Natalie sighed contently, closing her eyes and relaxing back into her comfy, leather, office chair, her mouth turned up into a satisfied smile. All morning long she’d been pouring over her notes, checking and rechecking the results from her latest round of testing; everything was now confirmed: her test rabbits had suffered no ill effects from their size reduction nor re-expansion, nor had they exhibited any signs of reversion, rejection, nor sickness. In fact, there were no negative side effects of any kind.

     It worked—the antidote worked. Natalie finally had a cure for her tiny son…assuming, of course, it actually worked on him, but given all her calculations and findings, she honestly couldn’t find a reason why it wouldn’t, even after Tim being small for a whole week.

     Once she’d taken a moment to revel in her accomplishment, Natalie called Julia and told her the good news, saying that she’d be home within the hour; then, she filled a small vial with her newfound antidote, carefully wrapped it with some packing material, and tucked it away in her purse for safe keeping. Finally, Natalie swiftly gathered up her notes and tidied her desk before locking up her lab and making her way down the back stairs of the research building.

     As Natalie made her way down to the parking lot, she could hardly contain her joy, practically jumping two or three steps at a time until she reached the ground floor. Even on the drive home, Natalie was exuberantly singing along to the music blasting out of her car stereo, repeatedly telling herself that before the day was out, Tim would be back to normal, and this whole nightmare of a week would finally be over.

     Despite her jovial mood, however, for the entire ride home, Natalie kept reaching over inside her purse, checking and double checking to make sure the vial of antidote was still intact and hadn’t leaked or broken open. Even when she arrived home and was gathering her things from the car, Natalie didn’t even take a single step towards the house until first checking on the bundle in her purse, and checked it once more before walking up the front steps and through the front door.

     “I’m home!” Natalie proclaimed happily as she entered the house and closed the front door behind her. She quickly hurried to the edge of the den and scanned the living room, but neither Julia or Tim were present.

     “Hello?” Natalie called again as she slipped her feet out off her flats, kicking them off to the side. “Tim? Julia? Anyone home?”

     “In the kitchen, Nat,” Julia’s voice called from the back of the house.

     Natalie gripped her purse with both hands and headed off towards the kitchen, spotting Julia sitting cross-legged at the left end of the oval-shaped, kitchen table, enjoying a cup of tea as she nonchalantly scrolled through her phone. She was still wearing the night gown that she’d been wearing when the two got up that morning, and her pink slippers shifted around on her foot as she bounced her leg on her knee.

     “Hey, sis,” Natalie smiled, trying to contain her excitement and she headed through the kitchen towards the table.

     “Hey,” Julia smiled back, setting her phone face down on the table out of habit.

     “I’ve got it!” Natalie proclaimed proudly, holding her purse out in front of her. “I finally got it!”

     “Yeah, so you told me on the phone,” Julia chortled. “And you’re sure it’ll work? I mean….it has been almost a week…”

     “Positive,” Natalie affirmed, setting her purse down on the table and pulling out and taking a seat of her own. “All my notes confirm it: my test rabbits are all back to normal, their blood samples are clean, and there’s no sign of any side effects. Trust me, it works.”

     “So….that’s it then?” Julia inquired assumingely.

     “Yup, that’s it,” Natalie confirmed with a nod.

     “OK….good,” Julia nodded in acknowledgment, “because there’s something we need to discuss…”

     “Yeah, yeah, fine….later, Jules, okay?” Natalie replied hastily, still in her excited state “First, I wanna get Tim back to normal right away. Where is he? I-Is he still in his cage?”

     “Don’t worry, I’ve got him close by,” Julia reassured her sister, “but I really think we need to talk before we do anything else…”

     “‘Talk’?” Natalie replied, slightly confused by her sister’s demeanor. “Talk about what…?

     “…A-and what do you mean: ‘close by’?!” Natalie added, anxiously scanning the table for her tiny son. “What’s going on? Is Tim okay?”

     “Nat, don’t worry,” Julia replied reassuringly, trying to soothe her sister’s anxiety. “Tim’s fine. We just really need to talk before you go through with it.”

     “Go through with what?!” Natalie shrugged disconcertedly. “Getting my shrunken son back to his normal size?!”

     “Yeah….exactly,” Julia confirmed sincerely. “I think we need to take a few minutes to consider all your options.”

     “Wh…What other ‘options’ are there to consider, Jules?!” Natalie chortled with bewilderment. “What are you saying I should do: leave Tim small and NOT give him the antidote I’ve been working on all week?!”

     “Well, actually…yeah, that’s precisely what I’m saying,” Julia nodded reluctantly.

     “Jules, what’re you talking about?!” Natalie recoiled incredulously. “You can’t be serious! I’m not gonna leave my son an inch tall for the rest of his life!”

     “I’m not saying to NEVER give it to him, Nat,” Julia reiterated, trying to explain herself. “I’m just saying: don’t give it to him right away.”

     “Jules…you’re talking nonsense,” Natalie affirmed in frustration . “What possible reason could there be to wait to give Tim the antidote?!”

     “Nat, I don’t think you’ve really considered what a golden opportunity you’ve been handed, here,” Julia explained. “I mean, there could be some real good that can come out of all this.”

