TIME magazine’s office was a bit too transparent for Michael’s liking, he didn’t like the overuse of glass. The walls were made of glass and the multitude of cubicles didn’t have any physical demarcations to really block off one’s co-workers.

As he waited for the pretty blonde receptionist to process his request, he noted with great disapproval where glass walls separated a superior’s office from subordinates. It all seemed so naked, so out there and despite once having to share a bunk with 9 other men, Michael thought there was more privacy than there was here.

  “Oh, you aren’t?” she drawled, sounding as air headed as she was attractive.

  Michael turned to the receptionist, frowning at what he thought must have been Kevin trying to delay it. He allowed himself a little smile, he didn’t mind when his quarry put up a fight. It made the mission more exciting and he was the type of man to enjoy a thrilling hunt.

 “ Sorry Mister….” She squinted slightly as she waited for Michael’s answer, he had not introduced himself just yet.

 “ Vito. Vito Corleone,” Michael answered her politely. Her vacant stare suggested she bought the alias.

“Mr. Corleone, Kevin says he isn’t available right now ,  he has-”

“Tell him Zoltan sent me, tell him Zoltan needs help. Just repeat that to him, it should get to him,” Michael ordered her with the same authority a drill sergeant used on a private.  

 “ Got it,” the woman answered and repeated it to Kevin.

 “He’ll see you now, just go right in and turn to the left, Mr. Crowley’s office is the first door right at the end.”

“Thank you,” Michael drummed his fingers against the desk as he walked past.

No one inside noticed him enter, Michael didn’t bother to draw attention to himself as he strode past a cubicle where an overworked man in his late thirties seemed to be frantically typing away at the keyboard like his life depended on it.

  Kevin’s office was cut off from the rest but it still had the glass wall feature Michael was uneasy about.

 He didn’t bother to knock, walking in and locking the door, startling Kevin immediately. He nearly puked at the sight of Kevin, to see a former military man in his state was an insult to all the training and hardship soldiers went through.

Kevin was a short man, barely five and a half feet but Michael was fine with that since he wasn’t going to blame a person for his own lack of height. What did disgust him was how he had succumbed to obesity so easily.

He had a paunch a kangaroo would be jealous of and  it was currently jutting out from his gut like some obscene growth.

His beady eyes were shifting about nervously, sweat dripping down his forehead and he quickly applied a handkerchief to his hair where it was clear he’d be bald in a few years. Michael almost thought Zoltan was pulling his leg when he said Kevin from Operation Desert Eagle but then he remembered jokes were to Zoltan what snow was to an Arab.

 “ Kevin Crowley, I-”

 “I don’t want to hear it!” Kevin squeaked, more like a mouse than a man.

 “ You haven’t even heard me yet and you want out. What did Zoltan do to you?” Michael smirked, there was more to this than Zoltan let on.

“It's not what he did...and if he’s coming here to claim a favour then, I can’t imagine what he wants.”

 “Oh come now, it's just a simple request. You won’t even need to deviate from your schedule too much,” Michael assured him. Kevin moved slowly and warily to his seat, eyeing Michael like he was a gazelle facing a lion.

Kevin collapsed in his seat and slouched, his gut growing even more pronounced.

“ What does he want?” He hoped it wouldn’t be illegal.

 Michael strode over to a free chair, pulled it towards Kevin’s table which the latter had sat behind. Kevin winced as the chair’s legs screeched against the marble tiles, Michael not caring about the horrendous sound or damage done.

 When he felt it close enough, Michael sat down.

 “ He just wants you to dig up some dirt on Jessica. That is all, then maybe...you write a story about it and then publish it in your magazine.”

 “Can’t,” Kevin threw his hands up in nonchalantly.

  “We already have a reporter covering Jessica. Besides, it's all tabloids and sensationalistic crap when it comes to her. She’s a science experiment, her very existence raises so many questions!

‘So her father created her, should he have done it? Did she want this? How did he do it? Are there others like her, maybe housed in Area 51? Did the government plan to use her in an actual war? What does she plan to do now that’s she a free woman? Come on, dig up dirt,” Kevin scoffed at Michael like he were a 3 star Michelin chef who had just been asked to make toast using Wonderbread.

“ I want to sit down with her for eight hours and find out her life story, not find out who she’s dating. There’s so much that could be done and all you want is for me to be a stupid tabloid reporter.”

 “For the record, we keep the aliens at Area 51. We keep Bigfoot and the others in the Bermuda Triangle, along with Elvis, Hoffa and Amelia Earhart. They play poker together every other Thursday,” Michael said condescendingly.

“ Please….” Kevin snorted.

