From: To: Subject: [MGS] The Next Big Thing - A Big Day Date: Monday, October 01, 2001 11:36 PM A Big Day "World Harris is here to see you." The receptionist said through the intercom. World looked around the office. He really hadn't heard of Monster Mass before this, but from the pictures on the wall it looked like some pretty massive guys endorsed their products. Boy, it would be awesome to get some kind of sponsorship out of this. "Jesus, you're for real!" His eyes were wide open. "I'm John." He offered a hand shake. John watched his hand be engulfed by World's massive paw. "Cool." John was carrying a plain corrugated box under his other arm. "Here it is." He held out box to World. "We don't know what we're going to call the product in the market yet, so were just calling them X- pumps right now." "X-Pumps?" "Don't like that do you. I don't either." "No, I mean what do I do with it." "Oh, sorry, open up the box." World did. "They're just like protein bars. Eat them before or during a workout." "humph." World nodded. "So… give `em a try and let me know what you think. It was nice meeting you." "OK". They shook hands again. That was it. World went back to the gym for his noon workout. As usual, he payed no attention to the rubber neckers as he dressed in the locker room. He thought about the meeting, it had been a little disappointing. "Lookin' BIG World!" World just nodded as he struggled to get his tank top over his chest. He reached in his bag and got out one of the bars. He exited sideways through the locker room door onto gym floor. As he stood by the lat pull down bar, he tore open the plain white wrapper and took a bite. Not bad, but a little sweet. In a couple of bites he finished it. That left him thirsty. He made his way over the fountain and drank. Man, he was thirsty. He stopped for a breath and drank some more. The line behind him was getting long, but who's going to say anything to a guy that large. He waddled back to the lat machine, reached up for the bar and plunked down on the seat in the same motion. Stretch, squeeze… stretch, squeeze. He counted in his head… 10, 11, 12. He was getting a HELL of a good pump. After three sets, he was thirsty again. He stood up and threw his arms back, but his lats obstructed them. He took a deep breath as he lifted his arms behind his head. He slowly lowered them to his side. They landed and spread out on his lats, stuck at 45 degrees. "Lookin' BIG World." World smiled, put his fist on obliques and stretched out a front lat spread. "ripppppp". He let the pose go immediately. What was going on here? The shirt was tight, but not that tight. Still needed some water. He worked his way over to the fountain. He had never felt a pump like this. He drank. World lumbered back the weights. His back had thickened and tightened. The heard the tank top slowly ripped down his back. His body felt uncomfortable, like was wrapped in plastic wrap. Time for biceps. Time for another one of those X-pump bars. The 150 pounders felt good in his hand. He felt like he had more control over the weight than usual. He carried them to stand on a mat near the fountain so he could drink between sets. His biceps swelled quickly. "Lookin' BIG World!" "Hey, do me a favor and get me a tape measure." The onlooker's mouth dropped. He was a just a smallish teenager who worked the front desk. "Where?" "Check the office." The kid scurried away. Will rubbed one of his biceps. It was hard rock hard. He couldn't massage it like he usually did. It was flushed pink with blood and the veins were throbbing. "Here it is". The onlooker was back. "Thanks man. I need you to measure this for me." He raised one of his giant arms and tried to contract it. It wouldn't go by 90 degrees. The kid stared blankly at the thing with the tape in his hands. "Go ahead. It's not going to bite you." That snapped him out of it. He wrapped the cloth tape over it. "Over the peak. Over the peak." World's face strained as he tried to hold it. "What does it say?" "29" "Wow. Thanks man." World stared the big thing. He could see some fresh stretch marks. "No problem." The kid started to walk away. "Hey can you hang for a few minutes? I want to see how fat these'll get." "Sure." He said with some surprise. World swallowed another bar and gulped down some more water. He clenched the cable push-down bar. He hadn't worked bis together with tris for a year, but now he wanted to see what he could do. Push… Release. Push… Release. The plates clanked together. The kid sat on a bench and gawked at World's swelling arms. 15 minutes. He pumped for 15 minutes, non-stop. World let the bar go. BANG! "OK lets have a look" His arms swung freely from his shoulder, seemingly paralyzed at the elbow. But he poked out his lower lip and managed to raise one up. The tape was thrown over it. The kid pinched it together at the bottom. "What's it say G?" The kid was quiet, he checked the tape for slack. "What's it say?" "34 inches" Will examined his arm, trying to see the swollen tricep on the bottom side. "You want to do the other one?" The kid asked with anticipation. "Sure, what the F#!%&" He raised the other arm now. It actually felt even tighter than the other one. More blood must have rushed in while he was having the first one measured. "This one is 34 and five eighths." "So much for symmetry." World chuckled. "Hey what's your name G." "Kenny." "Thanks Kenny. Thanks a bunch." World got out his cell phone out of his bag to call Paglio. But engorged arms wouldn't let him put his hands together to punch the numbers though. "Hey G, dial this for me" The kid took the phone from him and punched the numbers as World called them out. World took back the phone and tried to put it up to his ear. Too pumped. The kid took it back held it up to World's ear. "John, this is World Harris, I was at Monster Mass this morning" "Hello World, what can I do for you." "Well, I just tested your bars, and damn if they don't work. I just pumped my arms up 8 inches" "What?! How many did you eat?" "I think 3" "Christ, you're not supposed to eat them like that. Did you drink any water?" "Gallons." "Drink more. And get some food in you." "OK." "Call me first thing in the morning." World was a little scared now. What was in those bars? He headed for the locker room. He tried changing back into his street clothes, but his arms were just too big. As he headed out of the gym shirtless, he thought to himself `screw the diet, I'm hungry."