Chapter 1

“Can I refill your water, Miss?” Morgan took one more glance at the door of the cafe and nodded without looking up. 

“Yes, thank you.” She looked at her watch again and sighed. She thought about how reliable her friend’s unreliability was & shook her head. Her old friend Allison was never on time for their weekly lunches together and it was always for the same reason: her shitty boyfriend had forced her again her to run his own stupid errands for him without any warning and she inexplicably felt she had to do it. Morgan had been best friends with Allison since High School and knew how hard it was for Allison to say no when a boyfriend asks her to do favors for them no matter how inconvenient it is for her. When boys learn they can boss her around so easily they always end up taking advantage of her. Morgan nodded to herself, resolved that her plan to put a stop to that shit once and for all was the right thing to do, even if it made Allison angry at first. Fifteen minutes & and one Bloody Mary later Morgan heard high heels clicking towards her from behind. Before she could turn around Allison whooshed up & plopped briskly down. She exhaled loudly like she was exhausted as she straightened a wrinkle from her sleek designer dress.

“Morgan I’m so, so, so, so, so sorry I’m late.!” Morgan made a line-mouth. “It’s...fine. Is everything ok?”

“Oh yeah, totally!” Allison chirped.  “Everything’s great! Fantastic even! I was only late because my gorgeous, sexy boyfriend called & had me pick up his dry cleaning. I just can’t say no to that wonderful man. But it took longer than I thought, that’s all. Sorry!”

“Oh Allison. What the fuck. He couldn’t do it himself? You don’t think he’s being kind of a dick asking you to do it? You couldn’t just tell him you couldn’t because you had a lunch date?”

“Oh Jesus. Morgan, if you knew him  you’d know how ridiculous that sounds. “

“Well I can’t exactly know him if I never even meet him now, can I?”  I’ve actually been meaning to ask you about that--You’ve been dating this Jim guy for almost a year and you’ve never introduced me. Are you hiding him from me?”

“Hiding him? No no no…….um. …. Look. I know I should’ve talked to you about this before but I knew you’d get mad. The thing is Morgan...please don’t be mad…...it’s actually the other way around.”

“What do you...wait. You don't want him to meet ME?” Morgan wasn’t really upset though. She even seemed a little bit amused. 

“Don’t be mad M, it’s just… I just really really love this one, ok? Jim has got all the things---all my things---the things I want in a boyfriend. Morgan, he's not like ANY of my shitty exes. He’s funny…. and smart and holy crap is he sexy. And yet he worships me!”

Morgan smirked. “Oh and he’s so confident and sure of himself-- It doesn’t hurt that he’s so tall, either. Oh and he’s not unemployed anymore--he has a new tech job and he’s been working really hard. It’s fun having a man who has real drive for a change!” 

“Drive?”

“I mean...I just mean...well yeah that’s what I’d call it. He’s on business trips a lot. Long ones too. In fact he’s on one of them now--He’s in Oklahoma of all places --and he has to stay there for 6 weeks! The poor boy, can you imagine? I mean, I don’t mind being apart for so long because I know how much he loves me and I know I can trust him 100% but he still must get bored, all alone in a bad motel. Look Morgan, I’m being serious--Jim is different. I never want to break up with him--ever. I’m sorry I’ve been keeping you from meeting. I should have you over for dinner sometime, just not yet. Worst case, I promise I’ll invite you to our wedding….when we have it.”

“Um… so…”

“SO, I don’t want you to fuck this up and I’m afraid if you meet him you’ll hate him and find a way to fuck it up. I mean you’ve literally done it before, more than once--remember Michael? “Morgan looked away and took a drag from her cigarette.

Allison wanted a new topic. Her expression suddenly brightened and she said, “Aaaaanyway…. Don’t keep me in suspense Morgan, your text was so cryptic. What’s going on? “

“Well, actually what I need to tell isn’t easy. And believe it or not it concerns this “perfect boyfriend” of yours.”

Allison rolled her eyes. 

“God damn it M, what did I just say? ”

 “Allison I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t be a friend if I didn’t tell you something. There’s just no easy way to say this so I’ll just say it. I accidentally learned that Jim is not attracted to you at all--in fact he never was. The truth is...I know he doesn’t act this way around you but...Al, he actually thinks you are disgusting. He can barely stand to look at you--I heard him say so himself.” Allison chuckled & waved her hand like she was shoeing away a fly. 

“Oh bullshit. What’s the gag Morgan? You’re just fucking with me aren’t you. Know how I know you’re lying? Because I know he’s totally into me!. I mean like I said, there’s more to our relationship than just sex but trust me Jim worships my body. If anything he likes sex too much--I mean, it’s so easy for me to make him...you know. I barely have to touch it and blam! It’s funny actually.” Allison looked up and smiled while she pictured it.

“Allison: Tell me, when’s the last time you two have had sex?” Allison looked up and thought for a minute. 

“Well it’s been a while lately, because like I said he’s been travelling a lot for business. He’s barely had much time at home and he’s usually exhausted between trips. He’s such a trooper though. He thinks it’ll get better in a few months and we’ll be back to humping like bunnies again. 

“Allison, where did Jim ‘go’ on his last trip? Do you know?”

“Some little town in Ohio I think? They never send him to any glamorous place.”

“Sorry Al, Jim didn’t go to bumfuck Ohio, he went to Manhattan.” Allison rolled her eyes again, bigger this time.

 “You sound like you might believe your own nonsense this time. Ok I’ll bite: What made you so wrongly think Jim went to Manhattan, pray tell.”

“Because I  was in Manhattan too and I saw him there. He was at a Sushi restaurant and I’m sorry Allison, but he was on a date with a gorgeous tall woman--looked like a model. This was in SoHo so she probably is. 

“Pfff. Jesus Morgan-- Ok I believe you think you saw him, but you didn’t. Know how I know? Because I know I can trust him. Whoever it was you saw Morgan,  I guarantee it  wasn’t Jim. Anyway how would you even recognize him?--I’ve never even shown you a pic?”  

“Uh, did you forget about all those pictures you texted me when you started dating? Remember how I said he looked like a weasel?” Allison still wasn’t having it. 

“Whatever, you’re still wrong. Wai a minute….you say you ‘accidentally’ were in NY, you ‘accidentally’ ran into Jim at some random sushi place, and he was doting on some model? God damn it Morgan, you are making this all up aren’t you> Oh my god! You’re just trying to sabotage another one of my relationships, aren’t you Morgan? Oh….fuu...Morgan I’m really getting sick of that shit.”

Morgan ignored her, took another bite of her eggs benedict and continued with the bite still in her mouth. 

“There’s more, I’m afraid. Al, I know how important your sex life is and how you think he worships & lusts after you. But I was sitting in the booth right behind them. I overheard their whole conversation and when she asked if he was married, he reassured her that he wasn’t. He said he technically had a girlfriend but in name only. He reassured her it was all a scheme to grift money from you, that he’d done it with other women too. He told her how you turned out to be an even better mark than he thought you’d be--besides all the generous gifts you’ve showered on him, besides providing him a gorgeous house to stay in and fancy cars to drive, he said the best part was how he can order you around--that you’ll do whatever he asks you to”. Allison closed her eyes and shook her head vigorously. 

“It’s true I’m afraid. Then he told her how much he hates you. He had a long list of complaints but the one that jumped out most was when he said you disgusted him sexually--that he has to pretend to enjoy it when he can’t avoid it but that he’s gotten pretty good at avoiding it altogether.”

Allison continued shaking her head as she took a long sip of her mimosa. 

“Please stop Morgan. You’re not funny. Can we just talk about something else now? Did you hear about the David Byrne sculpture in the park? 

“Al, I’m not kidding, and I think I can prove it in a way that’ll even convince a delusional love-sick lady like yourself. All you have to do is invite me over the next time Jim’s home--before his next ‘business trip’ which I’m sure will be coming right up. 

“Well. If I let you try it, do you promise to drop this campaign, and leave us both the fuck alone?” 

“Yep. I do. Witches honor.” Allison rolls her eyes as she takes a bite of her salad. 

“I have to say, sometimes I really wish you hadn’t been born a witch. It would've saved me so much grief over the years. But fine. If you swear you’ll fuck off about this, fine. He’s home tomorrow, actually. Why don’t you come over for dinner and do your little….whatever it is. Just...don’t do anything that will hurt him, ok? I still haven’t quite forgiven you for what you did to John. He was a dick but you took it way too far. And look what happened to his life? Did you know he lost his job? He’s literally a freak at a circus now!” Morgan chuckled so hard she almost did a literal spit-take. She hadn’t heard that but thought it was hilarious. 

