Aurora's Overstuffed Stomach

Aurora groaned and massaged her stomach.  Looking down, she was shocked to see that her light blue long-sleeve shirt, which had fit snugly at the beginning over the evening, was stretched tight across her middle and had ridden up so high that she could see her belly button.  Her normally flat stomach was bulging outward and her belly button, which was usually a shallow innie, was stretched so tightly that it was nearly an outie.  

It felt like her stomach was about to burst.

“Come on Aurora, finish your food,” her mother admonished.  Rory’s sister Michaela smirked from across the table.  Aurora sighed, feeling like she might puke.  It was one of her parents’ house rules that everyone in the family needed to finish what was on their plate before they could be excused.  Looking around, she saw the clean plates of her three younger brothers stacked up in the sink.

“No leaving this table until your plate is empty,” Rory’s mother said firmly, putting aside her own plate and following her husband into the living room.  “If you could take that much food than it’s your job to finish it.  Maybe in the future you’ll remember not to let your eyes get bigger than your stomach.”

Aurora groaned again.  It wasn’t her fault that she had taken so much.  She had been really hungry!  And she was only seventeen, not even a legal adult yet.  Wasn’t that an excuse for having eyes bigger than her now-quite-big stomach?

Aurora stared morosely down at her half-full plate as Michaela too went to put away her plate.  Her older sister left the room, but not before reaching down to jab Rory hard in the stomach.

Staring at her plate with trepidation, Aurora hesitantly opened her mouth and place a spoonful of mashed potatoes inside.  Feeling sick, she swallowed.  Her stomach grumbled, and ached painfully.  Scoop by scoop she went to work at finishing the potatoes.  With each bite her stomach seemed to grow larger and larger, and it gurgled uncomfortably with each spoonful.

When Rory finally shoved the last bite into her mouth she sighed in relief and slouched in her chair, massaging her throbbing stomach.  Her stomach was huge, and another bit of food was sure to cause her belly button - now stretched painfully tight - to explode.

Aurora looked pitifully at the squash and peas still sitting on her plate.

It was going to be a long night.