“I’d love it,” said Bertie.

He watched her feminine hand approach him, saw her fingers opening and felt them closing gently around him. It was awesome, to say the least. He looked past her chest up to her neck and then her lips, and saw them get closer, and then felt her full lower lip enveloping his face. It was something which he now realised had been in his own subconscious ever since he had met the 36 year old Doris, when he’d been 9.

“Will you stay here and live on my bed and keep me company for always?” she asked.

“How could I go back home after a kiss like that?” said Bertie.

That night they were lying in her bed, with a reading lamp on. She had smuggled him up some dinner after having her own with her mother, and then talked with him until they had gone to bed.

“Bertie, if you had a mattress your own size, and it was very comfortable, would it matter if it wasn’t completely dry?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” said Bertie, “What did you have in mind?”

“My tongue,” said Doris, “I think it would be lovely to have you sleeping against it.”

She was asking him to sleep in her mouth! He had been admiring it every time she spoke, and now could not believe his ears.

“I think your tongue would be perfect,” said Bertie, “If you like, you can open your mouth and I’ll climb inside now.”

“Thank you for being so obliging,” said Doris, and felt him sliding over her lower lip, which felt absolutely magnificent to him too.

For years they lived together secretly, until one day in when she was 28. Doris was out shopping one day, with Bertie hidden inside her clothing, when he peeked between the fibres and saw her go into the very shop where her future self would meet his 9 year old self in 8 years time. She bought a much earlier issue of the same magazine, although without a shrinking story in this case, and took it to the park to read.

“I’m glad I found that shop,” she said, “I’ve always liked this science fiction magazine.”

“Yes, it’s the only newsagent in the village,” said Bertie.

“How did you know that?” asked Doris.

“I’m actually from the village myself,” said Bertie.

“But that’s not possible. I searched everywhere from age 14 onwards for tiny boys. They just don’t exist.”

She had never met any leprechauns, who would not be discovered for certain until Colleen’s time, and then the discovery would be reversed by the Ring of Reversal.

“I was a full sized boy, until I shrank with a machine,” said Bertie.

“You couldn’t have. There’s no such technology invented yet,” said Doris.

“I guess I’ll have to tell you everything,” he said.

“I should think that you will,” said Doris.

Her full lips were set in a serious pout, and her eyes demanded an explanation. Suddenly the relationship between them, which he had enjoyed like a fantasy made real for so long, had taken a surprising turn.