“Ok I know I haven’t been a saint sometimes. But Al, did you forget already that I just said ‘Witches honor?’ I really won’t...hurt him. All I want is to show you who he really is, and that’s all I’ll do. Unless you want me to do more. ”

“You are so strange.” With that agreed, Allison was able to finally steer the conversation over to art and the latest gossip about her colleagues at her design studio. 

Morgan turned up at Allison’sand immediately saw that Jim was indeed home when he was the one who answered the doorbell. 

“Hello! Morgan, I presume! Please come in! Allison’s told me a lot about  you. I can’t believe you two have known each other since you were kids.” Morgan just smiled weakly back at him in response. He was tall, muscular and looked like a Ken doll.

“I hope she hasn’t told you everything about me..!” Morgan joked as she walked past him into the living room and Jim followed her. 

“Want a drink, witchiepoo?”  Allison asked as she handed Morgan a black russian, her favorite, while she took her coat.

“Thanks, doll!”

“Jim. Morgan. I’m afraid dinner isn’t quite ready yet. Let's all just relax in the living room for a bit ok? Morgan said she has…. something she wants to show us, Jim. Is that right Morgan? Why don’t you just show us now, whatever it is?”

Morgan looked at Allison with a “You sure?” expression. When Allison nodded back Morgan wasted no time and got right to it. She waved her hand abruptly, drawing a flat circle in the air. Jim’s arms were instantly paralyzed and pinned to his sides. Then she looked at the notes in her hand, mumbled something quietly and then casually lit up a cigarette. 

Jim found out about his new arm problem when he tried to grab his whisky. “What the fuck! I can’t move my arms! WHAT THE FUCK?? What is going on?”

Allison sighs & turns to Morgan. 

“This better not take long, He’s already mad and I’m getting hungry.” Jim was scrambling to process what the hell was happening. 

“WHAT better not take long? What the fuck is going on, Allison?!” he was becoming simultaneously scared & angry. 

“Relax, Jim. It’s a long story, and I’m sorry you’re only hearing about it now. I should've trusted you with it sooner. Now I know you won’t believe this right away, but I want to be honest with you now--The fact is, when I call Morgan ‘witch’ and “witchiepoo” those aren’t just nicknames. She’s literally a witch. Jim looked incredulous.

“Allison if you…”

“Shhh. There’s more. She’s also somehow got the ridiculous idea that you don’t love me or find me sexy anymore.”

Jim’s fear & anger morph into extreme confusion. 

“Oh. This is some kind of prank. I know you both have  some kind of weird ‘witch’ fixation so what’s the gag here? 

Morgan said nothing and took another slow drag on her cigarette. 

Allison walked up to Jim and looked up into his eyes. She stroked his cheek with her thumb and said, 

“I’m sorry about all this baby, I really am. But  if you play along with her tonight, we won’t ever have to put up with any shit like this from her ever again.” Jim was more confused than ever.

“So what are you saying? I don’t get what is going on?” 

“I’d like to know too, Morgan, stop being so vague-- tell us what this is.”

Morgan’s eyes remained closed as she mumbles a few last inaudible words and then they flew open and she suddenly sprang back to life again. 

“Ok!... Guys, here’s the deal.” She noticed they both looked a little worried as they listened. “Honestly you can relax! Jim I promise, I’m not going to hurt you. Ok? Ok. Now. We’re all going to play a kind of….game. Hm, I guess it’s also kind of a bet. A kind of game-bet. “

Allison looked at Morgan like she had lost her mind. Morgan ignored her stare and started explaining the simple rules of her weird magic game-bet. 

“This is going to be...odd, but it’s not complicated, and it’ll go by fast--it’ll all be sorted out before dinner’s ready.” Allison mouthed “sorry” to Jim who was still trying and failing to move his arms. Morgan looked  down at the latin words she’d scribbled down and read them aloud. She keeps her head down for a few more seconds, then looks straight up at Jim and asks, 

“Ok, I think it’s on. Jim do you…. Does anything about your body feel strange?”

“Besides the fact that I can’t move my arms?! I’m also feeling pretty fucking pissed at both of you, but nothing strange about that.”

“Jim, please just relax! She promised not to do anything to hurt you.” Allison took a step toward Morgan and asked, “So….what exactly….I mean what did you…”

“I cast a very slow shrinking spell on him, it’s one I made myself because I hate the ones that shrink somebody constantly. Mine shrinks in little spurts on a timer. Like I can have something or someone shrink a foot every hour, or like a half-inch every day.” Allison and Jim looked at each other. “The spell’s kind of on pause right now, but when I unpause it again, a magic 5 minute timer will start up. Once it does, Jim is going to l start losing one inch from his height every 5 minutes.” Allison looked at Jim and then pointed angrily at Morgan.

“What the fuck Morgan. You’re shrinking him? What’s that going to prove?  How is making him shorter going to do anything but piss both of us off?” Jim’s eyes darted back and forth between them as they argued as he tried to process everything that was happening. 

“You didn’t let me finish…..Ahem….. As I was saying, ...there’s a twist. A twist I think you’ll both like. Once I unpause the spell and start your shrinking-every-five-minutes adventure you yourself have the power to stop the spell-- to stop your shrinking--whenever you want.  See, you two are going to play the world's easiest game: Masturbation! That’s all you have to do, stud. Jerk off and win! When you finish, so will the spell! If it takes less than 5 minutes, you won’t even lose an inch. Allison was honestly caught off guard by how easy this really did sound. Something smelled funny.

“Morgan...what are you leaving out? What’s the catch?”

“No catch! In fact I’m going to help--Jim, I’m afraid your arms are gonna have to stay all statue-y for this but as I said your gorgeous sexy girlfriend is about to give you the blowjob of your life.” Allison shot Morgan a puzzled, mistrusting look.

“So...you’re saying all he has to do is orgasm. And you’re even going to let me give him a blowjob?

“Bowjob, handjob, it’s up to you. All that matters is that you are going to do it for him. Does that sound like a catch to you? Hell if you use your mouth I doubt you even need one minute much less five? Isn’t that what you said? Ok then. Jim, I’m going to do you a solid. I feel like I’ve already been too generous but what the hell. I’ll even spot you one more buff to help get you through it fast. Now, I know how hot you are for Allison, and I imagine you could probably use a little help focusing on the task at hand, what with the threat of shrinking hanging over you and all that. So how about I cast a little gaze spell so you won’t be able to look at anything but your gorgeous girlfriend’s face. That way you can’t get distracted from anything that’s not super sexy. See Al? I told you I can be generous when I want to...” Morgan snapped her fingers which made Jim try to turn to her but was shocked to find she wasn’t kidding about that. His neck felt like his arms now. Whenever he tried to turn away from Allison, he found himself staring even more deeply into her face, which he really did find gross. The truth was Allison was quite cute, there was just something about her mouth and nose that turned Jim off....Morgan was right, on paper this was the easiest game in the world. But Between his increasingly paralized body and being forced to stare at the woman he despises, he wasn’t so sure it’d be the instant slam-dunk it would normally be.  But Allison, though she was annoyed by her friend’s game-bet thing, she was still absolutely 100% confident. So much so, a question occurred to her

“Ok, so if it’s as easy as you say, how is this even a bet then? How could you win?”

“How could I win? I want you to decide that too. What would you say is the absolute longest this will take? How many minutes before you admit something is wrong...that you must have been wrong about how he feels about you? 10 minutes? 15”

“15?? There’s no way it’ll take that long.”

“Ok then. I win if we get to 15 minutes and his dick is still dry.” Morgan takes a step back and addresses them both. “Ok everybody clear on this? 

“Crystal. I give Jim the world's fastest blowjob, he stays at his full height, I punch you in the nose and then we all have a quiet dinner together --steak for us, crow for you.”

“Ok enough talking then. Ready, Al? Ready Jim?” Allison could tell Jim was looking properly worried & she gave him an apologetic look. Morgan forced Jim’s legs to stand him up. He looked like a marine private standing so rigid with his arms stiff and straight beside him. As Allison sighed and started undoing Jim’s belt, he decided maybe a little pre-emptive damage control was in order. He whispered to her “You know, I’m pretty tired Allison, I might be a little slower than usual. Don’t worry if it takes me longer it’s just cause I’m tired--not you babe. ”  Allison was kneeling with her face at his crotch looking up at him while she freed his penis. 

