Obe City-1
I stood in line outside the walled city in the midst of the vast plain that makes up most of the interior of Winkie Country. Winkie Country is located in the western part of the magical Land of Oz that I call home. Have you heard of Oz?
It is a most wonderful country filled with all kinds of the most wonderful and queer folk. Ozma has decreed that everyone is to find the area of her great land that suits the nature of each. That way no one feels disconnected from those of the same interests and way of living and therefore ensuring that none of her subjects is unhappy, for the unhappiness of any of her subject’s tears at Ozma’s gentle heart terribly. Which of course is why she is such a just and gracious ruler.
When I was a little boy in Emerald City, for that is where my parents wished to live, I heard of a new town Ozma was founding in the very middle of yellow Winkie Country. Apparently Ozma, in her scrying of the whole world by the means of her magic picture, had found out that in many other lands people who are very fat were persecuted in a myriad of horrible ways. Not even the Gnome King could think of such wickedness.
So immediately Ozma set out build a city for any and all in her land to settle with people who were very fat, or who enjoyed living with fat folks. Of course, if you enjoyed waddling around the Emerald City of any part of Oz that was fine by the little Queen, but Ozma designed this city as a place fat folks could call home. She spent many hours sequestered with the Wizard and Glinda in planning out the city, and with great fanfare christened it Obe City. And folks came in droves to live there.
Even as a boy in knickers I knew that was where I wanted to live. But there were a few rules. Number one you had to be fat to live there. Not just a little bit, you normally had to weigh at least 300 pounds to become a citizen of that great city. And you could not make the decision to live there until you were out of your parents' house at 18. Exceptions were made for children whose parents lived there.
So, to go back to the beginning of this tale, two weeks after my 18th birthday I stood with suitcase in hand at the gates of Obe City. There were about 30 of us spread out in front of the gates clutching our possessions as we waited to be let in. Things seemed to move on a schedule. It was 8:55 a.m., and apparently whoever worked the gates was not going to be rushed by opening them before 9:00 a.m.
I was about two-thirds of the way back in the line to get in. Most of us looked like we were fully ready to become citizens of Obe City. The girl directly in front of me looked to weigh at least 400 pounds and apparently only her age had been holding her back from making the trip. She had thought ahead and was in the process of eating a box of éclairs. Unfortunately, I was just short of the requirement, and only weighed 280 pounds at my last weighing. Still, I felt that if I made the journey I would not be turned away by Obe City.
Finally the doors started to open.
We all filed in. As we entered, it was apparent that we were not entering the city proper but a gatehouse and barracks of some sort. As we all filed into the courtyard, we were greeted by an odd sight. An extremely fat woman sat in a large padded loveseat, which seemed to be pacing back and forth in the courtyard (the loveseat, not the woman, of course). It was clear to us that Wizard had been at work with his Powder of Life, it was also clear to us that the woman before us would have as great a difficulty pacing as her loveseat was having. She wore a smart yellow smock and pants. If I had to guess her weight, I would gauge it in the high 900s. She filled the wide loveseat from edge to edge and her belly had drifted over her knees and rested comfortably in between her calves. As soon as all of us had entered the courtyard she turned to face the group.
“Hello,” she said as her mobile chair turned to face us. “I am Emelia and I am here to assist you all in the transition to becoming residents of our great city. I am proud of you all; I remember how nervous I was when I left my parents' farm to make my journey here. Please consider the gatehouse your temporary home. Roselie will have your room assignments inside. Some of you will only be staying here for a few nights as we make arrangements for your home or apartment. Others will need to spend some time being nurtured and tended to by our caring staff to make your transition to living in Obe City. There is a weight restriction, but if you can comply in a reasonable amount of time, we will be happy to help you. Welcome and enjoy our hospitality.”
Then Emelia clapped her hands and a troupe of walking loveseats made their way out of the gatehouse and lined up behind us. The loveseats chose their occupants by capacity, some being sturdier than others.
“Please sit everyone, we need to get you weighed” said Emelia with a chuckle.
I was happy to sit down and sat down carefully. The loveseat was very soft and quite comfortable. If I wasn’t anxious about being turned away because I was a lightweight I probably could have taken a nap. I was still curious about how we were going to be weighed.
Getting weighed was always a bit of a trial for me. I used to always dread how many weights my mother would have to put on the scale to balance. It became an embarrassment to me. My other two brothers were naturally athletic and teased me constantly how fat I was getting. I just hope I was fat enough for Obe City. That would be terrible, to be too skinny for Obe City and too fat for everybody else.
I remember how I first heard of Obe City. Being a chubby boy in a skinny family whenever I needed to get away I would make my way to Madam Maxine’s Ice Cream Emporium. I would sit there and eat my way through her various flavors of ice cream and she would tell me funny stories. Max knew that her shop was ice cream therapy. Some Days I would stay there all day long reading a book, drinking a milkshake and eating cookies. It was more home to me than my real home.
One day after a particularly bad time with my brother’s I made my way to the Ice Cream Shop and found the shop closed. I knocked on the door and found Max packing up the shop for moving. She still had some ice cream left and she made me a huge sundae and broke the news that she was moving to Obe City.
Max was so happy. It was then that I realized that I had a crush on Max. She was so sweet to me and I just loved to sit and talk with her but until that moment I didn’t realize that I was in love. I thought she was wonderful I didn’t think about the fact that Max had to weigh at least 500lbs. Max was Max. She was really looking forward to living in a city filled fat friendly conveniences.
I didn’t want to bring Max down with how much I was going to miss her. I could tell that Max knew what I was thinking as she pressed a piece of paper into my hand with her new address and said “write me.”
Max and I had continued to write to each other through the years and in my pocket was her latest letter; she said she was looking forward to seeing me. So much time had passed since we last met but I knew that Max meant it. I just had to meet the weight requirement to enter Obe City.
