The Fat Man in History (1974)

"The Fat Man in History", the title story of Peter Carey's first collection, published by the University of Queensland Press in 1974, follows six fat men living together in a house after a revolution that has made fatness a mark of the oppressor: Alexander Finch, Fantoni, May, Glino, Milligan and the-man-who-won't-give-his-name. All six are in love with Florence Nightingale, their rent collector. The Vintage edition scanned reprints the story with those from War Crimes. (Open Library)

Watches

Omega (unidentified model): In the title story, while the fat men sit in the kitchen drinking Glino's home-made beer and waiting for Florence Nightingale, Milligan stares intently at his large Omega and gives the time signal, peep, peep, peep, on the third stroke, and the front door bell rings. Milligan, a taxi driver with pink stars stencilled on his cab door, is the only one of the six with an income. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: Milligan, staring intently at his large Omega watch, says, peep, peep, peep, on the third stroke... (Peter Carey, The Fat Man in History, scan cataloged as Vintage Books, 1993, p. 21, in the title story; the copyright page dates the story to the 1974 University of Queensland Press collection and Milligan's income and taxi are on pp. 21 to 22; Internet Archive scan OCR)