“Oh babe, don’t worry--and hey I mean….what’s the worst possible case? So you get an inch or two shorter for a little bit. It’s the weekend, who cares?” She turns & glares at Morgan. 

“It won’t be permanent. Right Morgan??”

“No! Of course not!” she replies, feigning shock. But then she smirks & says “Unless…. That is, unless I’m right of course. After all, you won’t care if it’s permanent if I’m right...right? So yeah, I forgot to mention that bit. Whatever height he ends up in, if it takes longer than 15 minutes, that’s the height he’ll be for the rest of his life. Oh and just because 15 minutes is the end of your chance to win doesn’t mean it’s the end of Jim’s shrinking--the spell’s almost open ended. Even after the 15 minute point of no return he’ll still need you to finish him off. So if it gets that far, it’ll really be up to you how permanently short he ends up.”

Jim gulped loudly and Morgan giggled. 

Chapter 2

Allison looked up at Jim as she stretched the tip of his limp penis towards her lips and tried to reassure him. 

“Morgan’s just being a bitch babe...she’s just trying to scare us...to distract you. Just try to ignore her, k? let’s just get her stupid thing over with.” 

“Ok that’s enough chit-chat. Read or not, here we go. 3...2...1….Blow!” Morgan snapped her fingers loudly and then poured herself a glass of wine.

Allison started doing her best and was feeling even a little excited that she was about to prove Morgan wrong for a change. But Jim didn’t finish in seconds. In fact a couple minutes went by and Allison was surprised to see she hadn’t made any progress at all. 

“I told you, I’m tired!” Jim whispered down at his confused girlfriend who was still bobbing her head tirelessly down there. Four minutes went by. Still nothing! When the clock hit 5, Jim let out an involuntary “woah,” as he was hit with a deep chill down his spine--a side effect of his first shrinking episode apparently.  Allison pulled her mouth off Jim’s penis just long enough to hiss at her friend.

 “You really suck sometimes, Morgan.” But she got quickly back to work and at last Jim was slowly growing hard but that’s as far as it went. Jim desperately needed to think about something else--anything else. But he just couldn’t stop staring at Allison. He couldn’t even close his eyes except to blink. The minutes continued marching on and Jim’s penis kept staying bone-dry. Six minutes had passed...then seven. Yet Jim continued struggling to even get more than semi- hard. Allison’s mouth was even starting to get dry. She decided to try switching to her hands. But the minutes kept ticking with no semen in sight. Jim winced as he felt another little chill down his spine, knowing what it meant. Then another. 

Morgan glanced up from her phone & saw that Jim’s height loss was starting to be quite noticeable. She swiped back to her phone’s timer and announced,

“Ok we’re coming up on ten minutes now….3...2...1…,” she made her hand into a gun and made a “pew” sound as Jim felt his latest shrink-chill. She looked up and did the math in her head.

“Hm, let’s see. That should make you around 5’5” now I think. Allison, isn’t that how tall you are?” 

When Allison heard that she couldn’t resist standing up for a quick size check. She felt guilty every time she stopped but she needed a short break anyway as her legs were starting to cramp up. But even with Morgan’s announcement, Allison let out a little involuntary squeak as she could instantly tell Morgan’s math was spot.  She and Jim were both a bit mortified when she found herself staring straight across into Jim’s eyes. 

Jim tried to look away in shame but of course with Morgan’s gaze spell still in effect, he could do no such thing. He pulled on the legs of his jeans which he noticed were definitely starting to feel a little loose around his hips & starting to bunch up a little at his ankles. Jim was starting to have as much trouble keeping his cool as he was keeping an erection.  He decided to try a different tactic--pleading.  

“Allison. Love of my life. Will you please, please finish me off? You have to come through for me here before while it’s still fixable. You can do that for me can’t you babe? I know I’m a bit tired--I wish I wasn’t--but I know you can do this. Please keep going ok?”

Allison was still staring straight at her newly 5’5” boyfriend as if in a daze. Obviously she knew that his shrinking this much was a possibility, but even so, there was something absolutely fascinating about actually looking at this much-shorter, much weaker-looking version of her big strong Jim. This whole thing was starting to seem really cruel and she told Morgan as much.
“Morgan, come on now--you call this ‘not hurting’ him? I mean, look at him!”

Morgan didn’t look at him. She just took another sip and kept on swiping away on her phone. 

“Morgan! Seriously, this isn’t fair and you know it. Jim’s just tired is all!  And on top of that, now he’s starting to freak out about being as short as me now. How’s he going to concentrate?” Morgan didn’t reply except with an exaggerated shrug. Allison narrowed her eyes & gave her one last little glare. But as annoyed as she was now with both of them, she decided Jim was right--The best thing she could do at the moment was to just keep on trying. She gave him a little nod, knelt back down, and got back to it.

Allison was right. Jim *was* starting to freak out--more and more with each chill that he felt. How the hell was he going to have an orgasm in the middle of all this lunacy. He did his absolute best to push it all to the back of his mind. He tried his hardest to fantasize about his beautiful mistress--her smoky eyes, her perky breasts, her giant hands..wait. “Ugh.” he thought.  Just as it seemed like his desperate fantasy might actually work, he felt Allison's  hand grow ever larger on his penis and he snapped right out of it. Her fingers even felt thicker. And her skin felt rougher as well--masculine even, none of which was helping. In fact, he wondered if her hands felt gross enough now that her strokes were moving him farther from an orgasm--not closer. 

Jim felt his mind start to wonder. He was starting to wish he’d never picked Allison as a mark in the first place. From their very first ‘date,’ he realized she’d be a breeze to manipulate and steal from. But soon after, he also realized that he absolutely despised her--both as a sex partner and as a person. It made him sick to his stomach every time he had to plaster on his fake smile for her. He hated having to listen to her squeaky high-pitched voice. He hated the way she moved her lips when she talked. In the past, Jim had never had any trouble at all pretending to be enamored and lustful towards his victim. But with Allison it was incredibly taxing. Especially when they had sex. Between the business trips and how ‘tired’ his job made him he kept that problem to a minimum.  But every now and then he would run out of excuses & had to have sex with her. A professional grifter for years, Jim had learned to be a very good actor. But even he could believably fake an orgasm--Allison simply repulsed him too much. Each time they did it, Jim was always forced to sneaking looks over her shoulder to a naked photo of one of his previous victims on his phone. She was making him so miserable, in fact, that on his flight back from New York he had decided *nothing* was worth being around her. It had only been a few months but he knew if he didn’t get away from her soon he’d be in danger of breaking his cover at some point--hell, he might even wind up in jail, he realized.  So Jim had resolved to dump her the second he got home. But when he got home, before he could even open his mouth, Allison welcomed him home by surprising him with a new silver Audi and the invitation he assumed it would take many more months to get--she invited him to move into her giant house with her. He couldn’t believe the depth of her gullibility--Surely he could keep the charade going a *little* longer, he thought. Morgan snapped him right out of his daydream when she shouted,

“Twelve Minutes!  How's it going over there, team? You uh...might want to pick up the pace a bit. Three more minutes & Jim’ll be kissing his ‘tall guy’ status goodbye forever.”

As if on cue, Jim felt another chill. Allison was starting to feel real concern about her poor “tired” boyfriend. She loved him so much, and she wanted so badly to prove her friend wrong that she steeled herself & redoubled her efforts. Allison’s face brightened as she remembered she hadn’t used all the weapons in her arsonal. She knew Jim liked it when she tried to deepthroat him (something that he actually preferred only because it made it easier for him to sneak looks at his phone with Allison so focused on trying not to gag). She was determined to give him the best blowjob of his life so she went for it. But the second she did, she was surprised to find that she could now push her lips all the way down to the base. This made her a little sad for Jim, but on the plus side, she figured it would absolutely drive him wild. It didn’t. As Jim involuntarily stared down at Allison’s head, bobbing away at his crotch,  he felt no arousal whatsoever--only disgust. The little high-pitched squeaks he could hear escaping from the sides of her mouth weren’t helping much either.He *desperately* wished he could at least close his eyes. Yet another little chill ran down his spine, and this time he actually *felt* his penis shrink against Allison’s fingers--and in more ways than one. Jim’s fear began morphing into the beginnings of proper panic. He was starting to lose his ability to even feign any attraction and lost his head. 

