Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Four

Not long after the Christmas and New Year's holidays had passed, Scott woke up feeling unusually boated. Not thinking much of it, he shuffled his feet into the bathroom to begin his morning routine.

AHHH!" He caught sight of himself in the bathroom mirror and hollered with surprise. Scott had seemingly grown a beard and put on a significant amount of weight overnight. "Something's wrong with the mirror." He concluded.

"Dad?" Jess groaned sleepily from her room. Her father's shouting had woken her from a dead sleep. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine Princess!" Scott rushed to assure her. "Just ah, go back to sleep, it's pretty early." Checking the clock by her bed, Jessie realized her dad was right, so she rolled over and went back to sleep. With the bathroom door locked securely, Scott jumped on his home scale to weigh himself. Immediately the LED lights flashed 192 before climbing up another pound. The numbers continued to climb, so Scott jumped off the scale. "Something's wrong with the scale!" He insisted. Back in his bedroom Scott rifled through his drawers. The only thing he owned that would fit him were a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. It would have to do. Sighing, Scott dressed himself and drove to work.

After people at work noticed his strange appearance during a presentation for B&R's new toy Total Tank, Scott decided to head straight to his doctor's office.

"Well, I-I don't know Scott." His Doctor said looking over the test results he'd just taken. "You're as healthy as a horse."

"Yeah, a Clydesdale." Scott remarked, gesturing to his inexplicably large stomach.

"Okay look. So what? You put on a little weight." The Doctor shrugged him off.

"A little weight?" Scott repeated in a panic. "Does this look like a little weight to you?"

"Well, weight can fluctuate from year to year." The Doctor concluded.

"Fluctuate?! You make it sound like I'm retaining Water!" Scott hissed. "I've gained 45 pounds in a week! Pete, what's happen' to me?"

"Well, that's your diet like?"

"Milk and Cookies." Scott mumbled.

"Really?"

"But I don't finish all the milk!" He added in.

"Well then, there's your problem!" The Pete sighed. "Just try to cut back on the sweets okay. Anything else?"

"Yeah. How fast does hair grow? Facial hair?" Scott questioned. "I shaved this morning and now I look like this!" He gestured to his fully grown in beard.

"Well it could be a hormonal imbalance."

"That would explain the mood swings." Scott mumbled. "Yeah, well look at my hair! It's turning grey!"

"Oh it's middle age buddy!" His Doctor laughed. "It happens. And with that body, you should be thankful you have hair. Look if it bothers you, you can dye it. And you should diet!" He joked. "Ah, Just kidding."

Scott was relieved to find Jessie wasn't home when he got there. The last thing he wanted was to have to explain his weight gain to his daughter who saw him every day. Though he knew the situation was unavoidable, and he'd have to talked to Jess eventually, it was nice to know he could put it off for a few more hours.

"Dad?" Jess's voice echoed through the house when she returned from her night out with her boyfriend. Brian was standing in the entry way with her, when Scott came down the stairs.