     “Jules, what POSSIBLE good could come out of all this?!” Natalie replied indignantly. “I mean, other than my research…”

     “Sis, you’ve been given the chance to affect some real changes around here,” Julia explained. “I mean, have you even considered what this experience could actually do for Tim?”

     “The only thing I’VE considered, Jules,” Natalie rebuffed smartly, “is how traumatized Tim’s gonna be because of this past week. We’ll be lucky if he isn’t scarred for the rest of his life.”

     “Nat, would you just listen to me for a second…?” Julia pleaded.

     “I’m not listening to anything until you tell me where Tim is,” Natalie stated adamantly.

     “I told you: he’s in a safe place.” 

     “That’s not what I meant, Jules!” Natalie protested demandingly, placing her index finger on the table. “Now, I want to see my son, and I want to see him: right now!”

     “Alright, fine,” Julia relented with a frustrated sigh, rolling her eyes.

     Julia then slid her right foot into her lap, removed her slipper, and plucked her tiny nephew from the crevice between her big and second toes, placing him rather haphazardly onto the kitchen table between Natalie and herself.

     “What the…where did…did you just…?” Natalie stammered in disbelief at what she’d literally just witnessed, completely at a loss for words. “Are you telling me you’ve had Tim have stuck between your TOES this whole time?! Jules, that’s DISGUSTING! What’s the MATTER with you?!”

     “Nat, would you relax?!” Julia scoffed, dropping her slipper onto the floor with an audible slap. “He’s fine...”

     “He’s not ‘fine’, sis, LOOK at him!” Natalie rebutted adamantly, motioning to her son who was down on all fours on the table, covered in grime and sweat, and trying to catch his breath.

     “Are you OK, sweetheart?” Natalie asked her miniature son in a soft, caring tone, concernedly cupping her hands on either side of his prone figure.

     Tim, however, didn’t respond: he was still recovering from being stuck between his aunt’s toes all morning, finally able to inhale some much-needed, deep breaths of cool, fresh air that didn’t reek of his aunt’s, sweaty feet.

     “Jules, are you INSANE?!” Natalie shouted disparagingly. “He could’ve suffocated in there!”

     “Oh, he wasn’t gonna suffocate.” Julia scoffed defensively. “I felt him squirming the whole time; I would’ve taken him out if I thought he was in any danger.”

     “That’s not the point, Jules!” Natalie balked incredulously. “I SPECIFICALLY told you yesterday to keep your feet away from my son, and here, I come home find you’ve had him stuck between your TOES all morning!”

     “Oh, it wasn’t ALL morning,” Julia scoffed again, her voice slowly trailing off. “It was more like, a couple hours…or 3…”

     “THREE HOURS?!” Natalie shouted irately. “Jules, what in the world could’ve possessed you to shove Tim in between your toes in the first place?!”

     “What ‘possessed’ me?!” Julia rebutted derisively, sitting up in her chair, “What possessed me is that our little boy, here, got really mouthy with me this morning, so I decided to put him in timeout.”

     “‘Timeout’?!” Natalie recoiled. “‘Timeout’ is making someone go sit in the corner, Jules, not stuffing them in between your toes and shoving him inside your slipper! What were you THINKING?!”

     “I was ‘thinking’ that it’s high time that you and I had a heart-to-heart talk about Tim’s behavior,” Julia replied mockingly, “You know, he’s gotten pretty brazen over the past week: mouthing off, running away and hiding from me, getting himself into some pretty dangerous situations by not listening when we tell him not to do something…Now, you may not like it, Nat, but I’m doing this for his own good.”

     “I fail to see how sticking my son between your nasty toes could possibly be for his own good!” Natalie scowled, crossing her arms.

     “Look, wouldn’t it be nice to have a well-behaved son who helps you out around the house every once in a while, and does his school work, or participates in afterschool activities…? From what I hear, he just lounges around on the couch all day watching TV. This is your big chance to affect some real improvement in Tim’s behavior. An opportunity like this doesn’t just fall of your lap every day.”

     “Even if I agreed with you about Tim’s behavior, Jules—which I don’t, by the way,” Natalie rebutted, leaning forward and placing the tip of her index finger on the table again, “torturing him while he’s in this state is not the way to go about fixing it.”

     “Hey, I’m just taking advantage of the situation at hand and using the tools at my disposal,” Julia replied defensively, putting up her hands. 

     “Oh, that’s real nice, Jules,” Natalie spat sarcastically, “and just how long has all this been going on?!”

     “ALL WEEK!” a tiny voice squeaked up at them from the table.

     The two woman immediately shifted their gazes down to Tim’s tiny figure, who had managed to recover from his ordeal while his two, giant relatives were talking.

     “What was that, hon?” Natalie inquired, not completely able to hear exactly what her tiny son had squeaked, but understanding enough that she secretly hoped she’d misheard him.

     “I said: she’s been DOING it to me ALL WEEK, mom!” Tim shouted up, posturing before his mother and stamping his tiny foot on the table. “From the moment she got here last Sunday, she’s been tormenting me nonstop: she’s been stepping on me, and sticking me between her toes, forcing me to give her foot rubs…She even taped me to the bottom of her foot the other day!”

