Belly Literary Universe (part 2)

Jackie's Duty Part 20: A Demanding Run

Jackie left early from Valerie's apartment. She had laundry to do, along with a few other homebound errands. Running was a bad choice. Her stomach was definitely getting round. Soft. And it was making running harder as it bounced with each stride. Being stuffed full of steak and potatoes prepared by a loving Valerie only made it worse.

She waited for cars to pass, bracing herself against a steel bodied street lamp, trying to avoid puking. A part of her yelled to just let it happen, but she knew it would just take longer to gain weight and longer to get answers.

The light changed. Jackie suppressed a burp and dashed across the street, giving the middle finger to a driver who pulled up into the crossing lane. She turned left, into a few blocks of park, freeing her from having to worry about traffic. She straightened her back and ran headlong into a warm summer breeze. A smile crossed her face. It was pleasant on her own but it reminded her of Valerie's hot breath on her neck. It reminded her of her own hot breath being blown back at her as she devoured decadent desserts off the belly of her girlfriend. Images and memories of rolling around flashed through her mind. Grinding. Softness pressed against softness.

At the end of the trail, Jackie stopped against steadying herself against a wrought iron fence marking the extent of the park. Her heart was at her peak zone because of her exertion and her extremely stuffed stomach. 176BPM.

Other memories flashed. Her fingers interlocked with her moms as the machine let out a despondent series of beeps. Nurses rushed in forcing her away. Something awful was happening but all she wanted was to do was hold her hand. The doctors told her that her heart was doing it's best to pump blood, but with all the damage and tumors, it just couldn't do it. They put her on a machine and she never came off it.

Jackie kicked a loose paving stone back down it's it's slot. "Fuck." She said to herself. It was acceptance of her current strain, and lingering anger at her loss. There was another emotion. What the fuck am I doing? I've been laying in bed like a pig - okay part of the job. But I'm not supposed to be liking it. That's the problem. I'm there having fun with the person who - no Valerie didn't do that to mom. I shouldn't treat her like that. She's as much a victim as I am. I don't even know if the cult she's part of is related to what happened to mom. I have to take this seriously. It's not a party. It's a job. Stop falling for her. She commanded in her head. It wasn't particularly convincing, but her heart rate was lower again. She dashed off across an empty side street

She pounded down a long series of steps, and looped around and under the pillars of a busy interchange. I really fucked up that first question. This extra weight is coming 'cause I didn't think of a better question. Need to prepare more carefully for the next question. I need to drill down on the Secret advisor. He's important to this, he has to be. He's the only asshole I think who has some idea what's happening. At the very least the only person which I know of.

She used a sub monorail station to bypass a road with heavy traffic. She dodged and weaved between prospective passengers, then up the opposite set of stairs, skipping a step with each stride. Maybe I can just wiretap her or something? Get a bug on her computer to monitor her traffic. Access would be super easy. It only took a minute of thought to dismiss it. No. We wouldn't learn anything. Valerie isn't some high up in this. She's just an entry point. And anything she'd be doing would have been captured by Marvin already. He's got bots scouring for this shit.

Jackie sprinted down a back alley toward her home street. Fuck. I might have to take this weight gain really seriously. That might be the only way to get more serious leads. Damn it, why couldn't I have gotten genes for a big ass, not this wobbly gut. Ugh.

A store keeper brushing the sidewalk eyed Jackie as she passed. He was polite enough to step out of the way and offer a smile. "Hey good on you, working off those winter pounds. Keep up the good work!"

Jackie stopped, glared at the man, then continued her run without saying another word. Fucking assholes. Who does he think he is talking like that? She sighed. Saying encouraging things. What a crime Jackie... I should apologize. More importantly, I need to get used to this bullshit.