Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Fatty

Ramon's little story above reminded me of the one punchup I was in. I was out with my mate Zigzag, we were both about 18, and we had with us his little sister Miss Model and her friend Fatty Hilton - the two girls were 16 or 17. We had all been at Rubber Soul, a 60's nightclub in Spencer Street and were about to catch the last train home. A bloke approached me and said, "What are you looking at?" and I said, "What?" and he said, "What did you say?" and I said, "What!" and he punched me in the mouth and it cut my lip and I bled. His mates had come along and dragged him away, apologising, and the two girls were screaming and Zigzag simply said, "Are you alright?". My lip was swollen for a few days. End of story.

But thinking of that story reminded me of the existence of Fatty Hilton. She was two year levels below me (same year level as Lewd Bob) and in the first few years of High School she was, well, just a little chubby. By no means fat though. There were lots of fat boys and girls at our school, just like any other, but she wasn't one of them. But, of the relatively attractive / somewhat popular girls, she was perhaps the biggest-boned, and so her name was Fatty. Come on, we were kids. I never invented the name.

Anyway, in about Year 10, she went missing for months and months. Turns out she developed anorexia. Mind you, this was about 1986, and we didn't really know much about anorexia, and schools back then did not have counselling and education about these sorts of things.

She came back to school an absolute stick-insect, though at least she was out of hospital and was strong enough to attend classes. And, well, you know how Australians have that irony thing going on where we call red-headed people 'Bluey' and short guys we call 'big fella' and all that... well, now that she was the skinniest girl in the school her nickname was, umm, Fatty.

Poor Fatty Hilton. Hitler was evil, but nobody is more cruel than an adolescent.

As she was best friends with my mate's little sister, we socialised a fair bit. When I was 19 and at Uni, I was at a party, New Year's Eve, somewhere in the Eastern Suburbs. I was a little drunk. I stared at Fatty Hilton as she was making cocktails. Despite the ravages of an eating disorder she was quite attractive. The eyes... so beautiful. I couldn't stop looking at her. I found desire. When midnight came I threw myself upon her and we pashed. I think I was the first man to kiss her in quite some time.

She became a little emotional later that night and talked to me about her disorder in such graphic terms that I felt ill. She cried. I comforted. She was messed up. I got her home safely and that was that.

It is was only yesterday, as I thought of Fatty Hilton, that I realise that I don't think I ever saw her again after that night. Not once. 21 years later I feel guilt, and I wonder what happened to her, but as Saramago says (and this is a quote I have on my fridge), "...whoever goes, goes, and whoever remains, remains."

UPDATE: I went to schoolfriends.com.au and she had a blank profile, which suggests she's alive. That'll do.

22 comments:

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

High school, eh!

The only way I’d go to a high school reunion would be to gloat.

Over the mangled corpses.

patchouligirl said...

Hunt her down on facebook

Perseus said...

Copses, Ramon? Did you go to Zombie High?

PG: I am not on facebook, because for every Fatty Hilton there's 50 others I don;t want to 'network' with. Hell, I don't even want to network with Fatty Hilton. I just want to know she's alive and well.

WitchOne said...

I'd love to go to a high school reunion, to gloat. I have been in touch with a few old school friends of late, found via facebook, pickings are not slim, skinny girls are fat, most of them (male and female) unemployed, single parents, drug addictions.

Truly, if anyone had voted on us, I would have been the one picked most likely to end up "fat single mother on the pension with drug/alcohol addiction".

HA. I say HAHA!!!!!

obtuse-a said...

Rubber soul...hee hee...

Zombie High: hey, I went there. And have so far avoided all reunions and fakebook attempts to inspire hideous flashbacks...I particularly love the chicks who have their bikini-body photo as their avatar.

As for Fatty, I can relate...oh yeah.

Anonymous said...

As for Fatty, I can relate...oh yeah.

I don't follow Obtuse-A. Do you mean you had an eating disorder or did you know someone who did or were you just a fat kid with a cruel nickname?

squib said...

Witch, since when does single parent = failure?

obtuse-a said...

Well Alex, put it this way, I was first made aware I was not skinny when I was a slightly chubby five years old [as advised by another five year old, mind you, whose mother was an oh-so-slender and impeccably groomed Brahton housewahf], so I have been dieting in some form or another since then. including spates of extreme and stupid behaviour. But most of my female friends also did this, so it wasn't anything new. And my always skinny sister was anorexic for a while, spurred by a relative who thought it was her duty to inform her like a curse "you're skinny now, but once you hit puberty you'll go fat."

Kids are cruel, but I reckon they absorb most of their information from their parents, then media, peers etc. and continue a very strange system of values. Coz being fat is so much more terrible than being a moron or an arsehole you know.

Pepsi said...

Poor Fatty - just google her real name, with a bit of patience you could probably find out all you need to know without her ever knowing.

Is Alex the new muscle on TSFKA???

Puss In Boots said...