     “She did WHAT?!” Natalie responded in disbelief at what she was hearing, shooting her sister a discontented gaze. “Jules, tell me this isn’t true!”

     “…Oh, it’s ALL true, mom,” Tim squeaked, not giving his aunt a chance to respond, “and that’s not even the HALF of it! This whole week, Aunt Julia’s done nothing but torture and torment me! Just ask her about the time she and shoved between her…breasts…”

     Tim’s voice trailed off; he could hardly find the words to admit the embarrassing extent of what Aunt Julia had put him through.

     “She shoved you WHERE?!” Natalie cried, completely taken aback by her son’s accusations.

     “Hey, in my defense,” Julia replied, “I was just trying to keep him safe while I was doin’ the laundry that day.”

     “So you decided to stick him in your cleavage?!” Natalie cried indignantly.

     “Well, he was complaining about being picked up and put down all the time,” Julia replied with an apathetic shrug, “so….I had to improvise.”

     “Oh, and were you ‘improvising’ when you stuck me in there again while you were working out the next day?!” Tim chimed in smartly, making air quotes with his fingers.

     “Hey, you were gettin’ pretty mouthy that day, Tiny Tim,” Julia replied defensively, pointing her index finger at him. “I warned you what would happen if you didn’t behave yourself.”

     “So what, Jules: this is your idea of a punishment?!” Natalie interjected incredulously.

     “Well, like I said,” Julia repeatedly. “Our little boy here was getting pretty mouthy with me.”

     “And you thought shoving him between your TITS was the way to handle it?!” Natalie exclaimed indignantly, turning her attention to back to her tiny son. “Honey, why didn’t you tell me about any of this before?!”

     “I TRIED mom,” Tim insisted, “but you wouldn’t listen! You kept telling me it was just my imagination, or that they were just accidents, but they weren’t! Remember that incident on Sunday when Aunt Julia put her feet on me?! Well, that was no accident: she knocked me off the table after I told her I wasn’t gonna let her push me around and make fun of me all week, and then she pretended not to see me and tried to smother me with her FEET! And things only got worse from there: I’ve been stepped on, and sat on, almost eaten…this whole, entire week has been nothing but TORTURE!

     “…Besides,” Tim continued, a worried look in his eyes, “Aunt Julia kept threatening to SQUISH me if I told!”

     “Alright, Jules,” Natalie said perturbedly, a reserved contempt in her eyes. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

     “Alright, fine,” Julia confessed, throwing up her hands. “I admit it. Is that what you wanna hear?! I….did it! But you know what? I only did what needed to be done.”

     “I fail to see how any of this ‘needed to be done’, Jules,” Natalie derided her, making air quotes with her fingers. “How could you be so callous about all this?!”

     “Because for too long, I have sat idly by and watched Tim basically have the run of this house and do whatever he wants: he doesn’t play sports, he doesn’t participate in any extracurricular activities, he doesn’t help out around the house…all he does is lounge around all day while you and Tom wait on him hand and foot. Now, I’ve kept quiet about it up until now, but can’t stay quiet anymore. If Tim doesn’t start shaping up, he’s gonna suffer some real consequences down the road. I’m mean, take this very situation: Let’s not forget that he wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place if he hadn’t gone snooping for liquor in the back of the fridge. I mean, you act like he’s the victim in all this!”

     “He IS the victim, Jules,” Natalie rebutted hysterically. “LOOK at him!”

     “What I mean,” Julia reiterated, “is that if WE don’t take measures to fix his behavior, karma will….and this exact situation is a prime example! Now, I know that you wanted me to cut him some slack this week, and ordinarily, given the circumstances, I’d probably agree with you, but that doesn’t mean I’m just gonna let him act out, or mouth off, or misbehave. Tim needs to learn that his actions have consequences; he has to be taught a lesson. So far, the only lesson Tim seems to have learned is NOT to go snooping in the back of the fridge.”

     “First of all, Jules,” Natalie declared bluntly, “how I decide to raise or discipline my son is my and Tom’s decision, not yours; and secondly, even if I felt that Tim needed to work on his behavior or be punished for anything, I CERTAINLY wouldn’t condone this!”

     “So what would you have me do when he acts out, Nat,” Julia replied acrimoniously, “send him to bed without any dinner?! I’d hardly call that a punishment. Tim needs a much firmer hand…or….foot, in this case.”

     “Right, and I suppose it doesn’t matter if your little nephew gets squashed in the process, huh?!” Natalie rebutted with contemptuous sarcasm.

     “Oh, Nat, geez,” Julia scoffed apathetically, rolling her eyes, “stop being so overdramatic.”

     “I’m NOT being overdramatic, Jules!” Natalie replied indignantly. “This is completely inexcusable! I turned to you in a desperate situation and implored you to look after my and keep him safe while I worked an a cure, not punish him and stick him in your slipper where he could suffocate.”

     “Sis, I told you before, I wasn’t gonna let him suffocate,” Julia repeated defensively.

