Ellie is going to do a strip tease in a contest. She's the first one up. She is 200 lbs. and confident. She gets up on the platform, which is a rickety series of platforms. She begins. I call to Ginny, who is in the other room trying to phone her husband. I save her a seat. There are lots of college kids on bleachers, then my wheelchair and one armchair. I stand up in the armchair and Ginny sits in the wheelchair. I feel a bit embarrassed for Ellie because she's so fat and so enthusiastically naive. But she's doing OK. The crowd is very quiet and nonresponsive. In the middle of her strip, her platforms shift and she falls between two of them with one leg. It throws her off a bit, but she comes back, very plucky, to try again, I can see the platforms are very precarious. She tries again and quickly slips again. This time she lands on the floor on her back, breaking a small drawer. She lays there, annoyed.The crowd is curiously noncaring. I call out, "Are you all right?" She says, "Yeah, but it's over." The next fat woman comes out. I notice she is pretty, as was Ellie, even though very fat.