January 1986
A few days after the Chicago Bears won their first Super Bowl title, Ellen Chang started her job as a job coach for the developmentally disabled population. On her third day, she pedaled her bicycle up to the Payless Drugs store at the Estudillo Shopping Center. It was a bitterly cold morning and she wore her parka, two shirts, black exercise tights, and her knee-high white snow boots with its fake fur.
When she arrived at the store she parked her bike in the locker room inside the employee restroom for women and put her stuff away. Ellen was a tall Asian woman with a thick, muscular build. Her black hair was wavy and shoulder length (rocker style), and she had big, full lips, brown, tanned skin, brawny arms, and huge, muscular thighs and calves. After pinning her name tag onto her shirt she went into the break room where her clients were assembled. There was Marsha, tuned into her Walkman, usual cup of coffee in front of her on the table. Ricardo was reading the morning sports page. And as usual, Jimmy was late. He was a Latino man with Down's Syndrome. Nice, adorable guy but boy did he need to work on his attendance!
Ellen checked off everyone on her clipboard and when the clock struck ten Marsha and Ricardo hit the sales floor wearing their smocks. Jimmy, as usual, loitered around the break room, finishing the last of his coffee and staring off into space.
"C'mon, Jimmy, let's go," Ellen said. "We've got a full day ahead of us."
With a little prodding, Jimmy put away his mug. He seemed as sluggish as the first day Ellen was here. Granted, she hadn't been at this job long but could well see the challenges ahead of her. Basically, her job was to job train and supervise this trio of developmentally disabled clients.
"Everything okay, Jimmy?" she asked him.
He nodded, still zoning off into space, smiling and mumbling occasionally to imaginary people.
"You sure, buddy?"
He smiled at her with a twinkle in his eyes. "I'm sure."
They went to the laundry aisle and started stocking the shelves. He was still having trouble using the pricing gun so she set it and put stickers on the boxes of detergent. She taught him how to use it before but he couldn't get it. Jimmy stocked the shelves with the boxes.
"Good job, Jimmy," she said, smiling.
A young man with slicked back blonde hair dressed in a smock wheeled another dolly full of detergent to them. "You guys are gonna reek of this stuff!" he said sarcastically.
"Hey, Reggie," Ellen said. "At least it smells good."
"Did you watch the Super Bowl?"
"Yeah. Bears kicked ass! Woo-hoo!" she said, high-fiving Reggie. "And I won my bet!" She laughed.
"So did I," Reggie said. "I thought you were a 49ers fan."
"I like the Bears, too. I think Jim McMahon's cute!"
"Yuck!" He made a face and wheeled the dolly off.
* * *
After lunch, Ellen worked with Marsha and Ricardo a bit, though they were more independent and didn't need as much supervision. She and Jimmy returned to the cleaning aisle. She taught him how to use the pricing gun again and handed it to him.
"Now you do it. Change it back to $4.15," she said.
Jimmy fumbled with the gun, managing it back to $3.16.
"We'll keep working on it, Jimmy," she said with reassurance. She priced the boxes of detergent and he loaded the shelves.
Afterwards, they hit the candy aisle. Reggie wheeled out a dolly of boxes for them. "Boss man wants these priced on sale for a buck," he said.
"Sure," she said, squatting down on the ground. With her back to him, her black exercise tights slid down a little, revealing the big crack of her brown ass. He noticed over the fast few days that those tights kept sliding off and she had to keep pulling them back up. The elastic band was worn and frayed.
Unbeknownst to Ellen, Reggie was joined by his buddy, Elvin, a young, skinny black man with a close cropped afro. They stood at the next aisle, staring at Ellen's big, curvy butt cheeks.
"What do you think, blood?" Reggie whispered. "Think you can handle that?"
"Man, she's a beast! Well, lemme put it this way, I wouldn't kick her out of bed," he whispered back.
"Fool, she'd crush you! Can you imagine wrestling that?" Reggie's grin was mischievous. "I dare you, dog!"
Ellen pulled her tights back up, covering her ass, her back still towards them as she priced more boxes of detergent. Jimmy stocking another shelf.
Minutes later, her tights slid back down, exposing those cheeks again.
"Go on, blood, be a gentleman and pull that up for her!" Reg whispered.
"Hell naw, I like it just the way it is."
Reggie was laughing. "Be a man, buy her a belt!"
"Man, she ain't wearin' any panties! Elvin said, admiring that ass.