     “Oh, right, because you were making sure you could still feel him squirming between you toes,” Natalie quipped.

     “Yes!….” Julia replied hastily before retreating back in her chair and continuing her defense in a more restrained tone. “….that, and he was fine the other day when I…fell asleep on the couch.”

     “When you fell—“ Natalie started replying before recomposing herself.

     “Alright, that’s it,” Natalie affirmed, grasping her purse and probing for the vial of antidote. “I’m putting a stop to this right now!”

     “Now, Nat,” Julia tried explaining, “let’s not do anything too hasty. Think about what you’re doing before you do something you can’t take back.”

     “Oh, trust me, I’ve been thinking about it all week!” Natalie replied astutely, carefully but hastily unwrapping the antidote vial from its protective packaging. “Now, I’m giving Tim him the antidote and getting him back to normal….and after that, you and I are gonna have a very long discussion about what’s been going on around here this past week.”

     “But, Nat, I’m telling you, if you give Tim that antidote now, you’re going to regret it.” Julia insisted.

     “I highly doubt that!” Natalie replied dubiously.

     “Look, would you just hear me out before giving it to him.” Julia said, leaning over the table and reaching for the vial of antidote.

     “I think I’ve heard enough, Jules,” Natalie spat, pulling the vial away and preparing to open it. “Now, I’m putting an end to this right now, and that’s final!”

     “OK….five minutes,” Julia pleaded hastily, putting up her hands in a defensive gesture, “just gimme five minutes. That’s all I’m asking for; then, if you don’t like what I’m proposing…fine, you can grow Tim back to normal.”

     “NO WAY!” Tim squeaked up in protest. “I’m NOT staying small ONE MINUTE LONGER!”

     “You keep outta this, you little bug!” Julia derided him.

     “Jules, don’t talk to him like that!” Natalie scolded her. “And I fail to see how another five minutes is gonna make me change my mind in any respect.”

     “MO-OM?!” Tim whined, turning back to his giant mother. “STOP STALLING and give me the ANTIDOTE!”

     “Of course, honey,” Natalie acknowledged, gesturing to him with her hand. “I’m going to. Just hold on a second, OK—?”

     “NO!” Tim squeaked again, stamping his foot. “I’ve waited long enough, mom. Now I want that antidote, and I want it NOW!”

     “Tim, I will!” Natalie repeated sternly, slightly irritated at her son’s impudence. “Now please, be patient and give me a second to talk to your aunt, okay?”

     “But, MO-OM—!”

     “And knock off that whining, mister,” Natalie warned, pointing at him with her index finger. “You know how much I hate it!”

     “See how mouthy he’s gotten?!” Julia touted, jumping into the conversation.

     “Not another word, Jules!” Natalie scolded, moving her finger so it was pointing towards Julia. “Now, I’m gonna put this whole mess to bed, once and for all…I’ll give you five minutes to explain yourself, Jules, but not one second longer, you got me?!”

     “Got it.” Julia acknowledged with a nod and satisfied grin.

     “NO!” Tim squeaked with aghast. “MOM, you can’t be SERIOUS!”

     “Tim, what did I just say?!” Natalie spoke irately, pointing a stern finger at him.

     “Here, lemme take care of this,” Julia spoke up, reaching for her tiny nephew.

     “Wha—Hey...!” Tim yelped as he was quickly scooped him up into his aunt’s palm and taken off the table completely.

     “Jules!” Natalie exclaimed with surprise, quickly yet carefully setting the antidote vial down on the table out of the way.

     “STOP!” Tim exclaimed again as he was lowered him to the floor. “Where’re yo—?!

     “Oof!” Tim cried out as Aunt Julia unceremoniously dumped him onto the kitchen linoleum at the feet of the two giant women.

     “There, now,” Julia grinned widely. “That’s better.”

     “HEY!” Tim shouted up irately, quickly clambering to his feet. “AUNT JULIA, YOU PUT ME BACK ON THE TABLE, RIGHT NOW!”

     “Shush, Timmy,” Julia commanded with a playful smile, putting her finger to her lips. “The grownups are talking.”

     “MO-OM,” Tim whined, turning towards his mother, “are you really gonna let her TREAT ME like this?!”

     “Shh, not now, Tim!” Natalie hushed him, waving him off with her hand again. “Just be patient a second, okay?”

     “But MO-OM—!”

     “Tim, I said not now!” Natalie repeated herself more sternly, pointing her finger at her tiny son before turning her attention back to her sister. “Alright, Jules. You’ve got five minutes, so start talking...”

     “Alright, look, my proposal is simple,” Julia began, “all we have to do is just reinforce his good behaviors, and punish the bad ones. Now, obviously his current size offers us some…unique opportunities, so I think the first thing we need to do is develop a comprehensive plan—”

     “MO-OM, what are you DOING?!” Tim squeaked as he ran over and began pounding the side of his mother’s, left, pinky toe. “Pick me UP! Come O—HON!”

     “Tim, stop that!” Natalie commanded with irritation, looking down at the floor as she gently nudged her tiny son away with the side of her foot. “Now, just be patient, alright?

     “Continue, Jules,” Natalie directed, turning her attention back to her sister.

