As a small child I was large and chubby. Not obese, but definitely overweight. As I grew I retained the largeness and to a certain extent the chubbiness. My mother used to have me wear oversize clothes on the theory that they disguised my chubbiness. They didn't -- they just made me look fatter. Still, I got into the habit of wearing things that were loose and comfortable.
During my teen years I retained my largeness, and slowly but surely the chubbiness turned from puppy-fat to meat and muscle, quite a bit of muscle as I liked working out. Of course by then I was known to be that fat kid and people didn't seem to notice that I was no longer fat. New acquaintances noticed but not those who'd known me for years.
I was around nineteen and I was cutting through a park on the way home. About halfway through the park I heard some voices, male and female. What attracted my attention was the little fact that the female voices sound upset and nervous. The male voices were loud and a trifle hectoring.
Moving off the path and through some bushes I found that three boys had a couple of young lovelies bailed up and were putting the hard word on them. The girls were protesting, their protests being ignored. I decided to step in.
"Ah, guys, the girls don't seem to want your attentions. Why not back off and leave them alone?"
The five of them turned to look at me. The girls hopefully at first but then not quite so hopefully as they recognised the fat kid. Debbie and Vicky had long known and derided me from when I first started school. They'd never been chubby and had no sympathy for those of us who had been.
The three boys I didn't know but I knew the type. They gave me disdainful looks, almost sneering at me. Okay, no almost about it. They were definitely sneering.
"What the fuck is it to you?" demanded one of them.
"Friends of mine," I said, smiling, smiling even more when I saw that this was news to the girls.
"So?" came the sneering retort.
"So leave them alone," I said, still smiling, but putting a bit of grit into my voice and at the same time quietly flexing my muscles, standing slightly more erect, and breathing in to expand my chest. Even though I was smiling I'd gone from potential victim to potential trouble.
"Three of us, one of you," observed the boy who was talking for them. "Why don't you take a hike?"
"One's all you need if it's the right one," I observed.
I could almost see their confidence being replaced with doubt. I was out numbered but still willing to challenge them? Either I was stupid or I knew something they didn't. It was not knowing which was which that was making them nervous.
One of the silent ones produced a knife and held it up for me to see. My smile just got wider while I made a note to take him out first.
"Nice knife," I told him. "I just might keep that as a trophy."
We'd reached a bit of a stalemate. They just weren't game to attack me and I certainly wasn't going to attack them. We all just stood there for a few moments.
"I'd like to say this has been fun but I'd be lying," I said. "Come on, girls or we'll be late and I just know I'll be blamed."
I jerked my head, indicating they should join me, and they sidled past the boys and over towards me. For a moment I thought the boys might try to stop them but me standing their looking large, dangerous, and unconcerned, held them back. For some reason a big man smiling is unnerving when you're in a contentious situation.
I escorted the girls back through the bushes to the main path, keeping an ear out in case the boys came after us. The only thing I heard was some swearing and some not-so-veiled threats of what would happen if I crossed them again.
"Whither away, girls?" I asked.
"What?" asked Debbie, looking confused.
"Ah, it means where're you going," I explained, catching on that Debbie wasn't the brightest bulb. "If you care to lead the way I'll follow along just to make sure your friends don't."
"We know what it means," snapped Vicky, who probably did. "We don't need you to follow us."
"Don't care," I replied. "I'm following anyway. Now trot along and I won't disturb you with my idle chatter."
"You're not walking with us," stated Debbie.
"I don't intend to. I said I'd follow. Better scenery that way."
Both girls glared at me and then turned and marched off, heads held high, ignoring the bore who was following them. They took about three steps and then Vicky touched Debbie's arm and the both stopped and turned.
"I'm sorry," Vicky said. "We didn't thank you and we should've. We could have been in a lot of trouble if you hadn't come along so thank you."
"Yeah, I guess," added Debbie. "You took a chance though. Those three could have pulverised you, you being so fat."
"True, but while they were beating me up the pair of you could have run away. That negates their whole reason for fighting."
The girls looked quite impressed with my potential self-sacrifice, but I felt I should disillusion them.
