Joe Bones came home after a long day at the office. Once again, Eric had turned off the AC in the house, and it was too hot for the portly Irish Setter anthro. Then again, Eric is a Komodo Dragon anthro, and likes it hot. Joe promptly turns on the AC. Cool air starts flowing, but already Joe was starting to pant from the built-up heat. “Eric!” he shouts, but no answer. “Damn. Must be out.” Joe mutters as he looks for something cool to drink. The icebox, however, is nearly empty, with only a couple jugs of Eric’s favorite drink, which Joe hated. “That’s right, it’s shopping day!” Joe muttered. As he goes to close the refrigerator door, Joe sees a sports bottle full of something. Curious, he takes a sniff of the liquid. Finding it attractive, he chugs down most of the bottle. “Not bad... and refreshingly cool!” he says as he puts the bottle back, then heads for his room and a long cool shower. A half-hour later, Eric returns home with the week’s groceries. “C’mon, Joe, help me with this stuff!” he calls from the garage. Eagerly, Joe goes out and helps Eric offload and stow the food. “I’m starving, pal! What’s for dinner?” Joe asks. “That’s what took me so long... I stopped at the new Chinese take-out and got us a bunch!” Eric says, going to the car and coming back with a box of mixed goodies. “Thought I’d give the place a going-over!” “Good!” Joe says as he starts pawing through, sniffing the boxes. Finding a beef dish, he opens the lid and starts slurping the food down. Eric chuckles at the sight. “Easy, pal! The way you eat, you’re going to blow up like a balloon!” he laughs. Joe just waves a paw at him- Eric says this every time he eats! Of the dinner for ten, Joe eats for eight, which is typical for him. Eric eats more sedately, savoring the new tastes. The buff lizard eats for health, while Joe just loves food! As Joe starts eating his fifth course, he scratches at the waistband of his shorts, because it is starting to itch. Eric looks over to Joe, and does a spit-take. “Joe! Look! Your belly’s growing!” he says, pointing at Joe’s midsection. “My what?” Joe mumbles around a mouthful of Mongolian Beef. He pats his tummy, and finds out why his shorts are tight... he’s put on a few inches! “Hey!” he yelps. The two look at Joe’s belly as it slowly swells, pushing out his T-shirt and straining his shorts more. “What’s happening? I’m getting fatter!” Joe says. “You sure are! But why?” Eric asks. “Damned if I know, but I can’t stop fattening up!” Joe says. “Help me! I’m getting bigger, and I feel so light!” At that, Eric blinks, and looks in the icebox. He finds the nearly-empty sports bottle. “Joe, did you drink this?” he says, waving the bottle under Joe’s nose. “Yeah! It was hot when I got home, and I don’t like your stuff, so I drank that! It was great!” “Joe, you fool! That was a potion my friend gave me! That reacts with the food you ate to make you not only fatter, but lighter! One ounce of the stuff with a normal meal will make you fat and light enough to float, and you drank nearly the whole quart! Plus you ate enough to feed a family of hogs, you pig!” “So, what’s gonna happen?” Joe grunts as his shorts grow painfully tight around his swelling body. “If I’m right, you’re gonna get so fat, you’ll outgrow the house! Plus you’ll have enough lift to pick up the car, if not more! You better get outside, you blimp!” Joe struggled to get up, but his swollen body and tight shorts made it hard to move. “Help, Eric! I can’t!” he whined. Eric pulled Joe upright, surprised at how light the huge hound was! As he moved, Joe’s shorts burst off his swelling body, followed by his T-shirt. He was so fat by then, all Joe could see when he looked down was a mass of russet-furred belly! “I’m so fat! Make it stop! I’ll pop!” he whimpered. “I can’t! It’ll wear off eventually! Now, lets get you outside!” Eric commanded. Joe bounced to the door, but found it was too late. His belly was far too big to get through the door, and was visibly growing fatter, and FATTER, and FATTER!!! “Damn! I better figure out how to hold you down, Blimpy!” Eric muttered as he looked for some line. When he came back, the bloated dog was on the ceiling, and his belly bulged halfway to the floor! “Eric! I’m a balloon! Can’t stop blowing up! Do something before I burst!” Joe mumbled. “You won’t burst, Joe, but the house might!” Eric said as he tied Joe’s hands and feet to the securest anchors he could find as the bloated hound grew ever more fatter and lighter. After twenty minutes, Joe was so hugely bloated with fat, his belly was pressing against the floor as the ceiling beams creaked under the mounting pressure of his expanding body. “Why won’t it stop? I’m far too big!” he muttered. “Because you ate too much and drank too much potion, you fool!” Eric snapped at the swollen dog. Then, the ceiling beams started to snap as poor Joe grew too big for the room! Another half-hour, and Joe was an immense ball of blubber, bigger than the house that lay in ruins under him. Eric had managed to find more lines to hold the blimped-out dog down with as his lift increased as his waistline did! A crowd was gathering around Joe as he swelled to the size of a hot-air balloon before he stopped growing. “Hey, Eric, how long will I stay this big?” “About a week!” “How am I going to go a week without eating? I’m hungry!” Eric just shook his head, trying to smother a laugh. “Some people never learn....”