Poor Fatty. I can also relate. My sister is way taller than me, but we were equally thin in high school. And still everyone used to comment to me about how much fatter I was than my sister (she just looked thinner because of the height). I weighed 45kgs from grade 10 to grade 12 - that's not fat, damnit! That used to piss me off no end, until I refused to eat while I was at school. And I wouldn't have breakfast, either. So I'd really just eat one meal a day, and even then I wouldn't eat much. People are mean.

My high school reunion was last year. I didn't even respond to the rsvp.

And Squib, I don't think Witchie was singling out the single parent thing as the failure, but the whole combination of single parent/unemployed/drug addiction.

Anonymous said...

I went through a stage as an adult where I drank too much and didn't exercise and got really, really fat. That wasn't a lot of fun and I now have skin that doesn't fit properly.

But I'm afraid I can't really relate to what you're saying, Obtuse-A and Puss. I was home schooled as a kid and by the time I got to high-school, I was used to spending a lot of time on my own and found I didn't really have a lot of interest in what other people thought or said. I probably came across as up myself, but the point is, I've never experienced the kind of body image pressure that you guys describe. It seems so alien, I can't even really get my mind around it. I've never once even thought about dieting.

And Pepsi - What???

Anonymous said...

I really don't understand why you curmudgeonly old reactionaries are so against Facebook. You clearly have no problem with web-socialising on blogger.


Perseus said: I am not on facebook, because for every Fatty Hilton there's 50 others I don;t want to 'network' with.

No one forces you to accept friend requests from those people, Penny.


I went to my 20-year high school reunion last year. It was good to see all the former beach bimbos who were now fat, wrinkled and old. Or the former jocks with guts and receding hairlines.


WitchOne said: I'd love to go to a high school reunion, to gloat. I have been in touch with a few old school friends of late, found via facebook, pickings are not slim, skinny girls are fat, most of them (male and female) unemployed, single parents, drug addictions.

Ooh, ooh, don't forget to feel superior towards the trashy ones that smoke while pregnant. I do.

Anonymous said...

I went through a stage as an adult where I drank too much and didn't exercise and got really, really fat. That wasn't a lot of fun and I now have skin that doesn't fit properly.

I'm starting to form a mental picture of Alex looking like a Shar Pei.

Anonymous said...

Just about hit the nail on the head there, Boogey.

Puss In Boots said...

Always the way, isn't it Dr Golf? You go off to uni and get your degree and become a professional and feel all superior, and they drop out in grade 10 and start working as a brickie's labourer or something. In 10 years time, they own their own business, have 5 people working for them, and are making a killing. Meanwhile, you're still stuck in your non-corner office, earning a fraction of what they are, and are completely miserable with your crappy "career."

I swear to fsm I should have learned a trade. My brother is a tradesmen, and the amount of money he earns is obscene.

Lewd Bob said...

I've been wracking my brain, but I have no idea who the hell Fatty is.

Little sister of a mate of yours? Gimme a clue. Gawn.

Perseus said...

I emailed you Bob.

Yes, Golf and Puss. I have a cousin who is semi-illiterate and a psychopath. I have nothing to do with him. He dropped out of school in Year Nine and became a roof tiler. He's LOADED.

He buys beer with his earnings. It probably adds to his wealth. If I had a million dollars I'd blow it on a Norman Lindsay painting or something. He just buys half a dozen stubbies on his way home and the rest of his money earns interest.

Perseus said...

I emailed Lewd Bob her real name. Turns out he pashed her at the Year 12 party, which, by my calculations, was two weeks before I pashed her. Ew.

Anonymous said...

I have a cousin who is semi-illiterate and a psychopath... He dropped out of school in Year Nine and became a roof tiler.

That was one thing I liked about years 11 & 12. All the semi-illiterate psychopaths had dropped out to become roof tilers (or whatnot). Don't get me wrong, I was mates with quite a few of them, I just didn't want them running amok in my maths classes because they had no interest in being there.

Seriously though, am I the only one here who isn't at all interested in the success or failure of people I know and how I compare to them?

Puss In Boots said...

Alex - yes.

Unknown said...

Yeah, kids are freaking cruel. I used to be heaps skinny & got teased for that when I was in high school. The fat kids used to be teased for being fat. We didn't have any black kids or Asian kids or any other race kids at our school, so they couldn't get teased for being a different colour. We had an American exchange student & he got teased for being American (but I reckon that's a fair cop).

No-one from our year level ever managed to organise a 10 year reunion. We were all a bunch of slackers, so it's no real surprise.

Anonymous said...

EMS, that last comment reminded me again of just how cruel I myself was as a kid. Since I never took it to heart when I got teased, I basically assumed that nobody did. I thought it was just a big joke. I was always jovial about it when I did it, but I was also merciless. Maybe being jovial was worse. I hope I never gave anyone a serious complex.

Our exchange student got teased for having sex with the teacher she was staying with. It was true, but god, that's not something you tease a 15yr old girl about. We were terrible.