AJ peered through tortoise shell glasses at her small subject. She took his blood pressure and other vitals; everything seemed normal. From her bag of medical supplies, she withdrew a set of calipers. “Gotta measure the ol’ cranium,” she said, clicking the ends of the calipers together for effect. Ben assented, hesitantly. AJ jotted the measurements in her notebook and looked puzzled. “Well the good news is you’re shrinking in perfect proportionality, although I’ve yet to examine every portion of you,” she said, eyeing her patient’s groin with suspicion.
“He's very proportionate everywhere,” Heather insisted.
“Subject has a healthy penis,” AJ said to herself, pretending to write in her notebook.
“You’re not funny,” Ben said, with irritation. He and AJ had known each other for a long time. Usually he found her humorous if a touch eccentric, but today he wasn’t in the mood for jokes.
“Well, it’s a good thing you called me. You’re going to be needing new clothing much sooner than anticipated,” AJ said, tugging at the giant sweater Heather draped over Ben to hide his shame. “Little boy, do you know how tall you are?” AJ said, cracking her characteristic wry smile.
“An hour ago he was three and a half feet tall,” Heather answered for Ben.
“AJ, I’m just a little alarmed here,” Ben said, trying to remain calm. “I’ve lost two feet on the first day. That’s not supposed to happen, right?”
“It’s rare that the body metabolizes the shrinking supplements so fast, but yes, it can happen,” AJ responded, matter-of-factly.
“You mean it happened in animal testing?” Heather asked.
“Of course! Some mice shrink faster than others,” AJ said, “But it’s nothing to be worried about. The size reduction will slow down as you approach your final size.”
“About an inch,” Ben reminded her.
“No.”
“No?”
“No...”
“...NO?”
“We’re probably looking at closer to a millimeter now. Could be worse though. At least it won’t be permanent,” AJ said, cheerfully. “Although that can be arranged! So you better keep us girls happy! Hmm.. Gonna be hard to get clothes made up for Millimeter Man though...”
“I’m not worried about the fucking clothes AJ!”
“No need to panic,” AJ patted him patronizingly on the head, “Remember, you can’t be injured at that size. Nothing’s going to happen to you.” AJ packed her bag and headed for the apartment door, turning to Heather on the way out. “Don’t hesitate to call me if anything changes. Also, I think it would be a good idea for me to schedule weekly examinations of my subject.”
“My subject,” Heather replied.
“Can somebody help me off this fucking table?” Ben shouted, helplessly, in the background.
Ben spent most of the day alone in the apartment, puttering around in the light blue elastic clothing AJ supplied him with. Before leaving for work, Heather made a sandwich for Ben and left it on a stool just in case he couldn’t reach it during the day. Think of the money. Think of the money. Ben kept telling himself, trying to remember why he put himself in this stupid situation in the first place.
5:15 PM. Ben heard the front door unlock and open. Heather coming back from work.
“Oh it’s unreal. He is SO cute. My little big man!” she exclaimed. Ben wasn’t sure who she was talking to, assuming she was on the phone. Suddenly Ben realized he heard two pairs of footsteps, one notably heavier than the other.
Ben’s heart was pounding. He desperately did not want to be seen by anyone like this. He looked around for a hiding place - somewhere just to escape - but he was too late. Heavy footsteps quickly coming from down the hallway. Rounding the corner and stepping right in front of Ben was a hulking mass of a man, utterly dwarfing the waist-high Ben Thompson. The muscular blonde giant stared down at the little dwarf, smirking disdainfully. “Hey Heather, did you get a new cat?” the giant said.
“Can you believe it!” Heather said from up the hall, still hanging her coat up.
The giant stooped down, putting his chiseled face at eye level with Ben’s. “I kinda like you like this,” he said quietly.
He was Heather’s ex-boyfriend, Jason. They broke up six years ago when Jason’s first military deployment began. Now he was back and working private security for AllTec. They rarely saw each other; Heather must have bumped into him today at work and told him the news.
It was always clear Ben and Jason weren’t going to be friends. Ben resented Jason for being a chiseled, 6’4”, arrogant meathead. Jason resented Ben right back for being a comparatively tiny nerd who stole Jason’s girlfriend. But outwardly they always pretended to be friendly, not wanting to appear jealous or insecure in front of Heather.
“Isn’t he CUTE?!” Heather exclaimed, stepping into the room and lowering herself down to Ben’s level. “Who’s my good boy?” she said, clasping his head in her hands. “Oh my God he is adorable.”
“Does he do any tricks?” Jason said, making a mocking face at Ben from behind Heather’s back.
“Okay okay that’s enough everyone,” Ben said, pushing Heather’s hands off his face.
“Woah! Even his voice shrunk! He almost squeaks!” Jason began to laugh. “I want one! He’d make a great pet!”
“Hands off, mister! He’s my pet for the next four months,” Heather grabbed Ben’s head playfully again. “Aren’t you boy?” She pulled him toward her face and kissed him.
Jason walked off and Ben heard the refrigerator door open, followed by the sound of a bottlecap popping off one of his beers. “So how small is he supposed to get?” Ben heard from the kitchen.
“AJ thinks it’ll be a millimeter,” Heather answered, turning back to Ben. “Don’t worry, he won’t stay long,” she said quietly, trying to comfort her boyfriend.
“I don’t want to be seen like this,” Ben was getting extremely frustrated but still trying to act calm.
“What if I need someone to take care of you for a day or two?” Heather whispered.
“AJ-” Ben started.
“Absolutely not,” Heather snapped back, almost hissing. She lifted Ben onto the couch and sat next to him, turning the TV on. In the distance, Ben heard another bottlecap pop open. Jason walked to the couch, handed the second beer to Heather, and sat down, squeezing Ben between himself and Heather. Ben glanced shyly at Jason's rock-hard abs and pecs beneath a thin, tight t-shirt.
“So when does your enlargement start?” he asked, putting his bare feet up on a stool. Jason's tanned peds were massive, and clearly well cared for. Ben looked down at his own diminuitive feet. He felt pathetic.
“I’ve still got another few months. Gotta get little one here through his trial first,” Heather responded, petting Ben’s head.
“I heard AllTec really wants a male subject. Rumor is they’ll be sending out applications to contractors soon,” Jason said.
“You gonna sign up?”
“Yeah. I’d love to,” Jason said resolutely. “Imagine me being a giant!” He waved his beer around.
“You’d be a scary one!” Heather chuckled. Ben silently concurred.
“They should send me back overseas. I’d crush the opposition. Literally,” Jason continued.
“Oh yeah?” Heather pried. “And how exactly would you do that?”
“I’d have the enemy groveling at my building-sized feet for mercy. And those that didn’t surrender would be squished. Or I’d lick their miniscule bodies off my finger tips.”
“Woah,” Heather gasped, imagining the possibilities.
“I would be a righteous god. Someone has to get those tinies in line, y’know.”
“Oh I completely get it,” Heather agreed. “We’ve been in way too many wars. Someone has to finally put a stop to this stuff. Really time to put your foot down!” she waving her bare foot in the air menacingly.
“You’d make a perfect goddess.”
Heather paused. “You really think so?”
“You’ve always had a strong sense of justice.”
“Yeah...” Heather pondered for a moment, before smiling widely. “Maybe when we’re done overseas we could straighten out people here!”
“Not enough people have God in their lives,” Jason said in a clear jab at Ben. The only atheist in the room. “We would give them two.”
“Maybe people shouldn’t have that much power,” Ben squeaked. But nobody listened.