Stephen King quotThinnerquot Chapter One 246 Thinner the old Gypsy man with the rotting nose whispers to William Halleck as Halleck andhis wife Heidi come out of the courthouse. Just that one word sent on the wafting cloyingsweetness of his breath. Thinner. And before Halleck can jerk away the old Gypsy reachesout and caresses his cheek with one twisted finger. His lips spread open like a wound showing a few tombstone stumps poking out of his gums. They are black and green. His tonguesquirms between them and then slides out to slick his grinning bitter lips. Thinner. This memory came back to Billy Halleck fittingly enough as he stood on the scales at seven inthe morning with a towel wrapped around his middle. The good smells of bacon and eggs came upfrom downstairs. He had to crane forward slightly to read the numbers on the scale. Well ...actually he had to crane forward more than slightly. Actually he had to crane forward quite alot. He was a big man. Too big as Dr Houston delighted in telling him. In case no one evertold you let me pass you the information Houston had told him after his last checkup. A man your age income and habits enters heart- attack country a roughly age thirty-eightBilly. You ought to take off some weight. But this morning there was good news. He was downthree pounds from 249 to 246. Well ... the scale had actually read 251 the last time hed hadthe courage to stand on it and take a good look but hed had his pants on and there had beensome change in his pockets not to mention his keyring and his Swiss army knife. And theupstairs bathroom scale weighed heavy. He was morally sure of it. As a kid growing up in New York hed heard Gypsies had the gift of prophecy. Maybe this was theproof. He tried to laugh and could only raise a small and not very successful smile it wasstill too early to laugh about Gypsies. Time would pass and things would come into perspectivehe was old enough to know that. But for now he still felt sick to his too-large stomach at thethought of Gypsies and hoped heartily he would never see another in his life. From now on hewould pass on the palm-reading at parties and stick to the Ouija board. If that. Billy From downstairs. Coming He dressed noting with an almost subliminal distress that in spite of the three-pound drop thewaist of his pants was getting tight again. His waist size was forty-two now. He had quitsmoking at exactly 12:01 on New Years Day but he had paid. Oh boy had he paid. He wentdownstairs