Helen Murphy was tinkering away in the basement when she heard her daughter, Danielle, shout down to her.

“Mom, Aunt June wants to know how long you're going to be?"

”Not long more now sweetie,” Helen chimed back. “I’ll be up in a few minutes, just clearing away my tools.”

As her daughter closed the basement door Helen sighed to herself.

“Another failed test run, maybe I need to weaken the feedback dampener” she thought, packing away her things. For you see Helen, was an inventor of sorts. Gifted with a brilliant mind, but, as her peers made abundantly clear to her, she was too much of a dreamer. “Maybe I should pack it in” she thought aloud. "Maybe size manipulation is just fantasy and I really am a loon.”

Helen was working on a revolutionary device that would change the world forever. Imagine fitting a cargo ships worth of goods into your palm. A plane carrying thousands of people! These kinds of thoughts ran through her head as she polished off a bit of dust from her supposed Size Alteration Device or S.A.D for short.

"I gotta work on my acronyms” she chuckled, pushing the thought to the back of her mind. There were more important things right now, like the family reunion happening upstairs.

The house was abuzz with laughing and chatter, as Murphy’s from all over mingled. At the swimming pool, in the kitchen, even in the bedrooms and bathroom, Murphys were all over. This is because of their annual family reunion, and this year it was Helen’s turn to host it.

”She’ll be up in a few, Auntie June" Danielle chirped. “Oh that Helen! Always the overworker” June said. “Thanks for asking for me, Hun “June said, watching as she ran back into the sitting room. June looked around to take note of who was here, nearly ever Murphy was hear except for one noticeable absence.

"I swear that boy would lose his own head if it wasn’t attached” June remarked about her nephew, Helen's son Peter. Peter was definitely not cut from the same cloth as his mom. While not stupid he was a bit forgetful and airheaded. “How can that boy be late to a reunion happening at his own house?!”June questioned, not realizing that Peter, being the lovable goof that he is, forgot the reunion was today. To be fair to him though, Peter did get absolutely hammered the night before at his friends house, so everything was a wee bit hazy for him as he made his way home.

Helen was cleaning up the last of her things.

“Well only thing left is you bud. Maybe I’ll get you working next time" she said to the S.A.D as if it was a person. She lifted off it’s tripod and placed it on a shelf above her work bench. Brushing her hands off she turned to join her family upstairs. Halfway up, she heard a creaking noise. Turning to see what was causing it, she went ice cold as she saw the shelf give under the S.A.Ds weight.

“NOOOO” she screamed, diving through the air for it as it fell. She just barely missed grabbing it as it hopped off her workbench and onto the hard ground. Fearing the worst she bent down to check the damage as the machine began to whir to life. “How is it doing...” was all she got out as the entire household was enveloped in a blinding multi-colored light. After the light dispersed, an eerie silence befell the house. Gone was the laughter and chatting only to be replaced by nothing.

Helen came too not too long after the S.A.D fell.

”Uhh I must’ve hit my head something fierce” she complained rubbing the top of her head. As she opened her eyes she was taken aback at the sheer size of her basement, looking to her left she saw the S.A.D seemingly entering its cool down mode. Her inner inventor came to the surface at this moment.

“It worked, my machine actually WORKED!! Who said dreams were fantasy” she yelled nearly tearing up as her years of dedication was finally paid off. “Now all I have to do is wait for the cooling mode to finish so I can reverse this and show everyone” she thought aloud. Only now starting to realize how small she was "Gee I must be around a millimeter, maybe even smaller. I hope the guys don’t mind waiting a bit longer for my appearance” she murmured to herself, not realizing that everyone who was in the house also shrank. And they weren’t exactly having the same reaction she was...

All throughout the house people were starting to wake up to their predicament. They were scattered all over the house. Treading water in the pool, on the kitchen counter, on the rim of the bathtub and toilet. No matter where they were, all the Murphys had basically the same first reaction, sheer panic. Among these were Helen’s twin daughters Danielle and Clare, who awoke on the couch in the sitting room.

“Uhh what happened, where are we?” Clare groaned as she got to her feet on the soft surface.

“I think we’re on the couch sis, but it’s HUUGGEE” Danielle shouted.

“How did we get so small? Maybe Mom could help us” suggested Clare, while getting closer to her sister.

“Yeah maybe. Dammit why is it so hard to keep steady on this WOOAAHH!!” screamed Danielle, losing her footing on the cushion and tumbling in to Clare. The girls laughed it off as they got to their feet when suddenly they heard a loud bang.

”WHAT WAS THAT?” Clare shouted in a panic. “ I think it was the door sis” answered Danielle trying to calm her sister.

Danielle was right though, it was the door slamming shut as Peter came into the house.

“Hhm guess no ones home. Great! That means I can relax and chill out” Peter said to himself as he kicked off his shoes. “Might as well take these off too, let 'em breathe a bit” Peter chuckled as he took off his pants, leaving him in only his underwear and t-shirt as he made his way to the sitting room couch.