Templeton was carried a few hundred yards before reaching a picnic table with a few human men seated around it. A massive banner over the proceedings proclaimed that Templeton had arrived at "HUMBLE HANK'S HOT DOG EATING CONTEST!"
"Hank, what the heck is that?" one of the other participants asked. Hank plopped Templeton down on his belly at the end of the table. He was happy to be lying on his stomach- this was the best position for keeping food within reach of his mouth and paws. His hind legs, however, were back to hanging uselessly in the air.
"This rat ate a whole pig this morning," Hank said, poking Templeton's jiggling, sloshing belly. "I decided to enter him in the eating contest with you guys."
"That's a rat? I thought it was a really fat woodchuck!"
"No, that's a rat. See its tail?"
"Who wants to watch a rat eat?"
"All these people," Hank said, and he gestured at the crowd that was arriving to fill the seats. He once again clapped his hands to draw their attention.
"Welcome to Humble Hank's humble hot dog eating contest!" he shouted, to cheers and applause. "We all know the rules. Last one to stop eating wins. If you throw up, you lose. The winner gets bragging rights and a coupon. Now, bring out the dogs!"
Templeton turned his head the best he could to watch as some of the hot dog stand's employees began to bring out the hot dogs for the hot dog eating contest. His eyes glazed over in sheer ecstasy as a towering platter of hot dogs was placed in front of him, each one grilled to perfection and dripping with ketchup and mustard. Never could he have dreamed that the humans would up and give him such a bounty. He reached out his flabby arms, grabbed the closest hot dog he could reach, and pulled it into his mouth.
"The rat says it's time to go," Hank laughed, "so LET'S GO!"
All sounds around Templeton faded away as he settled into the gorging of a lifetime. He swallowed the hot dogs in two or three bites at a time, massive gulps sending each mouthful into his hungry stomach. He demolished the first tray, and was immediately presented with a second one.
This fair was a rat's paradise, indeed.
"The rat seems to be keeping up with all of you," Hank chided the other contestants. The hot dogs churned inside Templeton's belly. His face was coated with mustard and grease. There was no end to the eating in sight. The second tray was finished, and a third was deposited in front of him. He was dimly aware that the crowd was cheering for him as another contestant dropped out. He didn't care about that, of course- he only cared about eating. He gave his stomach a reassuring pat as it filled back up and began to bloat outwards.
Two more men dropped out of the contest as Templeton inhaled his fourth tray of hot dogs. He heard Hank whisper to one of the employees that they were going to need to bring bigger trays of hot dogs to satisfy his appetite. He grinned wolfishly and continued to eat. His belly had long since lost its squishy softness and was now a taut orb once more, growing bigger by the second and lifting him higher and higher off the table. He wasn't yet feeling the uncomfortable tightness he'd had after his gorge of the night before, however. His stomach had gotten accustomed to larger meals.
"Have you ever seen a creature eat like this!?" Hank shouted, and the crowd went wild. An employee staggered over to Templeton with a tray of hot dogs three times taller than the others. Templeton reached for a hot dog, yanked it out of the stack, and kept gorging. Each swallow made his belly quiver and expand. He was now as big as he'd been when he'd finished up last night, and he had every intention of pushing his limits even further.
The last human contestant, a younger man who'd held out as long as he could, finally surrendered, and rushed to a nearby garbage can to throw up. Templeton felt a twinge of regret that the man had ruined what could have been enough food to stuff ten Templetons, but hey, he had all he needed right here.
"We have a winner! But the fat rat shows no sign of slowing down!" Hank showed no sign of slowing down Templeton's supply of hot dogs, either.
Damn straight, Templeton thought as he continued to stuff food down his throat. As if any of these stupid humans could out-eat me. I'll be bigger than Wilbur at this rate.
Hank muttered a few words to another employee, and another tray of hot dogs emerged, piled even higher than the last one. At the same time, the employees were cleaning up the other contestants' areas, and bringing those leftovers to Templeton as well. He ate voraciously, his stomach bubbling and glorping and bulging with each new addition. Even though the contest was over, the crowd lingered, as if to see just how much this rat could eat.
Unfortunately, the employees were ready to be done with the whole spectacle, and they hadn't used much care in stacking all of the food. As Templeton ate, the tower of hot dogs began to lean precariously towards him. Stuffed and woozy as he was, he didn't notice the trouble he was in, before the tower finally collapsed on top of him.
With a happy groan, Templeton welcomed the rain of hot dogs, catching one in his mouth and swallowing it whole in one massive gulp. The avalanche knocked him backwards, rolling him into an upright position. He realized that his belly had bloated outwards so much that he was a little bit taller than before, though that was the least of his concerns. He belched loudly to make room- much to the delight of the crowd- and went back to gorging himself on everything he could reach. When he could no longer reach any food past his massive stomach, he kicked his fatty hind legs against the table until he rolled back forward onto his belly to resume the gorge. Templeton's stomach was bottomless. He would eat until someone made him stop.
Hank's earlier enthusiasm for the spectacle the rat had created was diminishing.
"So, uh, Tom," he said. "How many hot dogs do we have left?"
"That was it, boss," Tom said with a shrug. "You said to keep feeding him."
Templeton gobbled up everything on the table until there was nothing left but himself, a massive, groaning gray orb surrounded by crumbs and grease stains. He dragged the last hot dog to his mouth and licked his lips. He was about to take a huge bite out of it when he was rudely interrupted.
"TEMPLETON!? What did you do to yourself!?"
He squinted his eyes at the interruption, and saw...
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