     “Anyway, as I was saying,” Julia continued, pounding her right fist into her left palm, “we just need to come up with a plan and stick to it. Now, we can discuss positive reinforcement options later, but for now, let’s start with punishments. Now, I know your pretty keen on just sticking him in his cage when he acts out, but if that doesn’t work, you’re gonna have to escalate things…”

     “Mom, NO, don’t listen to her!” Tim pleaded, pounding frantically on his mother’s toe again. “PLEASE! I’m begging you! Make me BIG again!”

     “Tim, I said: knock it off!” Natalie demanded, lifting her foot off the floor so she could scratch it, inadvertently knocking Tim onto his butt in the process. “You’re making my foot itch! Now, sit still and be quiet…

     “…or I just might reconsider giving this to you today,” Natalie warned him, grabbing the vial of antidote and jostling it in her hand where Tim could see.

     Tim’s heart sank. Had his mother just said what he thought she said?!

     “In any case, Jules,” Natalie continued sternly, turning her attention back to her sister as she placed her foot in her lap, “as you can plainly see, Tim isn’t too keen on this—neither am I, for that matter—and I don’t wanna leave him like this any longer than I have to.”

     “It’s not about what WE want, Nat,” Julia rebutted, “it’s about what Tim needs, and right now, what he needs is some real structure and discipline. This could be the very thing he needs to really turn his life around. Now, I know you may not agree with my methods—”    

     “Oh, that’s an understatement!” Natalie interrupted curtly.

     “—Bu-ut,” Julia continued, “I’ve definitely seen some positive results so far. Now, I really think if we build upon this, we can definitely find and implement some effective methods that can drastically improve his behavior.”

     “Oh, you mean like sticking him between my toes and shoving my foot inside my slipper?!” Natalie quipped sarcastically.

     “Well, if you’re gonna get all snippy about it—“ Julia replied with chagrin, rolling her eyes. “—and you’re gonna have to come up with SOME kind of punishment, ‘cause it’s not like you can spank him.”

     “Well, I’m sure I can come up with something better than what YOU’VE been doing.” Natalie responded assuredly.

     “Mom, you’re not seriously thinking of LEAVING me like this, are you?!” Tim squeaked anxiously, “PLEASE! You CAN’T!”

     “Tim,” Natalie snapped at her tiny son, “for the last time, your aunt and I are trying to have a discussion, and you’re being very rude—!”

     “But you can’t seriously be CONSIDERING this!”

     “Sweetheart, I haven’t agreed to anything yet,” Natalie explained, “so just keep your pants on stop all that whining.

     “Now, move back…unless you want me to step on you,” she continued, motioning for Tim to move out of the way as she removed her foot from her lap.

     “But, mom,” Tim whined, tears welling up in his eyes as he meekly backed away as his giant mother instructed, “I’m telling you: if you leave me like this, Aunt Julia’s gonna SQUISH me!”

     “Oh, hon, stop being overdramatic!” Natalie scoffed as she carefully lowered her foot back to the floor. “Now, I’m not gonna let that happen…

     “Am I, Jules?” Natalie said very bluntly in her sister’s direction.

     Julia merely rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration as Natalie turned her attention back to the floor and continued addressing her tiny son:

     “Now, I’m just asking you to wait 5 measly, little minutes; trust me, you’ll be fine for that long.”

     “But I’m telling you I WON’T—!” Tim squeaked.

     “Tim—!” Natalie replied sternly, pointing at him with a firm index finger to let him know she meant business. “I mean it. Not one more word……Or so help me, I WILL leave you like this for the rest of the weekend! You got me?!”

     Tim gulped fearfully, biting his lower lip to keep it from quivering.

     “Three minutes left, Jules,” Natalie continued, shifting her pointing finger towards her sister.

     “Alright, so you’re not too keen on the whole slipper thing,” Julia shrugged, picking up exactly where she’d left off. “I get it. There are plenty of other alternatives you can employ: maybe you could have him give you a foot massage, or something.

     “There you go again…” Natalie sighed, throwing her hands up in frustration at hearing about more of Julia’s foot torture. “What is it with you and feet, Jules?! Do you have some kinda foot fetish or something?!”

     “First of all: no—” Julia rebutted assuredly, appalled by the very suggestion, “—and that’s not how that works, by the way. Secondly, I was just trying to think outside the box and come up with a solution using the tools at my disposal. Look, I know you’re not too fond of it, but I have found it to be a very effective treatment…”

     “Oh, so it’s a ‘treatment’ now?!” Natalie mocked with chagrin.

     “Well, if it helps you feel better about it…” Julia shrugged, thinking quickly.

     “Well, it doesn’t,” Natalie replied bluntly, “so if this is your plan to convince me to go along with this whole ‘behavior modification’ thing, I might as well give Tim the antidote right now.”

     “Yes…yes, please!” Tim exclaimed anxiously, albeit inaudibly to the two, giant women as his mother held up and gently shook the vial of antidote in her grasp.