"Don't worry too much about it. If it had come to a fight I'd have been doing the pulverising and they knew it. Why do you think they backed off? I'm not really as fat as some people think."
"Oh, really?" said Debbie in a tone that I could only describe as unbelieving. She took a couple of quick steps towards me.
"What do you call this then?" she asked, poking me in the stomach.
"Muscle," I said as she gave a yelp having nearly broken her finger against my tensed stomach muscles.
Vicky came up, an amused smile on her face. She also prodded my stomach, but a bit more carefully.
"I'll go along with that," she agreed. "Muscle. You've been exercising."
"For quite a few years. Shall we proceed?" I indicated that they should continue on their way.
They did but unfortunately they insisted that I walk with them.
"We're not walking down the street with you following along, eyes glued to our bums," said Vicky. I don't think Debbie would have minded but Vicky was the boss in that pair.
I saw them home and went on my way, feeling virtuous for having done a good deed.
I didn't think any more about the incident and was quite surprised when I answered the door on Saturday afternoon to find Debbie and Vicky standing there. I politely invited them and in they came.
"Are your parents home?" asked Vicky. "We should say hullo to them if they are."
I shook my head. "No, they're out for the day. Don't know when they'll be back. Ah, what can I do for you? Have those three idiots been bothering you again? If they have I'll go and have a chat with them."
"No, we haven't seen them since. Wouldn't you find yourself in trouble if you went looking for them?"
"Certainly not," I said disdainfully. "If I did have to fight them I'd make sure that it was self-defence. I can't be blamed for what happens if someone attacks me."
"You, ah, seem a bit confident that you could handle them. There are three of them."
"Five, actually. They're part of a local gang. As to being confident, yes. Two of the gang know me and they'll warn the other three away. They certainly won't do anything to help them."
Debbie looked confused but Vicky gave me a suspicious look.
"How do you know them?" she demanded.
"Ted and James go to my martial arts dojo. They know what I can do."
"You own a martial arts dojo?" asked Debbie.
"No. When I say mine I mean the one I practice at," I explained. "Anyway, just keep it in mind that if they bother you I'll put a stop to it."
"My hero," said Vicky, in a die-away voice.
"Yeah, yeah," I said derisively. "Ah, you haven't said why you came around."
"We need a reason?" asked Vicky.
"Not where I'm concerned. Happy to see you anytime. It's just that I have a sneaky mind and it's telling me that you want something."
Both girls giggled which I considered suspicious.
"You're worrying over nothing," Debbie said. "We're just here to repeat our thanks for coming to our assistance the other day. That's all."
"Indeed," agreed Vicky. She paused for a moment, and then continued. "Although we were puzzled about something."
I gave what I considered to be a helpful look and waited.
"Michael, we've always had this image of you as a fatty who wouldn't dream of getting into a fight. If we were to think of you and fighting it would be along the lines of bullies kicking the fat kid around. Now we've got you riding up on your white horse and chasing our foes away."
"Um, Vicky, he didn't have a horse," Debbie put in. "He was walking."
"It's a figure of speech, Debs," Vicky said. "Now where was I? Oh, yes. As well as appearing to flex muscles that we didn't think you had you then nearly break Debbie's finger when she poked you. The two images just don't fit and we feel a little confused, so we came around to see what was what."
"Easily answered. I joined a dojo when I was thirteen. A lot of practice helped strip off the puppy fat and let me bulk up. That's all."
"That's all, he says. Words mean nothing. Take off your tent and show us. Why do you wear tents, anyway?"
"Habit, I guess. My mother used to give me large clothes to hide my plumpness."
"It didn't work. Your top?"
I shrugged and took off my top. All I had under it was a singlet and that was fairly tight, showing my muscular structure.
The girls looked at me and then at each other.
"Impressive," said Vicky.
"Yeah," agreed Debbie. "I bet he'd have beaten the snot out of those guys if they'd tried to fight. Pity they didn't. I'd loved to have seen it."
"Mind you, I'm not the only one who's changed. When you were thirteen you were both flat as bread-boards. Definitely not so now. Are you going to take your shirts off so that I can see the difference?"