“For the love of God Allison, what the hell is wrong with you?” he screamed down at her.

“For fuck’s sake Al, hurry up!! And stop taking breaks, this is getting serious! ” Allison stopped immediately and slowly raised her head to look him in his eyes. As Jim watched her expression sour, he instantly regretted losing his temper. In the past, whenever Jim’s been angry and yelled, Allison had always gotten fearful and apologetic. Not this time.  Here she was doing her absolute best to please the man she loved only to be screamed at for not being quicker? Just as Morgan had predicted, even Allison had a limit and she was fast approaching it. Morgan grinned as she watched the dynamic between the pair start to shift. Jim tried changing his tone but he didn’t change his message. He took a deep breath and through his teeth he urged her,

“Please. Babe. You said it yourself, we need to just get this over with. With my arms frozen, you’re the only one who can do this and you have to admit you’re kind of letting us both down here.” Allison’s eyebrows shot up. She wasn’t having it and snapped back at him.

“Um…*excuse* me? Pretty sure this isn’t on me this time, *babe.* Look. I get that you’re tired or whatever but come *on!* I’m at the top of my game down here--what the hell is taking *you* so long? *That’s* the real question. Jim you….” Morgan interrupted their little spat to remind them the timer was still running.

“THIRTEEN MINUTES, people…” Morgan announced lazily. She hadn’t even looked up from her phone and Allison thought she could even hear a trace of boredom in Morgan’s voice.  

But Morgan’s announcement failed to make Allison spring to action. Both of them just stood there staring at each other with blank expressions.  Jim was desperately wondering what they could try next but Allison was mesmerized by the sight of her big strong man looking UP to meet her eyes. Morgan once again snapped them out of it. Without even looking up from her phone, she said, 

“Tick, tock, gang! Jim just turned 5’2” -- know who else is 5’2”? Little Anna Kendrick! Hahaha. You giving up, Al? Maybe you secretly *want* little Jim there to stay little from now on?”   

Allison huffed. It was looking really bad and her motivation was plummeting, but she knew she’d never hear the end of it from Jim if she couldn’t save him from his looming fate. She pushed her hair behind her ear, knelt back down & soldiered on. Morgan suddenly chuckled at something else she saw on her phone. 

“Hey guys I know you’re busy but listen to this: Did you know Danny Divito is 4’10” ? Think Jim is gonna end up stuck being Divito sized? That would actually be pretty funny.”

Neither Jim nor Allison thought that deserved a reply. It felt like only a few seconds had gone by when Jim felt his fourteen-minute chill come in and yet another inch go away. Jim’s hope all drained out of him at once. He started bracing for what was beginning to look inevitable. In less than 60 seconds this insane nightmare would harden around him and his new reduced stature would become permanent...in less than 60 seconds he’d be condemned to spending the rest of his life having to look up at almost everyone. That is unless...unless Morgan’s been bluffing the whole time. He clung to that hope as it was the only one he had left. 

 Nevertheless, he refused to just give up. He tried once more to picture his new lover naked, he couldn’t help but worry what she might think of him if 15 minutes passes before he can do it--What if he winds up permanently shorter than her? It suddenly occurred to him that he could actually end up too short to get any more rich woman to fall for him!

As Allison looked at Jim’s now quite tiny penis in her hand, her annoyance was replaced by a growing suspicion and anger. Something was really starting to seem off about this whole thing. 15 minutes???? She was even starting to wonder if somehow Morgan was actually right about everything this time? She tried to reassure herself by leaning on the unshakable trust of her man but it had in fact already been shaken. She had had it.  

“What the hell, Jim?! This isn’t just jetlag. Why the fuck can’t you cum? Did you just masturbate or something?? Morgan’s wrong about all this right? I mean you’re not actually cheating on me…. You still find me attractive... don’t you? ” Jim could sense Morgan beaming in his peripheral vision. He scrambled to defend himself but the stress of the situation pushed his admirable acting skills right out the window. Instead he just stood there sputtering and stammering guiltily. He frantically tried to figure out how to lie his way out of this, but ‘gullible’  Allison saw through it immediately. She caught him in so many contradictions and lies that ultimately he had no choice but to confess to everything Morgan had charged him with. And so after a long sigh, that’s what he did. 

Allison stared at him blankly once more as his words started to sink in. Now more than ever Jim wished he was able to tear his gaze away from the terrifying look of rage forming on Allison’s face. She shook her head and looked at Morgan. She was embarrassed to be so wrong about a man once again. An awkward silence fell over the room until Morgan piped up,

“Ok you two, I don’t mean to interrupt, but you *do* realize 15 minutes has come and gone, right? So….” Jim interrupted,

“Yeah yeah, I figured. Whatever, I know you were bluffing. I’m not an idiot...no way you’re seriously going to keep me this short.” Morgan shrugged exaggeratedly before she answered,

“Why are you asking me? I have absolutely know idea if you’ll be stuck as a 5’ tall shorty or not! You need to talk to your ex-girlfriend about that, little dude.” 

This confused Allison. “Talk to me? huh?”

“Don’t you remember, sweetie? You’ve been distracted so I forgive you, but as I said---the bet hasn’t stopped. 15 minutes came and went but that only made his height-loss irreversible. He’s still gotta come or he’ll keep right on shrinking.”

“He will?? For how long?”

“I think you forgot, and I forgive you -- you’ve had a lot on your mind. But as I said, I made his worst-case height totally up to you! I just forgot to ask you what height you wanted that to be. So. What do you think? His itty-bitty dick is just as dry as when h e started. If that doesn’t change, how small do you want the little asshole to wind up?“

Jim’s mind raced as he tried desperately to think of a way to talk himself out of this. Both women stared down at the now-less-than-Divito-sized man as Allison pondered Morgan’s question. Jim stared up at her and trembled a little as he waited nervously for her answer. Suddenly Allison smiled wide and said, 

“Ok, M, I know what I want. Could you....” then she leaned over and whispered something into Morgan’s ear. Jim couldn’t hear what she’d said but whatever it was made Morgan laugh so loud it hurt Jim’s ears. Allison didn’t expect that and felt a little embarrassed. She asked,

“What’s so funny? Can you do it or not?”

Morgan tried to regain her composure as she squatted down and looked Jim face-to-tiny-face for the first time. She booped his nose with her finger and calmly said,

“Yes, Allison. Absolutely I can do that for you.”

Jim just stood there glaring up at Allison’s smirking face high above his own, feeling like a criminal in a courtroom awaiting his sentencing from the judge. Both women continued to silently smile down at him for another moment or two, savoring the look of impatient worry on his little face until he couldn't stand it anymore.

“Well???!” Jim was addressing both of them but of course he could still only look at Allison. “One of you gonna tell me how much more of this bullshit I have to take or not!?” Morgan cocked her head to one side & broke the silence.

“Wow, your little boyfriend really can’t stand suspense can he? That doesn't bode too well what with...you know...You want to tell him or can I?”  Allison said,

"Actually no. Since he loves suspense so much, let's let give him some more." Morgan asked, "Really? Not even the first part?" Jim said, "FUCKING TELL ME SOMETHING!" and Allison replied, "Fine! You want to know how tiny you'll be when the shrinking stops?" She bent over and held her hand near the top of Morgan’s breasts--roughly the level of Jim’s current height. Then she started lowering her hand very slowly, keeping it next to Mogan for comparison. Unlike Jim, Allison was rather *enjoying* all the suspense--she was responsible for it, after all. She could sense the dramatic shift in the power dynamic between them. It had been totally reversed now and she found it intoxicating--she wanted to make it last--to savor it. She continued lowering her hand. It passed the bottom of Morgan's chest and kept going. Even as it approached her belly button, Jim said nothing and did his best to just look on stoically--his mind scrambling. As bad as this looked, he still thought he could somehow get himself out of this pickle.  Early in Jim’s grifting career, Jim learned two very important skills: The ability to keep cool when things get hot, and the ability to sense when it’s possible to change someone’s mind--even if their mind seems totally ‘made up.’  Jim was a master at turning losses into wins. Whenever one of Jim’s con jobs failed, he’d always been able to still talk the mark into leaving the cops out of it--sometimes they even forgave him completely. He didn’t see why this time should be any different. Jim had been studying Allison’s face like a poker player the whole time--it was obvious to Jim now that Allison was telling the truth--she wasn’t bluffing. But even so, when Allison’s hand dropped below Morgan’s pussy Jim saw an angle if he pretended to ‘call her bluff.’