     “Fine,” Julia sighed in frustration, “if don’t wanna listen to anything else, then just consider this: right now, Tim is in a state where he can’t physically refuse to comply with with your requests; he has no choice but to follow orders. This is the perfect time to act and make some changes. So, come on, surely there’s SOMETHING about his personality or behavior that you’d like to change…so, what is it: grades?…sports?…chores?…”

     “….Well….” Natalie replied hesitantly, setting the antidote vial back down on the table as she took a few quiet moments to ponder over her sister’s question, “….I guess it would be nice to have a little more help around the house…”

     “MOM, come ON, this is RIDICULOUS!” Tim squeaked hysterically.

     “Tim, I’m not gonna tell you again!” Natalie snapped at him, practically at her wits end. “For the last time: Be quiet!”

     “Anyway, Jules,” Natalie continued in a surprisingly placid tone, “I’m just sold on this whole thing. I mean, I know Tim’s not perfect, and I’d certainly like him to change a bit, but I think this is just too extreme for me. Now, I gave you your five minutes, but I’m sorry, I’m just not convinced. Maybe we can talk some things over this afternoon after I cure him.”

     “Well, why don’t you just take the rest day the think about it, huh?” Julia proposed with a shrug, gesturing towards the antidote vial in the middle of the table. “I mean, you already have the antidote; you can cure Tim anytime you want. What’s a few more hours gonna hurt? Let’s just sit down together and take however much time you need to discuss it and weigh your options…”

     “Uh, huh,” Natalie acknowledged sarcastically, “and I suppose we’ll just stick Tim in his cage with some food and water while you and I guzzle down another bottle of wine…?”

     “Well, we can leave him his phone so he can watch movies while we talk like last night…” Julia offered, half-serious.

     “Right,” Natalie replied, still in her sarcastic tone, “because that’s the thing that’s gonna make all the difference…Hey, while we’re at it, how about we just go out dinner and leave Tim by himself while we wine and dine ourselves?! Or better yet, let’s just stick him in your shoe and take him along with us. We can play with him back and forth while we eat.”

     “Mom, STOP kidding around and gimme the antidote!” Tim squeaked demandingly.

     “Jules, I’m sorry,” Natalie sighed calmly, shaking her head, and trying to ignore her son’s constant squeaking, “but I just don’t think any amount of time is going to make me change my mind.”

     “MO-OM, are you LISTENING to me?!” Tim squeaked again. “PLEASE! You can’t LEAVE ME like this!”

     “Now, look,” Natalie sighed again, biting her lip in frustration, “why don’t I just give Tim the antidote and we can all sit down and have a long talk about working on his behavior once he’s back to normal? I’m sure we can come up with a more agreeable solution…”

     “MO-OM, GIMME the ANTIDOTE!” Tim squeaked hysterically, hopping up and down in a frenzied rage. “GIVE me the ANTIDOTE! GIVE ME THE ANTIDOOOOTE—!!”

     “Oh, for God’s sake, Tim!” Natalie snapped, lifting her foot into the air. “I said be QUIET!”

     Tim was caught completely off guard, knocked back onto his keister when his mother’s foot suddenly and unexpectedly departed from the floor. As he quickly shook off the stun and looked skyward again, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head: his vision was filled with the sight of his titanic mother holding her mammoth, bare foot directly overhead, shrouding him in its ominous shadow. The tiny teenager screamed in horror as the massive, wrinkled sole descended towards the floor, cutting off his cries as it impacted directly on top of him.

     “Mrrrmmmmm….Mrmmmm, plrsssmpf!”

     Tim screamed for mercy, begging his mother to remove her foot as he desperately pushed against the tons of flesh pressing down on his tiny body. Alas, his cries for help went unanswered, too muffled to be heard, and all his wiggles and squirms were futile. His mother‘s foot wasn’t budging…

     Julia’s momentary expression of surprise when her sister’s foot hit the floor, slowly morphed into a smug, delighted grin as she watched her tiny nephew disappear beneath his mother’s, massive foot.

     “Mm, nicely handled, sis!” Julia moaned contently, commending her sister as she slowly shifted her gaze to Natalie‘s face.

     “Well, l was getting tired of listening to all that darn squeaking!” Natalie sighed regretfully, “It was really getting on my nerves!”

     “And look: you took control and handled it,” Julia asserted, gesturing to the floor. “I’m really proud of you.”

     “Well, it was more of a reaction than anything else,” Natalie admitted, looking back at the floor, feeling her tiny son squirming frantically beneath her bare foot. “You think I was too hard on him?”

     “Not at all,” Julia stated assuredly, shaking her head. “You gave him plenty of warnings, and he wouldn’t listen. You only did what you had to do.”

     “Yeah, but…Jules, I just stepped on my son!” Natalie sighed concernedly. “On purpose!”

     “And…?!” Julia shrugged indifferently. “Tim knew the consequences, and he still kept pushing. He has no one to blame but himself.”

     “Well, I’m sorry if I can’t exactly be as cavalier about this as you,” Natalie replied curtly, staring sympathetically at her foot. “Aw, I can literally feel him squirming under there…

     “So?” Julia pished with an apathetic shrug. “Let him squirm for a bit. Tim needs to be taught lesson.”

