Sylph in “Rat Race” by: stmercy2020 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. “Wait…” “You know, Sylph, the sign said push…,” Jen’s dry voice informed the hulking girl. Sylph stood there, red-faced, in the doorway to the student union, the bent and mangled aluminum door, sans glass, still held in her muscley arm. “Um,” she ventured, “oops?” Jen rolled her eyes. “Just put it aside. Let’s get you inside and see about getting you some sort of job before you bankrupt the campus.” Sylph gently put the wreck to one side, regretting once again that neither Kalida, nor Wade, nor even Bekka had been able to come with her on her job hunt. Jen was statuesque, true enough, but her often abrasive personality tended to make Sylph nervous. With anybody else, this would have been, at worst, a minor inconvenience. Unfortunately, Sylph was prone to wreck things- purely by accident- when she got nervous. Jen rubbed her temple as she looked the shorter yet much larger girl up and down. “Sylph,” she began, “I have to ask- why did you ever decide to get so big?” “Um, I don’t really know. It just kind of happened,” Sylph evaded. Jen was having none of it. “That,” Jen said archly, poking Sylph in the tricep, “didn’t just happen. You had to work- and work hard- to develop that muscle. Why did you do it?” Sylph blushed a little. “I think I saw my first bodybuilding contest when I was, um, maybe five? Anyway, I remember seeing Lenda Murray and Denise Rutkowski and some others and thinking that I just really liked the way they looked. You know, powerful and strong and in control? I decided I wanted that too.” “Uh huh. But you don’t look like any of those women. I mean, I’m not exactly an authority on the women’s bodybuilding scene, but I’ve seen some former Ms. Os, and you don’t really resemble any of them.” “Well, no. I started lifting way too young, and I probably should have been hurt because I kind of pushed myself way harder than should have been possible. I started developing real muscle very young. My parents actually had me tested to find out if I had a myostatin imbalance, but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong. I just grew and grew really fast and really big. “By the time I was, like, thirteen, I was already a lot bigger than my mom, and I hadn’t even thought about guys yet. By the time I was thinking about boys, well, I looked kind of like this.” Sylph grimaced and Jen regretted having pushed. It was true- Sylph was so big that she probably intimidated pretty much the entire sighted male population of the planet. Jen shook her head. “Never been kissed…” she muttered. “All right, we’re here. You ready to do this thing?” Sylph examined her attire- flats, a massive, pleated skirt that ran to just above her knees, a burgundy blouse, and a rich cream-colored vest. She knew she looked all right- well, she looked huge but tasteful, at least- but she still felt like she’d dressed in a closet. “Yeah,” she said, “let’s get this over with.” Jen marched directly up to the help-wanted desk and flashed the young man behind the counter a dazzling smile. “Hi there,” she read his name tag, “Thomas. My friend is looking for work. What’ve you got?” The young man looked up to see first Jen, then Sylph. His eyes grew as wide as soup plates, then he cleared his throat and looked down at his desk. “Ah,” he hesitated, “we have a couple positions open, just now. “In no particular order, we need someone to help Doctor Markolis- nothing terribly exciting, mostly just paper shuffling. It’s part-time work and the pay is competitive. “We also have an opening for a qualified personal trainer,” Sylph wrinkled her nose and Thomas continued quickly, “but I can see that doesn’t interest you, so we’ll just set that aside. “The only other job we have right now is a temp-to-hire position with Boglyn Construction Enterprises, Ltd. They’re looking for about a half dozen young men and women who don’t mind working outdoors in the sun. It’s heavy lifting and fairly dangerous- there’s a disclaimer you have to sign- but the pay is outstanding.” Jen took applications for all three jobs and led Sylph back to a wide, low-build sofa. Sylph carefully tested her weight against the sofa- it sank considerably and groaned, but didn’t break- and sat down. Jen sat next to her and they went over the jobs in detail. Several hours later, Sylph’s eyes were swimming. She had filled her name, address, phone number, eye color, height, blood type, allergies, pets, and favorite bloody pasta into so many blanks that she was almost ready to just give up entirely. Jen, noticing Sylph’s frustration, gently took the application forms from her and checked them over, then handed them in to Thomas who told them they’d hear back in a couple days at the latest. “Well,” Jen said, “I think that’s enough work for a Friday evening. What’ve you got planned?” As she expected, Sylph looked at her watch and jumped to her feet with a start. “Oh no,” she moaned, “I’m gonna be late for drawing!” As she turned to hurry off, Jen grabbed her wrist with both of her hands and dug her heels in. “Oh, no you don’t! I already spoke with Wade and you’re off the hook tonight. I take it this means you don’t have any other plans?” Sylph blinked, confused. “Uh, no?” Jen’s smile was positively wolfish. “Good! Then you are going to do exactly what I say tonight, and you can thank me later!” Jen led Sylph outside into the cool evening air and pursed her pretty lips. “We’re going to have to get your car, I’m afraid. I would say we could take mine, but I don’t think you’d really fit.” She marched them off towards the student parking lot. Arriving at the parking lot, Sylph noticed that Jen’s roommates (and her good friends) Kalida and Bekka were already there and waiting for them. Sylph looked at them in sudden alarm. “Um, I don’t think everybody can fit in my car, either,” she hissed at Jen, but Jen just laughed. “Of course not. You and Kalida are going to take the truck, and Bekka and I are going to take my ‘Z.’” Following Jen, they headed East on the Long Island Parkway. The campus dropped away far behind them, followed by the urban sprawl of the city itself, finally giving way to a very upscale suburban neighborhood. Jen piloted her Nissan like a race car driver and it was all Sylph could do to keep up and not lose the much smaller and more agile car, but finally Jen pulled to a stop in front of a small, fairly unobtrusive salon. Jen hopped out and fed a dollar into the meter, than waited for Sylph to park and did the same for her parking space. A tall, middle-aged man with thinning hair came out of the building and immediately started walking towards them. “Jennifer,” he beamed, his smile a 1000-watt burst of sunlight, “it is so good to see you again! And these are the friends you told me about? It will be a pleasure to work with them.” His gaze fell on Kalida and he paused for a moment. “Magnificent,” he breathed. “I hope you will allow me to take some photographs for my gallery and for advertising purposes?” Kalida blushed, but Jen stepped in front of the babbling man. “I’m sure we can arrange something, Ivan, but Kalida isn’t your first priority, tonight.” “Of course, of course,” he agreed rapidly. “Who is to receive my magic tonight?” Jen rolled her eyes, then grabbed Sylph by the arm and dragged her forward. “This is Sylph,” she said with a vicious smile. “Ay, me!” Ivan groaned, and Sylph blushed and started to turn away. “No, no, young lady. Don’t go! I am up to the challenge!” Jen slapped him on the back of the head. “Sylph!” Jen barked, “get over here. Ivan is the best in New York, and we’re going to get you properly made up for a night on the town.” “A…night on the town?” Sylph blanched. Kalida smiled reassuringly. “Yeah. A girls’ night out. We’ll get you done up proper, then we’ll go out to some clubs, get a bite to eat, maybe pick up a couple of guys…” Sylph looked down at her mammoth form. “Oh boy,” she muttered, “I think I may regret this…”