HTH

That's what I am. An HTH, otherwise known as a human transfer host. My specialty is weight loss. 

There are many different categories. Some people loan their bodies out to the infirm and aged to re experience one night of youth. There are HTH's for short people who want to experience being tall, as a matter of fact you name it and there is an HTH for it.  

Regardless of the type there is highly specialized training that goes along with the territory and lots of paperwork for the client. In my earlier years I was beyond a little pudgy and  the butt of many fat jokes. I knew when I grew up that I didn't just want to be skinny, I wanted to help others manage their health as well.   

I knew the feeling all too well of emotional binge eating. There was always one more cookie to consume to stuff the feelings down of resentment towards a culture that prized beauty over brains.

My next client only needed to loose five pounds which I thought would be a breeze, I could not have been more wrong about that. 

Some clients prefer to stay in store were the transfers take place, we are especially equipped with state of the art facilities to manage weight loss. As I glanced thru the clients folder I noted that the weight loss would be taking place inside of her home, it appeared that she was one of the less financially strapped customers. No payment plan for her, it was all upfront and in cash. Often times when that occurred it was because the client did not want anyone to know that they were about to undergo an HTH. I read the notes that were jotted down during her consultation. I was right. Her immediate family would be going away for a few weeks on vacation. Her home seemed to be outfitted with all the exercise equipment needed. I always wondered what they told people when they wanted to keep this a secret. 

The transfer went along without any hitches and I soon found myself in the clients car driving back to her house. At this point I looked just like her, I was her. Our minds had been temporarily transferred and she was resting peacefully back at the clinic in my body. 

The time passed by fitfully as I worked thru hour after hour of aerobics and endless yoga poses. I sweated gallon after gallon of perspiration and lived off of salad to get the excess five pounds to melt away. Periodic checks thru video conference logged my progress so that the weight loss could be verified.  

You know I would not be telling you this story if there had not been a mishap, because there was. Her husband came home a day early,  but it didn't end there. 

You see, I was getting ready to take a shower when he walked thru the back door and surprised me. I recognized his face and as soon as he spoke I recognized his voice. 

He preceded to tell me that he knew about the HTH taking place. I asked him how he knew. 

As it turns out he was in on a few secrets himself. For starters, he was getting ready to divorce the woman whose body I temporarily occupied. He had a detective following her to try and dig up any dirt he could to make himself look better in court. 

He wanted to be rid of her he told me. He had married her because she was so pretty and unbelievably popular. The honeymoon phase didn't last and he came to regret the choice he had made. 

A part of me felt sorry for him right then and there. The enduring teasing and taunts I had suffered thru in childhood had taught me early on that what looks good on the outside often is hideous on the inside. 

I saw his eyes well up and I expected him to start crying. What caught me off guard was the fact that he laughed. He laughed like a maniac. 

The hairs on the back of my arm stood up.  

That's when he told me that he had gotten a phone call from the clinic where I worked. My client had passed away inside of my body. It's something that rarely ever happens but sometimes technology just can't do everything. 

That's when I was able to recall how I could recognize his face. We went to school together. Whenever the kids humiliated me over my obesity he would run them off. 

I passed out right when he began telling me that he had seen myself as the host at the clinic and he knew who I was. He told me that he had always wanted to be more than just friends but peer pressure to marry the right one had caused him to back away. 

I needed a cookie, or perhaps two