AustLit

'Crabs is very neat in everything he does. His movements are almost fussy, but he has so much fight in his delicate frame that they're not fussy at all. Lately he has been eating. When Frank eats one steak, Crab eats two. When Frank has a pint of mil, Crabs drinks two. He spends a lot of time lying on his bed, groaning, because of the food. But he's building up. At night he runs five miles to Clayton. He always means to run back, but he always ends up on the train, hot and sweating and sticking to the seat. His aim is to increase his weight and get a job driving for Allied Panel and Towing. Already he has his licence but he's too small, not tough enough to beat off the competition at a crash scene.' (Introduction)

A short story set in a world where to be fat is to be counter-revolutionary and seen as greedy. Six fat men, ostracised from society, live together in one house and find some semblance of harmony. Hopeless, the only option to them seems to be to conform to society, until one of them suggests striking back at authority and the regime they live under.