     “Yeah, but I don’t exactly think this was the best way to do it,” Natalie sighed sympathetically.

     “Don’t worry,” Julia reassured her, taking another sip from her teacup, “as long as you can still feel him squirming under there, he’ll be fine.”

     “Uhn…” Natalie murmured anxiously, rethinking her actions. “Maybe I should let him up…”

     “No, now you can’t go back on his punishment,” Julia replied quickly, gently placing her own foot atop her sister’s to keep it in place.

     Gentle as she may have intended to be, however, the minuscule amount of weight Julia placed on Natalie’s foot increased the pressure on poor Tim exponentially; the tiny teenager belted an earsplitting scream in pain, his struggles only intensifying as he desperately tried to push back against his mother’s sole and reduce the weight pressing down on top of him.

     “Look, you’ve already taken the first step...” Julia continued, chortling uncomfortably from her previous statement, for once, not trying to be coy or crack a joke, “…Figuratively speaking. Now, you just have to be firm and follow through, or he’ll never learn. Once he calms down, you can let him up…but not before.”

     “Alright,” Natalie relented with a sympathetic sigh. “Are you sure about this whole discipline thing, Jules? I-I still have some doubts…”

     “Absolutely!” Julia affirmed enthusiastically, setting her teacup back down on the table. “This is a golden opportunity to make sure that your son, and my nephew, ends up a well-adjusted, and well-behaved, little boy. I mean, come on, aren’t you the least bit excited for all the good this’ll do for Tim….and YOU, for that matter? From now on, things are really gonna change around here.”

     “Oh, I think things have already changed around here, Jules,” Natalie affirmed. “In fact—“

     Natalie suddenly stop talking mid-sentence, hit by an unexpected sensation: all of Tim’s frantic struggling and squirming was sending tingles through her sole, and Natalie was surprised at how pleasurable the sensation was.

     “Mm…” Natalie uttered with contentment, “…you know, i-it does feel kinda good having him squirming around under there.”

     “I told you,” Julia chuckled with a eager smile.

     “Yeah…I mean, it feels so…weird,” Natalie added, pondering the queer sensations she was feeling. “It…It’s like having my own, little, foot massager.”

     “Uh huh,” Julia nodded, prodding her sister a little further, “and just think what it’ll be like having Tim do this for you every time he acts out or misbehaves this weekend…”

     “Hm…,” Natalie uttered, giving Julia’s proposal a little thought, “…you know, it….would be nice to have a relaxing weekend after such a long week...

     “There ya go…” Julia kept prodding.

     “Plus, my feet are kinda sore and tired after all the running around I’ve done…” Natalie continued, placing her right foot in her lap and gently rubbing her sole, unaware that she had just shifted her weight onto her left foot, making Tim scream and squirm even more frantically than he had been.

     “See?” Julia pushed confidently, her point validated. “Now you’re getting it. Don’t you think you deserve to take some time for yourself? Think of foot mas-sag-es…”

     “We-ell…” Natalie pondered reluctantly, “…I guess it wouldn’t hurt to hold off giving Tim the antidote for….a little while longer. Plus, I could take Monday off, too…I’ve put in enough time at the lab this week. I could just stay home and work on my grant proposal…AND Tom won’t be home until at least Thursday morning…”

     “That’s the spirit!” Julia commended, “And that’s just for starters: now that you have an antidote AND can make more of that shrinking formula, if Tim’s ever bad in the future, you can just…shrink him down again.”

     Julia made a gesture with her thumb and index finger with the end of her statement, bringing them together in a shrinking motion.

    “Oh, I couldn’t do that…” Natalie dismissed initially, her demeanor quickly shifting as she took a few, brief moments to mull over her sister’s statement. 

     “…co-could I?” Natalie inquired with hesitation.

     “Why not?” Julia shrugged. “It’d be a great incentive for Tim to keep up his good behavior and not fall back into any bad habits. Just think, you’ll have the best, most well-behaved kid in town.”

     “Well, let’s just settle for him helping out around the house, for now,” Natalie chortled.

     “That’s right,” Julia added, “and you’re gonna need it…especially with all the time you’re gonna be spending winning awards and giving acceptance speeches.”

     “Hey, you’re right,” Natalie affirmed perkily. “I DO do have accolades coming, don’t I?!”

     “You know what, I think it’s calls for a toast,” Julia announced, quickly getting up from the table and scurrying across the room to the refrigerator, grabbing a bottle of champagne she’d placed in there earlier that day to chill.

     “I was planning on saving this until you won the Nobel prize or something,” Julia said, grabbing a couple glasses from one of the kitchen cabinets, “but this is a good a time as any to celebrate.”

     Julia set the glasses down on the table and carefully unwrapped the cork; when it finally popped, Natalie was so startled she unintentionally jerked, shifting the weight on her foot again, and causing Tim to scream hysterically in pain. Unfortunately, neither Natalie nor Julia heard the shrunken teenager’s muffled cries as Julia poured the foaming champagne into their awaiting goblets.

     “Alright,” Julia continued, proudly raising her glass. “A toast to my brilliant sister….and her upcoming Nobel prize.”