“Oh Ha-Fucking-Ha. Come on, Allison, you’ve made your point, you’ve had your fun, but you can stop now. I know you’re bluffing, baby. There’s no WAY you’d go nearly that far and we both know it. No way. Morgan might have known you longer then me but I know you *better* -- I know you still have some feelings for me, even after all this. Am I wrong?”

Morgan noticed Allison’s expression was softening a little and shot her a stern glare. But Morgan knew Jim was right--that even after the big confession, Allison would still feel ‘something' for him..it was always the same with her. She was too empathetic. 

Jim continued, “I’m right, aren’t I? It’s over *already*, isn’t it--I’m *already* as short as you’re going to make me, aren’t I.”  Morgan pursed her lips & shook her head like that was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard. Jim ignored her and carried on.

“Allison.  I was horrible to you--I was a monster. I know. I truly do. I won’t try to ask you to forgive me. How could I? What I did is unforgivable. I don’t blame you one bit for wanting to punish me. You wanted to take me down a few pegs and you did. You hit me where you knew it would truly sting: my height. You both knew I’ve always been proud of my...tall-ness and you took it away...and then some! Look at me--I’m not even *average* now, Allison--I’m really, seriously, fucking *short* -- like...shorter-than-Danny-Divito-short  apparently.” That last bit made Morgan snort a little. Jim went on,

“So please. Allison. Whatever you whispered, or pretended to whisper....it doesn’t matter. Just please cut out the hand-lowering business & tell Morgan enough is enough. Ok baby? Please? Just tell her it’s over right now and I swear  I’ll just pack my shit and get out of your life forever. Ok?” Jim felt his confidence returning. 

All three of them were startled when the awkward silence was broken by another of Jim’s involuntary squeaky little grunts. Another precious inch slipped away from him and Morgan noticed that it had made Allison chuckle. 

Looking up at her now, Jim realized that if this kept up much longer he’d be transitioning soon from merely ‘short’ to properly ‘small.’ It suddenly occurred to Jim that without Allison, he now had no way to ejaculate--no way to stop it. But rather than panic about it, Jim thought he might be able to use that fact for yet another try--yet another angle to wriggle out of this. He yelled,

“Ok, ok! You’re right, you’re both right. Again, I admit it all. What I did really was awful so I understand why you won’t stop the spell early. But can’t you at least give me a sporting chance here? Morgan said this game was also a bet--is it or isn’t it?  Since Allison won’t try to help me anymore and I can’t do it myself, I’m already doomed! So why bother dragging it out in little spurts like this--Just get it over with so we can all get on with damn our lives! On the other hand, if you want it to still be a contest even though Allison’s you could release my arms & let me try.” He looked down at his immobile arms & wiggled his fingers hopefully.  

Morgan and Allison looked at each other briefly, then Morgan leaned over &  whispered something in Allison’s ear. They both looked at Jim & Allison whispered something back to Morgan who nodded & once again bent over to put her face down at Jim’s level. She sighed.  “Ok shorty…We actually think you kinda have a point there.”

“You do?”

Morgan snapped her fingers and Jim immediately felt a little relief for the first time in a while as his arms fell loose. 

“You’re welcome. Good luck little guy...” Morgan said flatly. 

Jim was elated but tried hard not to show it--Now that he was free to masturbate on his own he figured he could easily put a stop to this himself before he got waist high or worse, assuming Allison wasn’t fucking with him with that hand-lowering skit. Jim shook the numbness out of his little arms & immediately started wanking hard and fast. Morgan had removed her gaze spell--Jim’s legs were still held fast but he was now free to look wherever he liked. Jim knew this torture would be over in seconds now, and he wasted no time getting going. He immediately closed his eyes hard and started wanking like mad. 

“Shit, we’re out of wine,” Morgan noted. 

“No, I think we have another bottle. I’ll go get it,” Allison said as she took one more glance at Jim and grinned on her way out. Morgan watched Jim shrink another inch and regretted letting Allison talk her into giving Jim one last chance by freeing his arms. It’s not that she was worried he’d succeed--she knew this humiliation would prove too distracting for this egotistical asshole even now. She knew all Jim could do now was rub himself raw until he reached the delicious height Allison had requested. But Morgan was bored. She’d already won, as she knew she would--Allison knew the truth & tiny Jim would soon be kicked out on his ass. She just didn’t see the point of dragging it out any further.  She would much rather have taken Jim’s sarcastic suggestion to just get it over with--why give him any more chances to try to weasel back into Allison’s good graces? She wrinkled her nose at him as she plopped back on the couch, turning to her phone again. She google’d ‘shortest man alive.’ She suspected Jim would soon be claiming the title and she was right. 

Jim was indeed struggling. With his eyes closed, he was finally able to form a mental image of his ideal woman but each time he got close, the reality of his situation would creep into the fantasy--even his fantasy girl would start growing larger and larger, deflating him back to square one. When he felt another chill wash down his back he realized several  *minutes* had gone by and impossibly, he still had no cum to show for it. After that, he started having trouble fantasizing anything at all in fact--the humiliation was overpowering. He couldn’t help wondering how pathetic he must look right now. Here he was, a 4-foot-something man standing helplessly in front of his enemies, jeans around his ankles, frantically trying to do what should be the easiest thing in the world and failing pathetically. Just then Allison reappeared, empty handed.

“Sorry M...guess I was wrong--we’re dry I’m afraid.” Just then she noticed that Jim--who had lost another inch while she’d been away--was barely taller than her kitchen counters now. 

“Hey Jim, look! I guess I won’t be asking *you* for help reaching the high shelves anymore. I doubt you can even reach the sink faucet anymore!” Both women started giggling when he opened his eyes wide. He hadn’t realized it had already gotten that far--that realization, combined with the unbearable sound of the women laughing down at how ridiculous he looked...well, he couldn’t keep his cool anymore. He totally lost control and let his rage boil over.

“GOD DAMN IT YOU FUCKING CUNTS! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I’M GOING TO KILL YOU BOTH! YOU’RE DEAD AND I’M NOT FUCKING JOKING! YOU’RE FUCKING DEAD!!!!”

Allison looked alarmed & reflexively took a step backwards. But Morgan’s expression didn’t even change. She just casually took out another cigarette. “You really sure this is a good time to start threatening us with violence, little guy?” she continued talking with her cigarette in her mouth as she tried to get her lighter to work. “I knew you were a horrible person but I didn’t think you were stupid too.” Jim was about to respond but started coughing as Morgan blew smoke in his face.  She casually continued, “And dude I have to say I’m *really* getting sick of hearing your whiny little voice screeching up at us non-stop. Jesus Christ, can you not hear how fucking annoying your voice is now? It’s literally giving me a headache.” Jim inhaled to yell even louder but when he tried, he found the only sound he could make was a cute little squeak--the kind of squeak a rubber duck might make. He clenched his hands into little tight fists and looked ridiculous as he started pathetically swinging them as hard as he could, trying to hit either woman.  But as small as he was now, and with his legs still pinned, he found nothing but air to punch--not that he could have hurt them much at this point even if he *could* land one of those little punches. Watching his little arms flail around like windmills, Morgan chuckled and shook her head. She held up her watch and tapped it slowly with her fingernail as she made tick-tock clicks with her tongue.  Realizing he was cornered again with no better options, he did his best to  swallow his rage & shame again. He closed his eyes again and went back to wanking his little penis again. Morgan stood up. 

 “Ok Allison, I think we’ve seen enough don’t you think?  We know how this movie ends, don’t we? I bet deep down, even Shorty McShortface here knows it’s hopeless.” Morgan used the top of Jim’s little head as an ashtray and had an idea. 

 “Ok then. Al, what do you say weI put those steaks in the fridge and go out for some real drinks? You’ve more than earned it, girl.” Allison bit her lip and looked down at the pathetic little man and agreed with her friend--Jim was going to find out what she’d whispered the hard way for sure.

“Yeah, I think you’re right, and I really *could* use a nice martini. Let’s do it. Let’s go get tipsy and talk about nicer subjects than this conniving, cheating little twerp!” 

