Chapter 4

"You're kidding, right?" Arnie said. He knew by the look in her eyes, though, that she wasn't kidding.

"Make more donuts," Julie said. "Lots more."

"Listen, Julie, I'm spent right now," he said. "I don't think I have enough energy to pull my pants up, let alone--"

"Make. More. Donuts," she said. "Now."

There was something in her voice that chilled Arnie right to the bone. She had been a gymnast in high school, and she had muscular arms that were intimidating. She seemed to have gotten bigger, too, which made her even more intimidating.

"Uh, okay," Arnie said, sliding off the table, then bending down to pull his pants up. "I guess I can do that. Um, would you mind going out to the front of the store? I really think somebody should be out there in case a customer comes in. Please?"

Julie looked at him with contempt. "Okay, but start the donuts now. And as soon as they're finished, tell me." She started to walk out, then turned, a leering smile on her face. "On second thought, you won't have to tell me. I'll smell when they're finished."

She turned and walked out, the twin mounds of her ass rotating like pillows in a dryer.

This is crazy, Arnie thought. She just ate enough donuts to fill up a horse, and yet she wants more. How can that be? Arnie wasn't a believer in magic or the supernatural, but he was starting to think there was some drug in that flour, something that made people hungry.

He decided to try the flour himself. He went over to the storage shelves and pulled the black bag down. He opened the top and stuck his hand inside the bag, scooping out some of the fine, white flour. He stuck his hand in his mouth, and tasted it.

It had a sweet, almost sickly sweet, taste. There was something orangey, a hint of honey, and a hint of something sharper, like red pepper. He swallowed it, trying to concentrate on the taste.

And then he got very sick.

It was like his stomach was doing somersaults, or like the flour had started a chemical reaction where his stomach suddenly had the need to be empty. He broke out into a cold sweat, his breath was suddenly ragged, his heart was pounding and his head was dizzy. He lurched in the direction of the bathroom, which was at the back end of the bakery, and he barely made it to the toilet before he started retching violently. The contents of his stomach came flying out of him like water out of a firehose, and in a matter of seconds he'd completely emptied his insides.

He flushed the toilet and stood there woozily, barely able to stand up. He held on to the sink for balance, turned on the cold water, and splashed his face with it to bring himself around. What kind of madness was this? The flour, that magic flour that had made Julie want to eat 50 donuts all at once, that same flour made his stomach want to turn itself inside out. He couldn't understand it; what was in this stuff?

Whatever was in it, he knew one thing: he would never eat a donut, or a muffin, or a cupcake, or anything made with that damned flour. He was starting to believe it was cursed. He looked himself in the mirror, water dripping off his face, his hair askew, red marks on his face and neck where Julie's ravenous mouth had kissed him -- he looked like a wreck.

I should stop this now, he thought. I should throw that flour away, pour it down the toilet and flush it like the foul stuff it really is. This can't be anything good, and I should get rid of it now before I get sucked into something really evil.

"Arnie?" Julie said. Her voice sounded like velvet, like a cat purring. She was standing right outside the door to the bathroom, and Arnie could hear the sexy longing in her voice. She was like an animal in heat, and he could almost feel the warmth radiating through the door.

"What are you doing in there, honey?" she said. "When are you going to make li'l Julie some more donuts?"

"Tell her never," a voice in his head said. "Put a stop to this right now. Tell her you're getting rid of the flour, that it's evil and you're destroying it before it destroys Julie. And you."

He wanted to tell her, he really did.

But then she opened the door, and he saw that she had taken off her top, and her round, swollen breasts were swinging free. She had taken her pants off too, and she was standing there in only her red lacy panties, which were stretched tight to cover her spreading hips. Her belly was poking over the elastic waistband of the panties too, and it was the most thrilling sight.