     “Thanks, Jules,” Natalie chortled, blushing with embarrassment as she raised her own glass, “but I haven’t won it yet.”

     “Yeah, but you will…” Julia affirmed with a huge grin.

     “…And to Tim,” she continued, gesturing with her glass towards Natalie’s foot, and tiny teenager trapped underneath it, “who helped make all this possible.”

     Natalie’s sighed with whimsy over her Julia’s witty bravado, wondering what she was ever going to do with her sister.

     The two women each gulped down from their respective glasses of champagne and set them back down on the table; then, they both turned their attentions back down to the floor, each one cracking a satisfied grin as they thought about the tiny teenager still struggling under Natalie‘s bare foot.

     “So,” Julia chuckled, “how’s our little foot massager doing?”

     “You know, I AM gonna have to let him up at some point, Jules,” Natalie sighed cynically.

     “I know, but what’s the harm in letting him squirm for a bit while we finish chatting?” Julia queried, retaking her seat. “You know, you’d be amazed at how resilient Tim is at that size.”

     “Mm hm,” Natalie uttered with distaste, crossing her arms as she leaned back in her seat. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t the first time Tim’s been under someone’s foot this week? You know, aside from that little incident on Sunday.”

     “Well, I had to punish him somehow,” Julia shrugged, downplaying her sister’s disapproval. “You’d be surprised how effective it can be.”

     “Uh huh,” Natalie uttered disdainfully, “and just what other punishments have you been trying out on Tim this week while I’ve been at my lab slaving over this antidote, Jules? Did you leave him in your slippers while you were doing all the housework?…Or maybe you stuck him in one of your shoes while you went out for a run?”

     “Oh, come on, sis,” Julia replied with chagrin, crossing her legs and leaning back in her seat. “Gimme a little credit. Besides, it’s not like I was punishing him 24/7…only when he misbehaved.”

     “Right….then I suppose there aren’t any more ‘incidents’ that happened this week that I should know about, hm?” Natalie inquired dubiously.

     Julia hesitated as she adjusted her rear in her seat. Should she really tell Natalie how she had to covertly peel Tim off her ass after Natalie accidentally sat on him the prior evening while she and Julia had been watching movies, and then had to play it off, claiming she was just brushing a piece of lint off the back of Natalie’s pants? Of course, Julia would be then have to admit to sneaking Tim back into his cage and tucking him into bed without Natalie realizing, making her think the tiny boy had just passed out because he was so depressed from having to stay shrunk another night.

     “Nope, you’ve pretty much heard it all,” Julia replied deceptively with a indifferent shrug. “Besides, Tim practically spilled his guts out to you a few minutes ago. I sincerely doubt he’d be holding anything back at this point.”

     “Uh huh, I’m sure…” Natalie replied dubiously. “So tell me, Jules, if you weren’t punishing Tim 24/7 as you claim, exactly what HAVE you and Tim been doing to keep yourselves entertained this week?”

     “Oh, you know…” Julia chuckled uncomfortably, placing one of her hands upon Natalie’s, “…Just…just some things to help pass the time.”

     “Oh, yeah?” Natalie uttered, her interests peaked. “Like what?”

     “Oh, watched some TV…did a little working out…” Julia replied coyly, trying to change the subject. “More champagne? I’d love to discuss some of the awards you’re gonna be up for…”

     “Julia…” Natalie said sternly, knowing her sister was holding things back. “…What are you not telling me?”

     “Come on, sis,” Julia chortled. “Some things a woman likes to keep to herself.”

     As the two giant women chatted above, discussing the family’s impending fame, the situation at hand, and the advantages of having a tiny teenager in the house, poor Tim was left squirming and writhing beneath his mother’s wrinkled sole, screaming muffled cries for mercy. 

     If only the tiny boy could’ve heard what the two giant women were talking about—the ideas that Aunt Julia was planting into his her mother’s head to punish her tiny son and shrink Tim again if he ever misbehaved in the future, practically turning him into a shrunken servant; and the plans that Julia was discussing to basically torment her nephew, her plans to visit more frequently, and her unspoken plans to secretly use the tiny boy as some kind of living sex toy to pleasure herself without his parents’ knowledge—maybe it would’ve truly prepared Tim for what was to come.

     Ultimately, however, it didn’t matter. Tim’s nightmare of being stuck an inch tall for the foreseeable future was coming true. In time, he’d would eventually come to accept the unrelenting torment that lay ahead of him as events unfolded, and would soon find himself practically subservient to his entire family for the rest of his teenage life.

     Perhaps, one day, he might take solace in the fact that his mother had made one of the most important medical discoveries in history, or that his parents’ impeding wealth and fame would ensure a bright, financially secure future for him…or maybe, in the interim, he could just be thankful he didn’t have any siblings who could also torture and torment him in his shrunken state. Maybe things would get better once he graduated and, hopefully, went away for college, leaving this whole shrinking business behind him…but all that was a long way off.

     For the moment, the one thing that Tim did know for sure as he struggled desperately beneath his mother’s bare, wrinkled sole, was that his shrunken nightmare was far from over.

     His tiny troubles were only just beginning…