Making Summit and Finding New Horizons

“Make sure you keep to the side, just in case one of those girls comes flying down the stairs,” Nick said, looking at Tom before he scaled the first step leading from the landing to the upper.

Tom saluted military style and moved over to the edge. As before, they slowly ascended the flight of stairs. One by one, Nick shouldering more of the burden due his dual role of climbing up first, then assisting Tom.

At the top, they paused, both young men grinning with a sense of accomplishment at the climb that had taken them a combined time of almost two hours. There was the sound of talking and music coming from somewhere else in the house.

“Climb that Hillary,” Tom said triumphantly.

“Who’s Hillary?” Nick asked, twisting and stretching his fatigued muscles.

“Sir Edmund Hillary, the first guy to summit Mt. Everest,” Tom explained.

Nick chuckled, “Maybe not quite as formidable as Everest in the grand scheme of things, still, we did good,” he said with some measure of pride.

“Where to now? Which way to Asha’s room” Tom asked, rubbing his hands together, a glint in his eye.

Shaking his head, Nick pointed and set off in the direction of her room.

The short hall leading to her room was dark, though not gloomily so, there was still enough residual natural light filtering into the house to allow them to see.

Trotting casually along the baseboard, they found the door closed, the small gap underneath similar in size to the one under Nick’s own door.

“Getting a chance to see inside Asha’s room, I’m so nervous,” babbled Tom, sounding almost giddy with excitement, huge smile on his face.

“I don’t hear anything coming from the other side,” Nick said, leaning an ear toward the door.

Tom frowned, his expression crestfallen, “Oh,” he said.

Nick chuckled, “You got it for her pretty bad still?” he queried.

Tom grinned and nodded. “Not quite stalker crazy, but,” he said, rolling his eyes, “ she’s so beautiful and smart and funny, so I guess so.”

Nick shook his head, “I was hoping they would be in here, you know so I could listen in on their secret plan, talk about being a fly on the wall,” he said, mildly disappointed.

“Or a cock-a-roach,” Tom said, doing his best Tony Montana impression.

Nick laughed, “Not bad,” he said.

“Is there like a den or TV room up here?” Tom asked, looking back down the hall toward where they had heard the TV or movie or whatever it was the girls had been doing.

Nick laughed, “I don’t know, this landscape is as foreign to me as it is to you, I’ve only been here a couple of days,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“You have been very helpful,” Tom joked, grinning.

“I think we go in here and wait, see when she or they come back,” Nick suggested.

Nodding, Tom bowed slightly, “After you my good man,” he invited, gesturing with his hand.

Nick chuckled and shook his head. Funny how Tom’s demeanor had gone from utter dejection to almost elation at the prospect of seeing Asha. He himself was not quite so enthused. He wasn’t lying when he said he wanted to eavesdrop on whatever plan the girl were hatching, not out of some necessity to preen his ego in the hopes they were saying flattering things about him, on the contrary, they were planning something and he wanted to  prepared. Being practically helpless and small enough to fit entirely inside a cigarette package left him with a heightened sense of vulnerability and made him wary.

Getting down, Nick squirmed under the under into Asha’s room. He supposed it looked pretty much like any girl’s room should, shades of pinks and hues of purples everywhere. He estimated it was probably larger than his room downstairs. There was a bed which by normal standards would be considered queen-sized situated mid-wall with a night table and lamp to either side. A shelving unit on the wall over the headboard. Other furniture included a vanity, blanket chest at the foot of the bed, a couple of tall dressers, a woven looking lidded laundry hamper, three separate cork board with all sorts of pictures and notes pinned on them. There were a half dozen different stuffed plush toys and the room held the tantalizing scent of the perfume she seemed to favor.

Tom appeared partway under the door, mouth dropping agape, “Oh my goodness,” he mumbled, climbing to his feet. “Mine eyes have seen the glory,” he said in a southern drawl, shaking his head and spreading his arms out, “Can I have a Hallelujah?”

“Easy Brother Love, right now we need to find a spot where we can stay hidden, wait for the right time to reveal ourselves, you know?” Nick cautioned.

“Asha will help us,” Tom assured.

“I’m not saying she won’t, but I am saying what if she chooses not to? We have no idea how Asha or the others might respond and I think it would be prudent to be cautious,” Nick said, trying to reason with Tom.

“I think you’re just being paranoid,” scoffed Tom, grinning.

“Yeah? Let me lay this out. We make the approach, Hey Asha, surprise, me and Tom got accidentally shrunk down by Hester, at least that’s what we think happened anyway, so do you think you can help us out?’ and she goes, ‘Okay, how?’ and then what?” Nick asked.

“Get her to contact Hester,” Tom suggested.

“And then?”

“What do you mean?” Tom inquired, frowning.

Nick held up his hands, “So what happens then? We wait, right? In the care and custody of Asha or her friends?” Nick said.

“Okay?”

“So what if one of these young ladies decides maybe she wants a pet? Have you thought about that?” Nick inquired.

Tom grinned and arched an eyebrow, “I don’t think that would necessarily be so bad,” he offered.

Nick shook his head. “You need to get your head out of the clouds my friend, stuff like has the potential to turn sideways very quickly and there isn’t anything you or I can do about it while we are this size,” he warned.

Rolling his eyes, Tom made a conciliatory gesture, “Fine, you want to go slow? We take it slow. I just think you need to have a little more faith in Asha,” he stated.

“And I think your feelings of adoration are interfering with your reason. If I’m wrong, I’ll own it. But if I’m right, at least we may have a chance,” Nick countered. “We’ll go right toward the desk. Remember, we’re looking for a good place to hole up until we feel safe enough to make the approach. I’m actually thinking maybe we should wait until the other girls leave before revealing ourselves to Asha.”

“You heard Asha, she said the girls had the house to themselves for the night. If you want to stay here and until morning, I’m okay with that,” he said, nudging Nick with his elbow and winking.

Growling in his throat, Nick shook his head and started walking.