As Allison dealt with the steaks, Morgan one long, last look at poor little defeated Jim, hopelessly pumping away beneath her. She stroked her chin & guessed he was probably around three feet tall now--maybe a little less. She did some simple math and figured the shrinking will have stopped long before they got back from the bar. She knew Jim overestimated how much pity Allison felt and underestimated how far she was willing to go in punishing him. But after he finally sees what she did to him, after the shock of that has worn off…. how would he be coping with it?  By the time they’re back he will have had plenty of time to think about living out the rest of his life like that. Will they be returning to a broken, newly subservient Jim or will he still be full-of-impotent rage, shaking his even-tinier fists up at them? She honestly wasn’t sure.    

Allison put on her coat and Morgan leaned way down to say “see ya shorty.” Jim stopped and opened his eyes as Morgan went on, “We may be a while--I think your ex-girlfriend is in the mood to celebrate for some reason.” Jim responded the only way he could--he let out a cute little squeak. The enormous women laughed at him one last time before striding out the front door together, trying to decide on a bar. 

“Whatever.” Jim was glad they were gone now. Without those giant bitches there to keep distracting him he felt he had a real chance now to finally put a stop to this. Soon after he started going again he was pleased to find it was indeed a little easier to focus now. He tried to block everything out and immerse himself in the highest fidelity sex fantasies his imagination could muster--and it was working.  His progress was still frustratingly slow, but it was progress so he had hope again. His erection had finally shown up! With the finish line finally in sight he focused hard for the final push! It was still taking much longer than usual but he could feel himself getting closer and closer. He was so focused that he totally lost track of time. Even the cute little rubber duck squeaks that started leaking out of his mouth didn’t ruin it for him--it had been a long, surreal, frustrating afternoon but his perseverance had finally paid off! He’d done it! The euphoria and relief he felt drove away his humiliation almost instantly. He even pumped his fist in victory as he felt his confidence rushing back in. But then...he opened his eyes.  

Jim could not believe what he was seeing. In fact he literally didn’t. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. He’d finally cum but it had obviously been too late--the spell had already run its course. His jaw fell open as he surveyed the canyon-sized version of Allison’s living room with furniture at least *three times* his own height. He was a bit taller than the pile of his clothes next to him, but he was shorter than literally every other object in the living room. He wasn’t even as tall as the *seat* on the sofa , and he could see the underside of the coffee table without even ducking. 

“Holy fucking shit,” he wanted to say, but instead he made a cute “Squeeeak.” He winced and held his head. He was convinced Morgan did this to him against Allison’s wishes. Whatever Allison had said, it obviously wasn’t harsh enough for Morgan and she took matters into her own hands--he was sure of it. Jim tried to throw himself on the ground but winced hard when he did no such thing--He couldn’t even do that! He guessed he was barely even a foot tall now but he felt even smaller.  Everything looked so distortedly huge he was finding it hard to estimate dimensions. He was suddenly awash with all sorts of brand new emotions he’d never felt before in his life--For the first time ever, big strong, confident Jim felt weak...fearful...insignificant...pathetic. He stared down at a scratch on Allison’s wood floor that he would never have even noticed at his old height. He wondered how he could possibly live like this and then decided he couldn’t--he would refuse to give up. He would *still* find a way to sort himself out and have his revenge, though he had no idea how just yet. 

A huge bang suddenly snapped Jim out of his personal pep-talk--It was the sound of the front door flying open again. The light from outside was blinding.  Jim assumed the girls had come back early but as he squinted into the light he only made out one enormous silhouette. It was Morgan. She was whistling the oompa loompa tune as she casually strode up to him. Jim felt like he was going insane when he realized that he was actually even shorter than the top of Morgan’s fucking boot now. 

“Hello down there!” Morgan said cheerily as she squatted down for a closer look. Jim 

“This was your doing--Don’t even try to lie, bitch. I *know* it. I know Allison’s pissed but I also know there is no fucking way she’d ever let you take it this far. No way. You ignored her wishes and did this on your own didn’t you. She doesn’t even know, does she. That’s why you wanted to get her out of the house, isn’t it. You know, when she finds out, you...”

“Nice to see you too!” Morgan interrupted, her house-sized face grinning down at him. But Jim pressed on,

“One foot tall??! You’re trying to tell me *that’s* what Allison whispered?” Morgan sounded uncharacteristically cheerful. Jim thought she might already be a little drunk and he couldn’t decide if that would be good or bad for him. Morgan shot him a quick side-smile and explained,

“No, she didn’t say that.”

“I KNEW IT!”

“Ahem. What she *actually* said was, ‘Can you make him as tall as a Ken doll?’ 

I’d never even *heard* of a ‘Ken Doll’ but apparently he’s Barbi’s boyfriend? Ha! Did you know that? Anyway she wasn’t sure of the exact height and I googled it. ” Morgan tapped on Jim’s head with her finger as she continued, “ Ken Dolls are 12” tall, so now lil’ Jim is too!” Jim had to admit that sounded like something Allison might actually say in a bouncy, sing-songy way. He was feeling overwhelmed by everything and everyone around him. He didn’t know what to do so he did what he always does in that situation -- he tried to stall--to buy some time. He tried to make himself sound scared as he asked,

“She really said that? Oh ….fuck. She told you to….she said ‘Make him as tall as a Ken doll??’ Oh my god. Oh my god. So *that’s* what you thought was so funny? You didn’t think she had it in her either, did you?” Morgan let out a little chuckle and shook her head a little causing some strands to brush across Jim’s face. 

“Huh? Of course not! I was *disappointed* she wanted to let you off so lightly. I was hoping she’d let you shrink away to nothing at all! No, no, no. The thing that made me laugh was what she said after that--”

“I’m confused. Are you saying what it sounds like you’re saying?? You’ve shrunk me down to THE SIZE OF A KEN DOLL and that’s not fucking enough? There’s *more* coming?” Morgan grinned wide & said,

“Well……...let’s just say 12” tall is no longer your *worst*-case, dude--it’s your *best*. See, if you don’t play your cards right, things could end up a whole lot worse for you.”

“Um….HOW much worse?”

“So much worse that you’d literally do anything to turn back the clock to the good old days when you were still 12” huge. And that’s not all! Allison really surprised me, dude. I’ve always thought she was way too nice--too empathetic--too forgiving to people who don’t deserve it.  When I found out that dropping you to 12” was actually just the *beginning* of her plan for you..wow! Turns out our sweet little Allison can be a cruel revenge artist when she wants to! Wait till you hear her plan, dude--It’s fucking genius and it’s (almost) all her idea.  She’ll give you the full scoop when she’s ready.” Jim just stared blankly for a second, unsure what to think or do. 

Morgan’s phone boo-da-looped reminding her why she was there in the first place. “OOps! Almost forgot what Allison sent me back here for!” 

Morgan snapped and Jim’s little legs buckled sending his tiny body crumpling to the floor. As he tried to stand back up with numb legs he was scrambling once again for a plan. He couldn’t decide if he should try to attack... her...foot? Or maybe he should just run as fast as his little numb legs could carry him. But before he could do either, he was startled by another bang as a huge metal fence or something slammed down in front of him. Morgan had just plopped a mesh wastebasket over him. He ran up and started pushing on it but couldn’t budge it even a little. He lost it and started just punching it with his fists. He pounded as hard as he possibly could but to absolutely zero effect--he was just too light and weak, simple as that. Morgan smirked at the little tapping sounds his punches were making. It sounded like the faint pecking of a tiny bird.  

“Holy SHIT you are weak! I knew you wouldn’t be able to flip this but I thought you could probably push it around at least...wow, dude.” Anyway, gotta run back to the bar before Allison gets too far ahead. I never thought I'd say this but I'm actually look forward to seeing you later tonight, you cute little piece of trash...TA!" and with that the door slammed shut in time with Jim's little body collapsing as he passed out cold.

Chapter 4

It didn’t take Morgan long to return to the bar. It was one of their favorite watering holes. It wasn’t a great bar but it *was*  just around the corner from Allison’s house. 

“Hey! Lookie there! The martini fairy came!” Morgan said as she plopped back in the booth. Allison had obviously ordered her another Martini while she was away. Morgan threw her bag on the seat, slid Allison’s house keys back across the table to her and took a big gulp. 

“Mmmm, yum.  It’s still cold!” 

“So……….Tell me--just how small *is* he now? Has it stopped yet?” Allison had always thought Jim looked a little like a Ken doll--she even teased him about it sometimes. She couldn’t wait to see him now that he’d basically been literally turned into one.

“Oh yes. Definitely. Must say, he didn’t seem too happy about it though…”

“Ha. I’ll bet. Is he safe now though? No trouble locking him in the bathroom?”