"This is the third straight day she ain't been wearing panties! No bra, either!"
Elvin had a massive erection, his pants bulging out. He felt his underwear get wet. When Ellen got up she pulled her tights up again. They walked towards her.
"Need more detergent?" Reg asked.
"Yes. Thanks," she replied.
"Oh, Ellen, this is my friend, Elvin."
She smiled at Elvin, shaking his hand. "Hi, nice meeting you. High school friends?"
"Naw, I'm past that now. That's for little kids like Reg," he laughed. "No, I'm in my second year at a junior college now."
"Oh, yeah? What are you studying?"
"Undecided now. Maybe marketing, finance, I'm not sure yet."
She squinted her eyes at him, pursing her lips. "Wait, you look familiar. Don't you work at Safeway?"
"Oh, so you've seen me!"
She nodded. "I have. The one on Bancroft?"
"That's the one. Wow, San Leandro's a small world!"
"Tell me about it. You're a bag boy there, right?"
"Naw, I graduated from that. I work in the warehouse now. . .wait, come to think it now, I think I've seen you around town, too. You ride a bike, right?"
Ellen nodded. "Yes."
Elvin thought a moment, snapping his fingers. "That's right, I think I saw you at the Farmer's Market one time and at the library. There was a Hawaiian festival next to the market that day and you were dancin' on stage."
She smiled. "Yep, that was me. Polynesian Cultural Day."
"Sexy moves, girl!"
She started blushing. "Thanks."
"You're Polynesian?"
"No, I'm Chinese," she replied proudly. "I just look Polynesian or Hawaiian, according to other people. I've been mistaken for Filipino and Hispanic, too."
"Really? You're pretty dark for Chinese."
"I tan easily. You should see me in the summer!"
Elvin laughed.
"I'm like the only brown-skinned member of my family," Ellen added. "Everyone else is pale, skinny, petite. I've definitely broken stereotypes about Asian women!"
He looked her from head to toe, her 5'10" frame towering over him. "I see, I see. . .think you're the biggest Asian girl I've met, no doubt 'bout that! Parents give you a hard time about that?"
Reggie wheeled out another dolly full of detergent.
"Thanks," Ellen said to him. Turning back to Elvin, she said, "Well, they rib me about lifting weights, about being muscular. They think I'm too masculine looking, that it's not natural for girls to pump iron. They want me to be the traditional Chinese daughter."
Elvin shook his head. "I think you look great just as you are. It's their opinion, everyone's entitled to their views. You like what you like and more power to you. Personally, muscular girls are sexy to me. I like the look. Skinny girls don't do it for me."
She smiled, pricing more detergent. "Well, it's good to know I have someone in my corner! I just like pumping iron 'cause it makes me feel strong, confident. I feel positive about myself."
Reggie nodded. "I've heard people say that about martial arts, that empowers them."
Just then, the store manager was cruising down the aisle towards them.
"Back to work!" Reg said, and split.
* * *
February 1986
Ellen biked back to the apartment she shared with her sister. Jenny was out of town again for work, as was often the case, and she had the whole place to herself again. Most of the unit was cluttered with Ellen's exercise equipment which upset Jenny. Jenny always complained about not having enough space for herself. Ellen felt bad, but kept procrastinating when it came to cleaning up their apartment. She'd get around to it one of these days.
But right now, she had a long day at work and just wanted to work off some of the stress. She stripped off her parka, shirts, black exercise tights and white snow boots and threw on a faded AC/DC tour shirt, tight, very short blue shorts, and ankle sweat bands. The shorts were so short that her butt cheeks bulged out of them. Jenny commented she looked like the Incredible Hulk, that her shorts looked like they would split open at any second. Ellen just liked them 'cause they were smooth and comfortable for working out. After turning on the heat a little, she padded barefoot to the hi-fi stereo system in their living room and put a record on the turntable. AC/DC's "Big Balls" blared from the speakers.
She grabbed two thirty-five pound dumbbells and started off doing some squats in the middle of the living room. The curtains were open and directly facing their apartment was another apartment building. Sometimes tenants in the other building watched her as she worked out, admiring her discipline and drive. Some admired her physique! One of her neighbors passed by her living room window in the walkway outside, looking at her for a moment.
Ellen did another few sets of squats, her back towards the window. Up and down, up and down, up and down. She remained focused, but belted out, "I've got the biggest balls of them all!" during the chorus of AC/DC's song.