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It was on a cold winter's day that Chris and Joe
decided to stay late after school. Chris was busy checking
e-mail, reading a message from his girl Denise. He was
snacking, which was adding to his already big belly.
Joe was a teen genius and was setting up an experiment in an empty room. He would take it down before he left, but it was okay for now. All it was basically was a large ray gun, shaped like a pyramid. In theory, it had the power to shrink people to any size. Joe was going to experiment with lab animals before testing it on people. The control mechanism looked like an average calculator, minus the basic math functions and the scientific function pad. It had the buttons "REDUCE" and "ENLARGE" instead. The enlarge function, however, would only restore previously shrunk objects to normal size. If the shrunken subject were holding anything, it would grow in relation to the subject. Anyway, Joe continued setting up the experiment. To be on the safe side, he set the machine to shrink things to no less than six inches in height. That way they could still be seen. When the screen on the control pad (where numbers would normally be shown) flashed green for acknowledgement, he checked the pressure pad under the machine. When something was on it, it was supposed to give a five second delay before activating the machine. When Joe was satisfied, he went to an adjoining room where he had a notebook computer with all his data and began recording the entry for the day. Chris finished what he was doing, stood up and stretched. His belly stuck out in front of him like a ball in his shirt. One day he would lose weight, and never be called "fatboy" again. He wandered to his locker, got what he needed and went to find Joe. He came to the empty room where Joe had his experiment set up. He walked in and didn't see Joe, but noticed the device. "Hmmm," he wondered. "I wonder what that is." He moved toward it. He looked at it from all sides. Eventually curiosiy got the better of him. He stood on the pressure pad. He heard a small hum, then a flash of red light and he slid to the floor. Joe was working in the adjoining room. The screen on the control pad flashed red in acknowledgement of the device going off. "It worked perfectly! And Chris made an excellent subject! If someone his size can be shrunk, it will work on anyone." He turned off the control pad. "Now I can help him without worrying that he knew it was me who did it!" he said, slipping the pad in a pocket. "I'll pretend to be surprised." He came in. He almost gasped when he saw Chris at normal size. But he held it back. "Chris," he said with mock surprise. "What happened?" he asked, shaking him awake. "I dunno," he stated, groggily. "I was looking at this thing and I passed out." "It's a good thing that my shrinking ray didn't affect you." "SHRINKING RAY????" "Yes. Apparently it doesn't work on people of your size." "That's a comfort." Joe helped Chris up. Chris stood on his own and Joe went to check the machine. "It must have had a short. The molecule contractor is busted," he lied. "That's good to know," Chris replied. He made his way over to a chair and went to sit, but he fell instead. "Are you alright?" "I guess so, but I feel funny." Joe rushed over. "Uh-oh!" "What?" "Take a look in the mirror." Chris made his way to a mirror. He gasped: he was five feet tall! He was normally six-foot-one. "I-I guess it is working! I shrunk!" "To be politically correct, you're shrinking. Look!" Sure enough, Chris was slowly getting smaller. Joe took out a tape measure. Chris shrank some more: 4 1/2 feet, 3 feet, 1¼ feet, all the way to six inches tall. "Now what?" Chris yelled, his voice also small. "We have to figure out how to return you to normal. Since it won't wear off, you'll have to live with being 6 inches tall." "Great." "Look on the bright side: at least you don't weigh as much…" Joe picked up his tiny subject and all the stuff he had with him (which had shrunk too) and went to his locker. "You're gonna have to stay in here until I can fix you." "Cozy. What am I supposed to eat?" "I'll buy stuff from the vending machines and give it to you. That should keep you going. I predict a week to fix the machine." "You mean I'll be like this for a WEEK?!" "I'm afraid so…" "Oh well. At least I won't get in any trouble when I can't do my chores." There wasn't anything wrong with the machine. Joe didn't tell that to Chris though. He would say he was working on it for-say a week. Then return Chris to normal size and use his ray on others. Maybe even Chris again. Only this time make him one inch tall. He used this opportunity to get the enlarge button working properly. Although it worked fine now, it only grew subjects by a factor of 2. Therefore, if the subject was shrunk to two feet, it would only be four feet tall. Subjects like Chris, who were only six inches, could only be returned to one foot in height. He may have been mean, but he wasn't downright cruel. He had to