"The Everlasting Lollipop": A Fattening Fable (Patreon)

If you're like me, this ongoing pandemic has you in a contemplative mood.  Typically, life's rigmarole keeps us facing forward, but in pressing the global pause button we've suddenly been afforded time to reflect.  And like that famous Talking Heads' song, "Once in a Lifetime," I find myself wondering "how did I get here?" with regards to family, work...and even this site.  

We've all experienced seminal moments in our lives that cast us in unexpected directions like one of those flimsy board game spinners.  Some are shared, global events that influence how we think and live (like 9/11 or said pandemic), while others are much more personal.  Either way, these "Once in a Lifetime" events shape our relationships, our careers, our religions, and our sexual proclivities.    

Our subversive little fetish is certainly no exception.  I've shared some of my own influential experiences here https://www.deviantart.com/maverickthewriter/status-update/12472718 and here https://www.deviantart.com/maverickthewriter/status-update/12423482, while the Internet has helped us identify watershed moments that have collectively stoked the fires of our latent desires.  For example, nearly every Gen X weight-gain enthusiast references "The Munchies," a cartoon PSA warning against excessive snacking that aired on ABC during the 70s and 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb_q9B3NpOY while many millennials pinpoint "Passion Patties," a 2002 episode of the cartoon series Totally Spies!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsOBL_tqIy8.  I feel bad for Generation Z, having been born in a digital age where fetish porn practically falls into your lap.  They'll never know the joy of switching "before and after" diet ads in Glamour Magazine or scouring the National Enquirer for unflattering "fat" pics of celebrities.  

Conversely, I can only imagine how tough it was for Baby Boomers.  I have no doubt there were plenty of fat fetishists among them, but with no outlet or voice, is it any wonder skeletal French fashionistas and androgynous models like Twiggy ruled the day?

HOWEVER, I do know of one potential eye-opener that existed for the Boomer baby: "The Everlasting Lollipop," a short children's fable from 1950 by Paul Averitt.  I say this because it certainly opened mine when Mom read it to me approximately twenty-five years later.  Of course, I didn't realize why I enjoyed it so much at the time...all I know is that it quickly replaced "The Poky Little Puppy" and "The Little Engine that Could" in my bedtime reading ritual. 

The story was from an anthology book I inherited from my mother.  Entitled "The Tall Book of Make-Believe," the collection was chock-full of TALL tales (the book itself measured approximately 24" high by 6" wide) lovingly illustrated by Garth Williams.  Although I'm certain I read (or was read) every tale in the tome over time, "The Everlasting Lollipop" is the only one I remember--undoubtedly due to the impact it had on my little libido.  

The story features little Johnny who, after finding a magic nickel, purchases an "everlasting" lollipop.  As you might expect, the sucker never shrinks no matter how much he licks it.  In fact, the more he licks, the more it grows!  (Take that, Willy Wonka!)  The key part for us is that Johnny grows right along with the lollipop, eventually becoming too fat to run away from friends who want a lick and, ultimately, even climb the stick for a lick himself!  

The writing is vivid in its simplicity and the images, although whimsical, enhance Johnny's more humiliating moments.  One illustration features a teary-eyed Johnny, too fat to run away from his lolly-loving buddies, forced to hold the stick while everyone has a lick.  It's a little disturbing (especially in the day of Covid-19), but I have no doubt it sewed seeds for the more subversive elements of weight-gain that I enjoy today.  

Although my copy of the book is long-gone, I was able to rediscover the story and most of its accompanying illustrations (some of which were recently auctioned) after a brief search.  It's amazing how much I remember despite not having read it or even seen it for nearly forty years. I suppose that speaks to the impressionability of youth and the power of our kink.  

Maybe that's the REAL moral of the story.