John and his brother, Brian hurried out onto the field in their practice jerseys. They knew they were in real trouble because the team had already finished stretching.

"I'm really sorry coach," John said as he ran to the sidelines. "It was Bessie. She had her Calf."

"Get your butt out there, Wilson!" The coach said, signaling Gary, the second string quarterback, to come back to the line.

The team ran a play after play. First-string offense/second-string defense, then first-string defense/second-string offense. Back and forth, the coach directed his players through passing drills, rushing, option, quarterback sneak, 2 minute drills. All the time, he was disturbed by what he saw. His players were small, scrawny even compared to the average football player. An worst of all, they were on the opposite side of the scale from their regional rivals, The Bovine, who topped out the average player weight at 300, their heaviest, the Center Roy "The Wall" Tildon at almost 500 lbs.

The coach looked at his heaviest player, Ben Landers, who weighed a flimsy 250 lbs. The coach remembered a few years ago when these boys older brothers and predecessors were playing. Back then, the line averaged around 315. That was the day. But now, with this yearlong drought that had hit the local farmers hard, the Coach's boys had been forced to work out in the fields almost continually and had slimmed down to their current shapes. Now how was he supposed to win against the Bovine?

After about an hour, the coach gave the signal to bring it in. "Take a knee!" he yelled as the boys crowded around him. "Well boys, your running great running, passing, hell, your doing great. Good Practice, Boys. Hit the showers!"

The team jumped to their feet and jogged off the field. The coach walked slowly behind them. How was he going to fix this problem?



John stripped off his white, sticky jersey. He looked at himself in the mirror. He flexed his arms and his chest. He was so proud of the progress he had made with his body. All the work he had done in the fields had helped him lose almost 60 lbs. He used to be the fat guy at school, which had never really bothered him until some asshole started teasing him. That was the only reason he had wanted to lose the weight in the first place. He really had liked his big belly and his soft arms and legs, but now he had a girl, a position on the football team, and place in the popular crowd. So he was happy, or so he thought.

Everyone in the locker room was stripping down and getting ready for the showers. But, before they could,