Relaxed Dad

Dad was a workaholic. He spent almost no time thinking about anything else, always trying to advance his career. He claimed his philosophy was 'Work Hard, Play Hard'. Even with free time set aside for himself, though, he was always striving to achieve some sort of goal. He never spent any time relaxing on vacation, instead choosing to end up at the gym for cardio, signing up for cycling classes, anything to fill the blocks of time he had free.

The worst part was he expected the same from everyone else. He was on everyone's asses, boasting how he had all his time planned busy working on himself. I knew I had to take action.

He was one of the few who still had an mp3 player. Not for music, no. Instead it was filled with podcasts so he had something to do during travel or any unforeseen downtime, avoiding any distraction from his phone. That was my target.

I had a plan after finding a hypnotherapy website that was supposed to help people relax. Before the next family vacation at an inclusive resort, I got my hands on his device, ripping off all the files. All I did was layer the inductions on whatever podcasts he had, uploading all the new files into the device. I put it back, and let it take its course.

On the day we arrived I watched him take his usual habit, immediatelly going to the schedule. In no time I saw his shared calender filled up with that day's events. Unfortunately, he still had an hour before the first one. He said he was going out to the pool to listen to his podcasts, disappearing to find a chair.

I couldn't wait to see how it would turn out.

I checked in on the pool at noon, surprised to find him there despite the blocked time he had on his schedule. It wasn't like him to fall asleep. He was usually always on edge, aware of everything around him, never letting anything slip by. I let him be, deciding to see how his day ended up once we met up at dinner.

He seemed much happier than usual that evening, silent and focused on eating. His mind seemed taken up by fewer things. He would never have eaten an appetizer or desert, but I watched him get back up to the buffet countless times. Each time though, his face seemed more pained, almost aware upset by what he was doing. That wasn't the case at all by the next morning however, when I watched him load up on pastries and donuts without a second thought.

A small paunch was visible in his shirts by the time he was done. He looked down and laughed at seeing the bulge, making a comment about how he was going to head to the gym to work off the calories. As soon as we were out however, he instead headed off directly to the pool, putting his headphones in to listen to more podcasts.

The next day he was in the same spot, a dumb smile on his face as he relaxed by the pool. He remained there for the rest of his vacation, stationary, only bothering to get up for food. His toned body quickly disappeared, filling out with pudge as his chest softened, his torso turning into a pillow. He was undeniably fat by the end of the week, having spent all day lazing away as he stuffed his maw silly.

He never lost the weight after that, easily continuing to grow with his new attitude. He took everything laid back, indulging himself every chance he got. He turned round and chubby, barely recognizable as the man before, just a compliant pillow that loved to let his mind and body rest as he grew fatter and fatter.