 “Look, either you do this or Zoltan is going to release some very dirty laundry you own.”

 “He wouldn’t dare!” Kevin answered, very much emboldened by his sudden burst of anger.

 “Blackmail would hardly give any congressional oversight committees any substantial ammo. I mean, he did create a living, thinking, D-cup WMD, after all,” Michael stated without skipping a beat.

“ H-he,” Kevin stammered.

“He would do it, just do what he wants and you can go back to being whatever you are right now,” Michael glanced around the office. There were some personal journalistic accolades on a shelf behind him.

 “ I do have a blog….I could release it there, it could do with the extra traffic,” Kevin said to himself.

“Excellent, you’ll commence your work immediately. Just tell your boss , you want to work. I am sure he’ll listen to some with all those prizes behind you,” Michael got up and so did Kevin although he seemed less energetic than before.

 “ I’ll….get to it.”

*********************

 Jessica sat by herself under the reddened sky, massive containers of food in front of her. The menu changed daily, she had everything from soups, stews to what must have been a family of cattle roasted and packed into shipping containers. What could feed a village was merely a meal for the titanic woman.

 She smiled as dipped her finger into mash potato, deftly licking it off her finger. She did it slowly, savouring the taste of the mashed spuds, the smoothness of it was simply divine. It certainly beat the food she got on her little island, the food was likely brought in by the military and mess hall chow couldn’t come close to whoever made this.

 “ Good God that’s a lot of food,” a familiar voice commented. Jessica looked up, no longer eating as she stared straight at Caitlin. She may have been thumb sized but the woman knew how to kill her appetite.

 Jessica pulled her legs closer to her chest, her bikini was probably going to trigger some sort of diatribe from Caitlin given her foul mood at the photoshoot. The cups tended to make her already well-endowed chest look even bigger and Caitlin would probably find it offensive.

 “ What can I say? I’m a big girl,” Jessica forced a smile, hoping Caitlin would do the same. Maybe she’d leave after that too, alone time was preferable to conversations with Caitlin.

 “You definitely are a big one,” Caitlin said. She came closer , as if she meant to talk to Jessica like a friend but took slow, tentative steps that hinted at hesitance.

“ I think we should hang out more,” Caitlin stated.

  Jessica’s jaw would have fallen off if it were not for it being tightly attached to her skull, she couldn’t believe her ears.

 “ Are you sure? We kind of argue a lot when we’re together. I wouldn’t like it if things got ugly.”

 “I’ll be on my best behaviour , as will you. You definitely need some friends and I know you won’t go out into town, they hate you all there.”

Jessica winced, as if being stung by a bee when Caitlin announced the last fact like it was an achievement.

“ Yeah, they hate me. Most of them,I think some people like me but  I guess I do need a friend,” Jessica stated it. It seemed almost pitiful she was turning to a person whose words were acid to her ears.

 “ This is not going turn into you insulting me is it? Because if it is, I’d prefer being alone,” Jessica said brusquely, she didn’t even want to think of what would happen if she lost her temper. No matter what, she’d probably lose the most.

“Oh definitely not,” Caitlin’s mouth was in an O shape but Jessica doubted she was shocked by the allegation. She still didn’t know what Caitlin was playing at either, but she certainly didn’t want to push her luck.

“ I don’t want to make life hell. You’re a girl like me, hell you’re going to be a model-”

 “It’s just a job, I’m no model. Models are bimbos with big fake breasts and empty heads. I’m the type of girl who prefers the outdoors, playing sports and getting a good workout. Nothing beats that,” Jessica corrected Caitlin. The job was what it was, a path to which she could help offset the expenses Jack was incurring on her behalf.

 “ So… a tomboy?”

  Jessica shrugged her plateau-sized shoulders, “ I guess so.”

“Cait, your food’s getting cold.”  Both women turned to see Jack approaching them, Jessica’s stomach fluttered, he was wearing a body hugging shirt today.

She breathed a sigh of relief, Jack was here to save her from his sinister girlfriend.

“ Oh Jack, I was just about done. Jessica, consider hanging out. You need it,” Caitlin gladly reminded her before sauntering out of the tent. She stopped at Jack, planting a kiss on his cheek before ‘bumping’ her hip against him.

  “ What was that about?” Jessica asked inquisitively, Jack’s cheeks were tad redder than they were and he smiled sheepishly at Jessica for noticing.

  “Oh, that’s something I’ll deal with late. Right now, are you okay? You seemed troubled.”

  “That wasn’t anything much, it's just a lot of um…” Jessica rotated her hand  as if trying to prompt herself to say the right words.

 “...A lot of past emotions. Thanks for asking, you’re a really good friend,” Jessica said sweetly. Definitely better than Caitlin.