return Chris to normal. Right now he was experimenting with a chair. "Let's see," he thought to himself. "If I reverse the polarities at this junction, it may return the subject to normal size." He made the adjustment. Then he zapped the chair, and it returned to normal size. "Okay. It works on 6" subjects. Now to test it on all sizes." He tested the chair on every size the machine was capable of. Every time it returned to normal. "Now to experiment on the animals." It was about two days into the week that Chris became unsatisfied with sitting in this locker. He decided that the next time Joe came and opened his locker, Chris would sneek out and explore. After all, he was curious about the world at six inches in height. It was about 2:30 when Joe opened his locker. Chris scampered out and ducked behind a trash can until the flow of people stopped. Then he started exploring. His first desitination: the cafeteria, to scrounge up some food. He made his way downstairs. By this time classes had started. He pictured himself trying to write with a pencil or pen almost twice his size. He wandered through the now enormous gathering area and eventually found the kitchen. He managed to squeeze under the door, with some difficulty due to his size (weight-wise). The café was now at least a hundred times bigger from his perspective. He went to the area where all the food was prepared and found a cord hanging down. He almost pulled the untensil down; after all, he weighed just under a pound. When he made it to the top, he could see everything. He saw some fries left over from lunch. He went over to them and grabbed a fry, which at this size was like a large salami, and started eating. By the time he was finished (he had two more fries) he felt like he was going to burst. He made a vow to lose a couple pounds after that. After he ate, he decided to check out another place of interest: the gym. He could sneak in and watch everything that was going on, without fear of being spotted. The only trouble was being stepped on. You can't run fast when you're six inches tall. He would just be careful. He made his way over to the gym. By the time he got there, class was almost over. All the boys were shuffling into the change room. Chris followed them in. He would hitch a ride on the leg of another student out of the gym; it would save him a trip. He was concentrating on not being stepped on when he saw another kid on his way out. He ran as fast as his fat little body would allow and jumped on his leg. The kid didn't seem to notice. Chris held on for dear life, and when the big kid came out of the door, he hopped off. It was around 3:00 by his watch, so he waited until he saw a kid heading upstairs. He then jumped on his leg and got a ride upstairs. At least he wasn't getting tired. When he finally made it back to Joe's locker, he waited underneath it until Joe came. When the door was open, he climbed inside and went back to where he normally stayed. "Hello, Chris. How's life as a small guy?" "Not too bad. I'll enjoy being 6'1" again, though." "It's almost done. Just a couple more days." "I can live with that. Got anything to eat?" It was a Friday afternoon when Joe "finished" the machine. The enlarge button was now working perfectly, and the machine's shrinking range had increased: objects could now be shrunk to 1/8 of an inch, and organic subjects to ½ of an inch. It was a remarkable machine indeed. Joe went and woke Chris up. He was sleeping on a book. "Morning. Well, afternoon actually." "Is it done?" "Yes. It's ready." "Great!" "You eat and then we'll return you to normal." "Sounds great to me." After a hearty meal, Chris was ready to be big again. A week of being six inches high was becoming a nusiance, like sleeping on books. Joe carried him to the room with the machine in it and put him on the pressure pad. "Everything's all set. I better get out of the way." "Here goes…" Chris saw the red light again. The same thing happened as before. When he woke up, Joe was standing over him. He was still tiny. "Well?" "It takes a minute to work." "I feel it working now." "Yes, you're growing." "I'm a foot high now…" It was only a few seconds before Chris was normal height again. He looked at everything and saw the tops of tables this time. It felt great. The first thing he did was look himself over. He'd put on weight, judging by the flab under his shirt. A small price for being normal again. He then checked to see if all of his things were normal again. All the stuff he'd shrunk with was normal size. He put on his coat. "Thanks for the experience, Joe, but I have to leave." "Why?" Joe said with surprise. "My family must be worried sick. Plus I have a week's worth of chores to do." "Okay. See you Monday." "Yep. Bye." Chris didn't notice that his belt was ready to come loose from his weight. He got in his truck and drove home. Joe smiled as Chris went out the door. Then he turned to his machine. "Now," he said to himself, "who's next?" |
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