Thinner - Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman

'Thinner' - the old gypsy man barely whispers the word. Billy feels the touch of a withered hand, gentle on his cheek.

Billy Halleck, prosperous if overweight citizen, happily married, shudders then turns angrily away. The old woman's death has been none of his fault. The courts have cleared him. She just stumbled in front of his car. Now he simply wants to forget the whole messy business.

Later, when the scales tell him he is losing weight, it is just what the doctor ordered. His wife is pleased - as she should be. But...

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