Sniffing the air, Templeton was met with disappointment as no soothing aromas touched the tip of his nose. "Sorry," Templeton shrugged, "I don't smell anything. I was lucky enough to find a watermelon."
Now it was Charlene's turn to sniff the air, "I smell something…though…it smells far."
"Really," Templeton tried again, "I can't smell anything."
The doe giggled, "Well your nose is broken, because I certainly smell something."
Without warning, Charlene ran up to the bloated rat and pulled at his paw, dragging him forward. "Come on Templeton, you're not going to let little ol me run off all alone are you?"
Templeton had mixed feelings about it. Sure it was neat seeing another rat in his neighborhood, but sharing food with her…eh, it interfered with his goal to be the fattest rat in the world. Still, if anything were to possibly happen to her, it'd bug his conscience and possibly ruin his apatite. So lifting himself off the pile of garbage he waddled in place behind Charlene.
===
"There, that's where the smell is coming from," said Charlene.
At the site of it, Templeton immediately regretted tagging along. It was a small dinner, with human's coming in and out. Must've been a busy day.
Seeing the sly glint in her eyes, Templeton shook his head, "We can't go in there."
Charlene scowled, "Why not?"
"Well, don't you see them going in and out? This is a human place. Don't you know what they do to rat's?"
At this Charlene laughed, which gave Templeton a look of confusion. "Silly rat, we're not going to get caught."
"Oh yeah, what makes you so sure?"
"I've been to places like this all the time, and look at me, I'm still bounding and breathing. Trust me, you'll be fine."
Templeton had enough, "No, I'm not risking my tail just because you want somethin' to eat."
Templeton didn't get far as something jerked on his tail. Turning around, Charlene's paw held him back. "Would you let me go please?"
"Not yet. Come on, you take a whiff at that and tell me you want to go back. Go on, smell."
Not having much of a choice, Templeton smelled the atmosphere. Sweet flavoring aromas of grilled beef, curly fries, chicken, and all types of other delicacies caused his mouth to water. Never having much will when it came to food, he regrettably succumbed to the will of his stomach. For better or worse. Still though, Templeton worried.
"But…what if we get caught?"
"Would you stop with the worrying already. What are you, a rat or a mouse?"
"Er…is there really a difference?"
"It'll be fine, just follow right behind me and go when I go."
Reluctantly, Templeton followed her, moving from car to car across the parking lot. The closer they got to the building the more Templeton's stomach growled, making him smack it to hush up. Finally reaching the last car, Charlene was the first to enter through a small hole at the corner of a large garbage bin.
"Come on," she called.
Templeton stood perplexed for a minute. "The garbage? I thought we were going inside the restaurant?"
"How're we supposed to eat with people around silly? Plus, who wants to eat frozen food. Just get your tail over here."
Shrugging it off, Templeton went on, barely squeezing through the hole. Charlene patted his pot belly, "We're not getting out through there after this."
Not ten seconds had passed inside the bin before Templeton found half a cheeseburger. "Well, you do know how to sneak past humans."
"Told you so," she winked, "Well, dig in Tempy, we've got a long time before the restaurant closes.
Templeton needed no second bidding. Blithely, he chomped away at the burger, finishing it in no time flat. Though it seemed there was more trash than there was food, there was certainly more to be had than at the junkyard. Digging through the greasy paper bags and salty boxes of fries, he met up with Charlene, who had quickly gathered a hefty portion of food for herself. At a corner, she elegantly lounged on a pile of wrappers, daintily filling her face, and licking her paws once finishing each morsel. Templeton however was more primal in his feasting, shoveling down his gullet what he could find, which when Charlene caught sight of it, made her giggle further.
"I don't suppose you'd wait a bit for the people to empty more trash in here?"
Stuffing a piece of chicken into his mouth, he stuck out his belly and patted it. Then continued with his gorging.
"I guess not, heheh."
----
A couple hours passed, as the pair nourished themselves on what trash was thrown away, up until closing time. Wrapped up in what was the feasting of a lifetime for him, Templeton became more bloated than he ever felt in his life. Though it wasn't as fat as he would prefer, having a stomach as big around as a jelly jar was a delight to experience. Charlene, though doing so less wildly as Templeton, had also glutted herself to a large degree; to Templeton's size in fact. Both fat rat's currently laid on their backs on top of a pile of trash. Gazing at the glistening stars and moon.
Snuggling further into the warm garbage, paws patting his swollen sloshing belly, Templeton blew a pleasurable sigh. "Oh Charlene, I should've met you long ago. I've never come close to gorging so much before."
Charlene nudged at his sloshing belly with a footpaw. "If you thought this was a lot, I'd love to see how you'd feel about the fair fat rat."
Oh the fair, if it was as good as Charlene led on he'd most certainly love to go. Though to his dismay, he hadn't the means nor the patience to travel to such a place, at least not alone. Plus, he didn't even know where it is. Changing the subject, he talked about something else that intrigued him, nudging her plump belly with his own footpaw.
"You weren't lying, you really are a heavy eater."
The doe placed a dainty paw to her mouth, holding in a squeaky hiccup. "What this," she patted her swollen belly, "this isn't heavy at all. This is light compared to the fair."
"The fair…is it really that great of a place?"
Charlene stretched her limbs as well as her stomach at the thought of it, "oh it's such a wonderful place. I told you, a fair has enough disgusting left over food to satisfy a whole army of rats."
Templeton leaned in closer. "Is this appetizing yarn of your's true?"
"Hehe, oh Tempy," she ruffled the fur on his head, "why don't we go ourselves and find out?"
He was slightly hopping she'd ask, but still felt iffy about the idea. "But it's so far away. Who knows if something bad might happen?"
"Or something good."
"Like what?"
"What do you mean like what," she patted Templeton's stomach, "we'll hit a couple of stops along the way, and by the time we get there you'll be more than ready for it. I might be new to the area, but that doesn't mean I don't know my way to the fair from here. But if you don't want to go, then I guess we could always do something else."
Go to the fair with Charlene, or someplace closer to home. It was a pretty tough decision, but looking to his sloshing belly and hearing it growl, his mind was already made up…
