Derek sat at the kitchen table eating donuts and cakes and cream pies. His mama stood at the sink washing dishes. “Derek, if you keep eating all that junk food, you're going to get fat. Why don't you eat carrots and apples and other fruit?”

He pushed a cupcake into his mouth. “Mama, I don't like apples or carrots. I love cakes covered with vanilla icing and filled with cream and nuts.” Derek ignored his mama's warnings and kept eating food that wasn't good for him.

One day Mama went to the laundry to wash the clothes. When she got home she gave Derek his pants. “Change into something nice, Derek. We're going to Aunt Sylvia's wedding tonight.”

Derek frowned. “Will they have something to eat there?”

Mama shook her head. “I'm sure they will. Get dressed.”

Derek picked out his nicest pants. He put his legs and tried to pull them up. They didn't fit. He couldn't pull them over his tummy. “Oh no! My pants don't fit. Mama, what did you do to my pants? They've shrunk.” Derek kicked the pants across the room.

Mama came into the room. She picked the pants up. “The pants didn't shrink, Derek. You got too fat eating all that horrible food. Now your pants don't fit. I'll have to run to the shop and buy you another pair that's bigger.” Mama folded the pants up and put them in a box. She left Derek home while she went to buy the pants.

Derek stood at the kitchen window watching his mama drive away. “I'm not too fat, am I?” He looked at the table. There sat a half-eaten cake, two thirds of a peach pie, a bottle of cream with only a tiny bit left, three cupcake wrappers and a nearly empty box of donuts. “Maybe I do eat the wrong things. Maybe I am too fat.” Instead of eating another  sweet, he picked up a banana. “I'll try eating better.”

Mama brought home his pants and they fit him nicely, but Derek didn't like that. He didn't want to be fat any more. That night at the wedding, Derek drank some water and nibbled on a few nuts, but filled his plate with melon and chunks of pear and apple.

When they went shopping, he told his mama to buy fruit and vegetables and no more cakes, pies and cookies.

A few weeks later Derek saw his pants folded in the box. “I wonder if they fit.” He put them on and pulled them up. “They fit! I'm not fat any more!” Derek ran into the living room and showed his mama. “Look, Mama. I can fit into my pants. I am glad I am eating vegetables and fruits. I am glad I'm not fat!”

Now and then Derek ate a cookie or a piece of cake, but he never ate too much!