“Uh...he’s safe now, promise.”  

“Thanks for doing that for me M. I knew you’d think it was a strange thing for me to ask--It’s just that we were having so much fun I totally forgot about Roxy’s new doggy door in the kitchen. She stays in the backyard all day, but she can let herself in on her own when she gets hungry. She’ll probably be wanting her dinner pretty soon. So yeah...with little Jim suck tiny & helpless in plain sight...you know. Roxy’s such a sweetheart, she’d never knowingly hurt anybody but she’s never seen a little guy like that obviously--she might think he’s a new chew toy or something, I don’t know.”

“Hahahah! I never thought about that but you’re right I bet she would! I mean, she loves biting that rubber bone of hers and now Jim’s every bit as small & squeaky as that thing. In fact I bet she’d like to chew on little Jim even more--think about it--unlike all her other little chew toys, Little Jimmy contains real meat!” Morgan looked out the window and grinned as she pictured Roxy running around with Jim in her mouth, squeaking his little head off. 

Allison’s jaw dropped open. “Morgan! Don’t even joke like that! *Nobody* deserves to be eaten by a dog--or anything else for that matter--not even an asshole like Jim!” 

“Kidding! Jeez, chill!  Er…*mostly* kidding anyway. I mean...Seriously Al, why do you care *what* happens to the little fucker now? *So what* if he gets chomped to bits by a cute little corgi? After everything that prick did to you...and OTHER WOMEN TOO don’t forget...good riddance, I say ....” Morgan took a huge swig of her drink and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. 

Allison slapped the table and pointed her perfectly manicured finger at Morgan’s face. “No! I’m serious about this, Morgan.  I know we’ve done a lot of mean stuff to him already, and we’re about to do a whole lot more. But to let him get devoured like that? Jim is really vulnerable now.  I’d still feel so guilty if he *died* because of me. He deserves to be humiliated but not murdered for god sakes…” Morgan studied her friend’s face for a moment. She couldn’t tell if Allison was saying all that because she somehow actually still somehow felt pity for the little shit...or if she just wanted to make sure he stayed alive long enough for her to finish torturing him to her satisfaction. Either way, Morgan decided to just let it go and ordered another round. 

“Ok, ok, I get it! Sheesh. But like I said: The little guy is safe... for the time being anyway.  Now. Can we *please* talk about the rest of your plan now? Part one’s done. Check. Dude’s a fucking Ken Doll now--just as you as requested, m’lady.  So on to part 2 then, yeah? What little you whispered to me sounded hilariously delicious, but I must say it was a bit light on the details. You said you wanted to give him some sort of rules? Rules backed by instant, magic consequences that automatically kick in if he breaks one? That a fair summary?”

“That’s the general idea, yeah. But to be honest I haven’t gotten much farther than that, yet. I was hoping maybe you & I could brainstorm on it a little right now? You know, flesh it out a bit? I have a few other ideas I think you’ll like too.”” 

“Sweet! You know I *live* for stuff like this,, babe. And as you well know, this Humiliate Jim project you got going on now is *right* in my particular wheelhouse. Just tell me what you’ve got so far--even if it’s half-baked, k? Say are you hungry?  I’m getting hungry. Should we order some food?” Allison shrugged and that was enough for Morgan.  

“Mr. Waiter, sir? Actually, I think we *will* have that shrimp cocktail now if you don’t mind!” She looked at Allison while she held up her empty glass & Allison nodded. “Oh and another round as well?”

You know Al, I was pretty shocked when you decided shrinking a full grown man down to doll-size wasn’t harsh enough. I really assumed you’d just kick him to the curb after all this, and I was all for it -- Figured you’d just toss him into the alley out back  &  let him take his chances with stray cats & whatever else, you know? But when I’m wrong I’m wrong--Your idea is better. Why get rid of him now when we can wait until we’ve had some more fun with him first!” Allison bit her lip. She wasn’t sure how Morgan would react when she found out Allison actually had no plans to *ever* kick Jim out. She was happy to be interrupted by the returning waiter. 

“Aaaand, here we are, ladies...two fresh martinis for you both, and a beautiful shrimp cocktail with our signature sauce.”  Allison smirked when she realized Morgan was making a little joke by ordering shrimp--shrimps were the theme of the day after all.

“Thank you kindly, good sir. I’m sure we’ll be wanting a couple more after these but no, we’re good for now,” she replied. Allison gave him a thumbs-up as she bit into a shrimp about as long as Jim’s little Ken-arm.  

Then she leaned in a little & said to Morgan in a hushed tone, “Ok. Here’s what I’ve got so far.”  

“Um, why are you whispering? Pretty sure little Jimmy can’t hear you right now babe. ” 

Allison elegantly slid her new drink closer to herself by the stem.

“I know.... It’s just...I’m new at this kind of thing, M-- it just feels so... naughty I guess. What we did to him...and the stuff we’re *going* to do to him...none of it’s even *legal* is it?

Morgan giggled. “Well you still haven’t told me what else is coming his way but I’m pretty sure there are no laws on the books anywhere about shrinking ex-boyfriends. Relax girl, we’re good. Please, fire away. I want to see the little guy again before he dies of old age, ok?” 

“Ok. Well. I know you’re anxious to get to the shrinking stuff but if you don’t mind,  I have a couple ideas about something else that I wanted to ask you about. It’s about his voice.”

“His voice?”

“When you took away his voice back there...that probably hit him way harder than you even realize. See, the thing is, just like his height, Jim was always super proud of that smooth, deep voice he’s got..er...used to have. You heard it, you know what I’m talking about right? Anyway, I found it irresistible and unfortunately it sounds like I’m not the only one who let that happen. He’s a little weasel but he’s also an expert at using that golden voice of his to talk people into doing all kinds of shit for him--especially me.”

“Well sure, but I’m not sure I follow. What are you saying we should do about it that we haven’t already done? Al, you heard him right? Even when we left….he was still what--taller than four feet I think. Even when he was still Divito-sized he was already starting to sound like helium-boy. 

“Yeah but…”

“Well that was nothing.  If you thought that he sounded funny then, just wait.  I let him talk again for a bit while I was locking him up & hoo-boy! Trust me on this Al, I can almost guarantee that is one dude who won’t be seducing *any* women anymore--Not with *that* weird little voice he’s got now. Not a chance.”

“No let me finish-- I still don’t think you get it. Jim’s a prick who deserves everything we’re going to do to him but don’t forget that he *really is* good at what he does. If I’m being totally honest, even with his new size & weird new voice--I hate to admit this, M, cause I know you’ll give me shit about it--but even after all this I honestly can’t say I’m 100% sure he won’t talk me into doing something I really don’t want to do. This guy’s voice is his main weapon, Morgan. So I really think it's important we keep it under lock and key, ok?”

“Makes sense I guess,” Morgan said with her mouth full of shrimp, “But why the big spiel about it? All you had to say was ‘Hey Morgan, I love how you shut Jim up--make that permanent.” No problem. Next! Can we please move on to the good stuff now? 

  “Well hang on a minute...please, M. I’m almost done. I don’t want to just take Jim’s voice away forever, because….because I want him to feel the loss. I know he hates that new voice of his so much that I want him to have to hear it sometimes. And besides that, sometimes I *am* going to want him to talk--like to answer questions I ask him, or like...to listen to him whine about how unfair I’m being..stuff like that. So, don’t just make him a mute ok? Instead, can you make it so even *I* could unmute him whenever I want? And then mute him back after? Could you, like,  make some kind of magical remote or wand or something for me with a big “Mute Jim” button on itg?”

“Hahaha. Ah. Now I get it. Sorry, yes. Of course. Actually that’s a good catch--I really should have thought of that myself. But yeah, no problem, babe! Easy peasy! I do have one thought though. I really don’t think you want to tie it to a remote control, or really any physical object...I know you girl--you’d lose it the second  I gave it to you.  And anyway--we’re not in the 90s anymore--We’re in the age of voice commands now, baby! How about this: I could make it so that whenever you say, ‘SPEAK!!’ to him, he’ll be able to talk again. He won’t love it...he’ll still sound like a little cartoon chipmunk, but he’ll technically be able to say some cute little words to you and you’ll be able to understand them. And then when you say, “SQUEAK!” he’ll be right back to being stuck in squeaks-only mode--after that, if he doesn’t want to hear himself squeak like a stupid rubber toy whenever he tries to talk, he’ll just have to keep his tiny little trap shut--Just like every *other* Ken Doll in the world. Howzat sound?” Allison clapped her hands a few times and exclaimed, “Oh yeah that’s perfect!

