" by introducing the other two girls to them as "her" friends.

The three growing girls now had three fellas in their lives who were enthralled by them as human beings. They began to plan and carry out activities together, making food and weight gain a natural part of a larger relationship.

None of the girls quite made forty pounds that first year, but they did develop some very significant relationships. In fact, Charlotte and Roberta wound up marrying their new friends a few years later. Marilyn wanted to build a career before settling down and went on to do so, but like her friends also found happiness as a BBW. And Ralph did find someone else equally as large and sweet.