That afternoon marked the first time that Arthur was left on his own as he was left along as in the front yard all by himself. True, Marie could be seen in the distance, still talking on the phone, but the mere fact that she had left him alone long enough to go inside gave him hope that their was more of this type of treatment in store.

Being left alone also gave him mixed feelings, as part of him couldn’t quite get passed the feeling that he was seen as too little to bother escaping. True, he was smaller than ever, but Arthur assured himself that he was still quite capable of a lot of things they hadn’t considered.

At last measurement just over an hour ago, Arthur stood at three ft. four inches.

Hardly an imposition anymore. Hardly a threat. Hardly noticeable.

Arthur lay in the sun, staring up at the blinding white sun. From inside he heard Marie hang up the phone. The door opened and she stepped outside and put on her sunglasses, still wearing her bikini and sandals from earlier.

“Arthur” she called out.

Arthur sat up from his over-sized recliner.

“I’m afraid that I might need some more sunscreen. Could I bother you to do my back?”

“No bother” said Arthur, pushing himself up and off the recliner. Despite her in the beginning stages of taking advantage of him, Arthur liked Marie. He was closer to his own age than Beth and if it wasn’t for their extreme difference in size, he suspected that he would be attracted to her.

Arthur walked towards her with the bottle in his hand, nearing Marie who stood before him, larger than life and bigger than ever.

Arthur squirted sunscreen onto his hands, but Marie walked on past him.

“I’m going to lie down to make it easier on you”

Arthur nodded. He followed behind her, watching her tall legs swing one in front of the other, carrying her large body to her recliner, where she sat and stretched her legs behind her in order to lay down on her stomach.

Arthur stood over her.” Where do you need the sunscreen?”

“All over” she said without looking up, “I don’t want to burn”

Arthur still had lotion on his hands, so he knelt next to her recliner and started rubbing it on her lower legs.

Marie immediately flexed her toes.

“Do my feet too, okay?”

“Okay” Arthur said, massaging the lotion onto her feet and in between her toes. Arthur stared at her toes, fixating on how big they were. Each individual toe seemed more than double the width of his own tiny fingers.

This allowed him to maneuver in between them with ease, coating each and every one of Marie’s toes with ample sunscreen, rubbing it deep into every crevice.

“That feels good” Marie said.

“Good” Arthur said up to her, secretly glad that he could please her with so little effort. It felt good to make her happy and he enjoyed it.

Arthur began on her lower calves when Marie said, “No, do my toes a little longer. I like the feel of your tiny fingers”

Arthur swallowed, “Okay” he said again. Her referring to him as ‘little’ wasn’t all that great, but still, he was outside and it was a terrific day.