"Thinner" - the old gypsy man barely whispered the word. Billy felt the touch of a withered hand, gentle on his cheek.

Billy Halleck, prosperous if overweight citizen, happily married, shuddered, then turned angrily away. The old woman's death had been none of his fault. The court had cleared him. She'd just stumbled in front of his car. Now he simply wanted to forget the whole messy business.

Later, when the scales told him he was losing weight, it was what the doctor had ordered. His wife was pleased - as she should have been. But...

"Thinner" - the word, the old man's curse, had lodged in his mind like a fattening worm, eating at his flesh, at his reason. And with his despair, came violence.