Fed Up! (The Haunt of Fear #13, May/June 1952)

The carnival grounds teemed with excited thrill-seeking customers. Calliope music filled the sunny air. Children squealed with joy as the huge carrousel went 'round and 'round. Loud-voiced barkers mad their pitches before seas of ogling faces.

BARKER: "Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! See Munrabt's Ooditorium, the greatest collection of freaks and rare performers to ever...!"

But off the jammed midway, just beyond the laughter and noise, a man moved toward a dilapidated trailer. The man was huge, obese. His breathing was heavy as he labored up the trailer's rotting steps.

SANDRA: "Alec, is that you?"

ALEC: "...*gasp*...yeah, Sandra. It...*gasp*...it's me. *burrrp!*"

The trailer door swung open and the hulking figure entered. He flopped onto a well-worn studio bed. The woman stood over him, tears in her eyes.

SANDRA: "You...you took it, didn't you, Alec? You took the money I had scrimped and pinched and put away so we could get into the big-time! You took it and stuffed yourself!"

ALEC: "I...I couldn't help it, Sandra! I...I was hungry. I...I...!"

The fat one's voice faded as he stammered out another of his feeble explanations. The woman wasn't listening. She had heard them so many times before. His voice droned on and one just like the Great Galago's voice had done ten years before. The day she had first met Alec.

GALAGO: "And now, ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce my protégé, Sandra! I, the Great Galago, have taught her all she knows. For two years, every day I..."

Galago's introductory speech always dragged like that. Sandra usually looked around at the customers while he made his pitch. Alec was in the crown, grinning up at her. Only he wasn't fat then. He was big, broad-shouldered, almost handsome.

GALAGO: "...and now, Sandra! For her first feat, she will swallow the twelve-inch dagger!"

Sandra had gone through her act as usual. The dagger, the rapier and the 20-inch sword. And then she had stepped behind the backdrop to let Galago wind up the performance with his famous neon-sword-swallowing feat.

GALAGO: "Watch, ladies and gentlemen, as the neon-sword passes down into my stomach! You will see the shadows of my ribs, my heart, each organ of my body!"

ALEC: "Excuse me. Pardon me! Please!"

Galago was big-time. His neon-sword was famous. Sandra was just a decoration for his act, a come-on for the male-trade. Alec came around to the back as soon as Sandra had gotten off the stage. He walked out on the neon-act. Sandra was quite flattered.

SANDRA: "You say you saw my performance? But you're missing the best part of the show right now."

ALEC: "No, I'm not. The best part of the show is right here."

That was Alec ten years ago. A sweet-talking flatterer. Sandra fell for his line. Fell hard.

ALEC: "What do you need him for, Sandra? You could be a star by yourself."

SANDRA: "I...I don't know."

ALEC: "Listen, I could be your barker. We would go from carnival to carnival, haul in the dough by the sackfuls. What do you say?"

SANDRA: "You really think I'm good enough, Alec?"

ALEC: "Good enough? Baby, you'll be big-time inside of a year! Just wait and see."

SANDRA: "Alright, Alec. I'll do it."

So Sandra had quit Galago and gone out on her own. She and Alec worked hard getting started. Finally they landed a spot with a traveling road-show.

ALEC: "It's a start, baby. The dough isn't much, but it's a start."

SANDRA: "But, Alec. We couldn't both live on that salary."

ALEC: "Not separately, maybe. But together we'd manage. I...I mean if we were married, it'b be easier."

SANDRA: "Oh, Alec!? Do you mean it? Are you proposing? Do you want to marry me?"

So Alec and Sandra were sliced-er...spliced. A year went by. Money was tight. Sandra went to the road-show manager.

SANDRA: "It...it's just impossible for Alec and I to save on what I'm earning. I thought...perhaps..."

MUNRABT: "Look, Sandra, sword-swallowers like you are a dime a dozen. You don't draw in enough customers to deserve a raise. Now maybe if you could think up some gimmick to pull 'em in, you know, some extra special act."

SANDRA: "I think I know just what you want, Mr. Munrabt. I think I know."

Sandra was thinking of the neon sword. It was just about that time that Alec began to eat. As if things weren't hard enough.

SANDRA: "Alec, you mean you spent all of our food allowance already?"

ALEC: "Well, I had a good meal today."

SANDRA: "A good meal? I don't understand."

ALEC: "Don't you? Well, I was sick and tired of eating the same old slop every day. So I went out and had me a steak and it was good, too."

SANDRA: "Oh, darling. I didn't mean to nag. I know how it is. We'll...we'll manage somehow. I'm glad you enjoyed it. You...you deserved it."

ALEC: "I...I like a decent meal once in a while."

But Alec's 'decent meals once in a while' came very often after that. He would go out and order a huge dinner for himself, regardless of the cost.