 Jack moved closer, past the open containers of food, the aroma of the cooling food hitting his nose. It twitched as the scent of steaks flooded his olfactory sensors.

 “ This is good stuff,” Jack stood on his tiptoes and peered into one. He whistled, the sight of a mountain of steaks was deeply impressive.

 “ This is dinner but thanks for actually ordering something edible. I thought I might have to eat a whole forest,” Jessica plucked a handful of steaks and brought it to her mouth, where she pushed the clump into her mouth.

 She wasn’t done, her fingers were coated in a thin sheen of meat juice and  Jessica was not one to let even the smallest piece of food go to waste. Each finger ventured beyond her lips, the juice sucked clean as she enjoyed what was effectively dinner for a village.

“ Oh I care too much about the environment to let you do that.”

Jack paused before he remembered something, “ So I heard what you said about models. Are you telling me yours are real?”

 “W-what’s real? Oh-oh you didn’t!” Jessica grabbed Jack with her clean hand and pulled him close to her face , her other hand pointed straight at her chest.

Jack  looked down, her bikini didn’t leave a lot to the imagination. From above, her breasts jutted out like a feminine ridge , the swells almost seductive; her cleavage, goodness it was wide enough to accept a man. Jack felt a hardening between his legs, he crossed them and hoped Jessica wouldn’t notice the sudden appearance of a small hard bump against her fingers.

 “I can assure you this is one hundred percent real. They were already big in the sixth grade , so big I had to wear a sports bra or the  boys would have drowned me in their drool.

‘ Mum was kind of proud I was following in the family tradition of being so bosomy and I guess it helps in my modelling work.”

 “Weird,” Jack commented, “I don’t think that’s how most mothers would react if their daughter had a chest like yours. You could lose your keys in there.”

 “ I could lose the keys, the car and the whole house too!” Jessica guffawed, her mounds wobbling with each laugh. Her breath hit Jack in waves, Jack detecting hints of the foods she had just consumed.

 Jack joined in too, “ Oh boy I would love to meet your parents, they seem like interesting people.”

 “ Oh they are!” Jessica squealed, flashing a wide toothy grin.

 “ I think you’d like them. My dad made me the way I am after all and he’s a smart guy.”

Jessica set Jack in her hand, feeling all gooey on the inside. He was more of a friend than Caitlin had ever been, or likely would be. Caitlin seemed iffy anyway and Jessica preferred Jack’s company as it was. He was much easier on the eyes and ears than the banshee he called a girlfriend.

  “ So um….” Jack paused for thought, he had something on his mind.

 “ I think smart is an understatement. You’re like a rather big breakthrough in science, he should get a Noble Prize.”

“Nobel,” Jessica corrected.

“Ah sorry, I got distracted,” Jack admitted innocently. Jessica’s smile grew wider, her cheeks felt hot right now and she suspected there was a rosier colour about them right now.

 “ Oh is that so? What is it that’s so distracting?” Jessica jabbed at him, she couldn’t resist taking aim at Jack.

 “ I think it's obvious what could distract me?”

  “Got it,” Jessica tittered.

 “Moving on to something less distracting, I heard you like sports. I played football too. It's called football by the way, not soccer.”

 “I agree,” Jessica said between mouthfuls of food.

 “ I could probably play better than you, they used to call me the Jess Express  back in grade school because I never got tired. Plus I was a head taller than the other girls,”

 “ They didn’t have a nickname for me,” Jack said nonchalantly.

  “ But did they know you were on steroids?”

 “Hah,” Jessica said sarcastically, though she couldn’t help but think it was a good joke.

 “No, they never did but lets not get into that.It's a little sensitive,” Jessica reminded Jack.

 “Sorry, I forgot. Anyway, you should smile more. Like at the shoot, you’re way more beautiful with a smile than a frown,” Jack patted her finger tenderly as Jessica lowered him to the ground. He got off, smiling at Jessica.

  Her beauty seemed to grow exponentially as the days went by and Jack’s eyes were drawn to her colossal body , an incident that grow in tandem with Jessica’s apparent beauty.

 Her bronzed stomached undulated with each breath and further above, the eye popping mounds that could turn even Freddie Mercury.

  “Hey, you better go up. Caitlin will be waiting,” Jessica reminded him. She sighed, disappointed this conversation had ended. He was her only means of having a conversation and as he returned to a woman Jessica could barely stand, her heart told her to fix that problem but Jessica knew better than to act on emotion; at her scale, it would be catastrophic.

 Better a small storm than a humongous hurricane, Jessica reminded herself as she heard Caitlin’s screech again.