The mischievous Ellie Blish soon targeted another boy for shrinking. He was a year 7 student named Elmer, who had never met her, and wouldn’t have known who she was, even if she hadn’t fired the shrinking device from concealment in the bushes. He was found by a girl in his own class named Melany Bell. He told her that he had suddenly shrunken, and she took him home to live in her dolls house, which she placed on her bedside table. Each day she would sneak small food supplies up to him early in the morning, before her widowed mother awoke, and leave him by himself while she went to school later on. She bought him some miniature books, which were a novelty at a second hand bookstore in the village, so that he had something to read.

After he had been there for several weeks, he saw her mother come into the room in the middle of the day. He had never felt anything romantic for Melany, although her face was kind and pleasant, but Mrs Bell was stunning. He peeked between the curtains of the dolls house at her, and watched her dusting the various items of furniture in the room. She eventually came over and dusted the sides of the bedside table, and then the walls of the dolls house. When she did the wall with the window and curtains that concealed him, some dust caused him to sneeze loudly several times.

Mrs Bell gave a startled look and put down the duster on Melany’s bed. She sat down on the bed and her face drew close to the window. He was so transfixed by her beauty, that he didn’t think to back away and hide somewhere. The curtains were still hiding his presence anyway.

Then he saw her hand reaching for the window, and he stepped back quickly, as her fingers pulled the curtain to the side. She looked in at him and he saw her jaw dropping, as her mouth opened wide in surprise. Her tongue became at least partly visible in her mouth, and her lips were like a large letter O.

“I’m a friend of Melany’s from school,” he said, “Something shrunk me. So she let me live here.”

“I wouldn’t have thought such a thing were possible!” said Mrs Bell, “What should I call you?”

“I’m Elmer.”

“You look cute like that, I must say. I’m Phillippa Bell.”

“Thank you for saying so, Mrs Bell. I think you’re the most beautiful of all ladies.”

“Is there anything between you and Melany?”

“We’re just very close friends. Now that you know I’m here, I’d love to have a date with you, if you like.”

“I would like that. The only thing is that when Melany forms attachments, they are strong ones. If she brought you here, and has been used to having you here with her as her own little special secret live doll all this time, I think she would be hurt to know that you’ve transferred a much greater attention onto her own mother.”

“So is there anything we could do?”