ALEC: "...and the pheasant-under-glass, lyonnaise potatoes, cauliflower, mixed green salad, relish dish, double cheesecake a la mode and hot chocolate. Oh, and you better bring a thick steak!"

WAITER: "Very well, monsieur. Is...is this, you will pardon me, is this all for you?"

And as the months flew by and two, three years passed, Alec continued to gorge himself. He grew fatter and fatter.

SANDRA: "Oh, Alec. I've been trying to save for that neon-sword for two years now. I haven't been able to put away a dime."

ALEC: "A guy's gotta eat. Can I help it if I need lotsa food?"

But Sandra loved Alec, so she took it. Year after years, he had stuffed himself into obesity. And year after year, Sandra tried to save.

ALEC: "S'matter, Sandra? You cryin'?"

SANDRA: "...*sob*...*sob*...It's no use! We'll never get anywhere! Not this way!"

ALEC: "Don't worry, Sandra! You'll be big-time yet. Just wait and see. Just wait and...*burrrp!*"

SANDRA: "Oh, Alec! You're disgusting!"

ALEC: "Huh?"

SANDRA: "Look at you! You eat up every dime we get! You've grown big and fat! Eat! Eat! Eat! That's all you do! Eat and belch!"

ALEC: "Sandra! What?...*burrrp!*"

SANDRA: "For eight years I've tried to save, to buy a neon-sword so we could get into big-time! But I can't save a cent! You spend it all stuffing your face!"

And then it happened. The road-show manager told Sandra one day.

MUNRABT: "I'm giving you a few extra dollars a week, Sandra. Put it away and buy that neon-sword. Your act could use something!"

SANDRA: "Oh, thank you, Mr. Munrabt. Thank you!"

Sandra resolved not to tell Alec about the extra money. Every week she'd put it away before she gave Alex the pay envelope.

ALEC: "Sandra, you in there? Today's pay day! Got it?"

SANDRA: "Y-Yes, Alec! Just a moment!"

Later, she would hide it in the trailer in a safe place. After about two years of this deception, Sandra had saved up almost enough to buy the neon-sword.

SANDRA: "...198, 199, 200. 200 DOLLARS! Two more pay-days and I'll have enough. Then it's the big-time for Alec and me. And he can eat till he busts!"

But just that afternoon, Sandra had returned from her performance in the Odditorium to find...

SANDRA: "The money! It's...it's gone! Alec must have found it!"

So she waited for fat, belching Alec. She waited and boiled. And finally, she heard his elephantine footsteps on the trailer stairs.

SANDRA: "Alec, is that you?"

ALEC: "...*gasp*...yeah, Sandra. It...*gasp*...it's me. *burrrp!*"

Now she was listening to his feeble explanation. And his voice droning on and on.

SANDRA: "Alright, Alec! Alright, that's enough!"

ALEC: "I couldn't help it, Sandra. I-"

SANDRA: "Look, Alec. I've been thinking. I have a plan. A plan to get us into the big-time."

ALEC: "Yeah? What is it, Sandra?"

SANDRA: "I'm going to teach you to be a sword-swallower, too!"

ALEC: "Me? Oh, no! Not me! I couldn't!"

SANDRA: "Yes, you could. I'd teach you the secret. How to relax your throat. You would like to eat steaks and pheasants every day, wouldn't you?"

ALEC: "Yeah! Sure, but..."

SANDRA: "It's easy, Alec. Here. Let me show you. Stand up. Now look up, up higher."

ALEC: "Like this?"

SANDRA: "Perfect, Alex. Now relax. Here. Take the sword. Pass it down. Slowly, slowly..."

ALEX: I...I don't know, Sandra. I..."

Little by little, Sandra coaxed Alex, teaching him to relax his throat, until the sword was down.

SANDRA: "There, see? That was easy, wasn't it?"

ALEC: "Uh-huh."

Suddenly, Sandra grabbed Alex's wrists and twisted his arms behind his back.

ALEC: "Gnn-n-n-n-g-g!"

Swiftly, she wrapped the strand of rope around his wrists, securing them tightly.

SANDRA: "There, Alec. There. Now you can do nothing. Nothing!"

ALEC: "Unnnnnnunnn!"

Sandra stared out the door of the trailer. Alec stood, wide-eyed, his hands tied behind him, the sword-handle sticking out of his mouth like some misshapen tongue.

SANDRA: "I'm leaving now, Alec. I'm going to lock you in. There's a good crowd out there today. No one will hear you."

ALEC: "G-l-l-u-n-n-uh!"

Sandra slipped out. Alec listened to the key turn in the lock. He dared not move. He stood rigid, listening as Sandra's voice drifted to him.

SANDRA: "Be careful, Alec. The least little movement might send the sword blade through your chest. Don't even breathe hard. And above all, heh,...TRY NOT TO BELCH!"