“Well I aim to please…”

 “Wait. What if he hates being in squeak-mode so much...I love that you called it that by the way. What if he hates squeaking so much that he just decides he’ll do what you said and shut his trap forever--I wouldn’t put it past him to never even *try* to talk again to avoid hearing his humiliating new cartoon voice. M, I *want* him to squeak sometimes-- I never want him to forget that his precious smooth, hypnotic ‘voice’ is gone forever. I never want him to forget he’s just a glorified squeak toy now, ya know?”

Morgan wasn’t quite sure what Allison had in mind. 

“Ok….I hear what you’re saying. What do you want me to do about that then? Sounds like you have an idea so just spill it, babe“

“Ok well, I was just wondering, like, what if we baked Jim’s humiliating new squeak-toy nature right into his very *identity* you know??--LIke, maybe we make him dress a certain way & ...oh! Maybe we even change his name! We could call him “Squeaky” from now on!  I want him to totally give up on ever being his old self again & start accepting his pathetic new squeak-toy existence, you know?”

“Holy shit, Al,  that is some pretty sick psychological-torture you’re cooking up there. I fucking love it! Damn, Allison,  I’m seeing a side to you today I never knew was in there. I just wanted to expose Jim for you -- I never expected it to be this fun though.  I’m absolutely giddy and it’s not just the drinks talking. So yeah, I see what you’re up to now. Doesn’t sound like a problem. But can I make just a couple more suggestions?” 

“Yes, yes, please do!”

“Well first of all, I love “Squeaky” as a new name for him, I truly do. But... what do you think about the name “Pipsqueak” instead?”

“PIPSQUEAK! Hahaha. That’s *so* much better--Oh my god he’ll fucking HATE that!”

“Cool, cool. Pipsqueak he shall be then. But let’s not just *call* him that, let’s make it real, wanna? I can make it so even he can only refer to *himself* as Pipsqueak--I can make it so he can’t tell anyone his name is Jim ever again, and so that whenever anyone asks him for his name he can’t even stay silent--he’ll HAVE to say his ridiculously appropriate new name! Want me to add that in there too? You might be surprised but little mind-tweaks like that are pretty simple actually.”

“Wow. Hell yes. I wasn’t sure you’d understand but yes, yes. Please do all that.”

“K. Well, so far you’ve only given me super-simple stuff, Al. In fact I bet it took you longer to explain what you wanted me to do than it will take for me to actually do it for you. In fact,  let me just get your voice & name stuff out of the way right now.” Morgan looked up at the ceiling for barely a moment, snapped her fingers & after a beat she said, “Ok...So far so good. This is fun for me too, Al. I *never* have a partner to team up with on my revenge-magic stuff and I never dreamed that I’d get to do it with you of all people. But seriously, can we finally talk about these mysterious ‘rules’ of yours? 

“Yes we can! I think I’ve got some doozies. I know this prick. I know what will push his buttons. I’ve got some good ideas I think but I want you to feel free to add to them. I know you can make them even better.

“Oh FUCK yeah! Here we go, baby! Lay it on me.” 

Allison stood up.

“What the fuck, where you going?”

“I just reeeeeeally need to pee first, M.  I’m about to burst! I’ll be right back.”

“Now??! Uuuuuuuuugh………….fine…...Just... hurry back, ok?” 

Morgan wanted a cigarette but decided to wait a bit--She figured it would taste soooo much better after they’d finished hashing out all the various ways Pipsqueak's going to be hating his shitty little life from now on.  She suspected the little shit still has a ways to go before his will is broken, though. She thought about how hard he was trying to get himself out of that wastepaper basket as she popped another shrimp into her mouth. He thinks he's got it bad now...He has no idea.

--- ONE MONTH LATER --

Allison hummed contentedly to herself as she dumped a huge pile of cooked spaghetti into her colander. She wondered how long it had been since she’d had pasta--6 months maybe? Spaghetti was Allison’s favorite food but *Big JIm* never let her have it--Pasta & noodles grossed him out. But *Pipsqueak* however, had no say in the matter--he had no say in anything at all anymore, obviously. So Allison thought it might be nice to cook up a classic Italian dinner to welcome Morgan back from her three week trip to London. After shaking out the excess water over the sink, Allison took a taste. 

“Mmmm! Al dente! So, so good!” She looked over her shoulder & asked, “Sure you don’t want to try some, Pipsqueak?”

Jim gave no reply. He just sat there on his little “stool”--an empty Nutella jar that Allison had given him--silently staring at Allison through the glass wall of his little prison on the kitchen table. Pasta was, in fact, only one of several of Allison’s favorite dishes that Jim had forced her to go without the entire time they were together. Now that Allison was again free to cook whatever she liked, she was making up for lost time. For the past few weeks, Allison had been cooking up all her old favorites--And since she knew Pipsqueak would find it disgusting, she always placed him nearby so he could watch & wonder whether she’d force him to eat some or not. 

“Suit yourself, dude...Yum,” she said as she gulped down a second piece. She turned around and noticed that he still hadn’t even touched the little chunk of dry pizza crust she’d given him for breakfast. 

“Not hungry, Pip?  What are you... on a diet or something? Hunger strike? No….that’s not it... I bet I know what it is...you’re just too *excited* to eat--Aren’t you, Pip! Well I can’t say I blame you--Tonight’s a big night for such a little guy! Not only are you going to get some long-overdue quality time with your favorite witch, tonight’s *also* the night you get that big surprise-present we’ve been hinting about! Wait till you..” 

She was interrupted when her back pocket started playing the Wicked Witch theme from Wizard of Oz. “Hey! Speak of the devil,” Allison plucked out her phone and started stirring sauce into the spaghetti as she answered. She noted JIm seemed to be trying hard to listen in. 

“Hey, girl! Make it back ok? Flight good?.........yep………..yep……...” 

Jim could hear that it was Morgan on the line but he couldn’t make out what she was saying. 

“.…..yeah, just making some Spaghetti actually. Hope you’re hungry…...He’s fine. A bit sour-faced & pouty, but what else is new right? …...Yeah. Right now? He’s just sitting here under that glass planter-thing watching me cook.” Allison shot Jim a quick smirk & a wink.

“And what about our little--surprise? Were you able to………...Oh, yay!! Hahaha holy shit, little Pip is going to be SO surprised! “ Jim kicked lazily at his uneaten pizza crust chunk as Allison laughed at whatever it was Morgan was telling her. He had no idea what she was talking about and he didn’t care. “Yeah, yeah I know. ….ok, cool. So where are you now? Baggage claim? Ok well hurry up and pick up your brooms & cauldrons and get your skinny little ass over here!.........yup. Will do--see you in a bit!” Allison rammed her phone back in her pocket and noticed Jim was looking very sullen, sitting slumped on his little stool-jar with his head in his hands. 

“Awwwwww…..is little Pipsqueak down in the dumps about something? Hmmm?...... Don’t want to talk about it?.....” She put her face near the glass & tapped on it with her nail. She stared at him for a few seconds and when he didn’t even look up at her, she sighed. “Well. If you’re just going to sit there feeling sorry for yourself, go right ahead, Gloomy Gus, but I don’t have to watch.” Allison grabbed a kitchen towel & draped it over his cylindrical glass cell.  “Just try not to cry TOO much in there, ok?--you don’t want to *literally* drown in your own tears, do you!” She giggled when she heard a couple of little muffled squeaks come back. Then she checked the time on her phone and twirled back around to finish preparing dinner. 

At 8pm exactly, Jim woke up to the sound of the doorbell. He rubbed his eyes, realizing he must have nodded off. Slowly got up off the placemat he’d been sleeping on and rubbed his eyes. He was still stuck under the same stupid, futuristic-looking glass cage that Allison had started putting over when she didn’t feel like keeping an eye on him. The “cage” was actually a very expensive glass planter--one of Allison’s favorites in fact. She was only willing to use it as a Pipsqueak container temporarily--just until she could find a better solution (Morgan mentioned that she had some ideas). But she had to admit that when she flipped it upside-down and set it down over her tiny captive it made a pretty good jail cell--The glass was crystal clear so it was easy to see what he was doing in there, the drainage hole that would normally be on the bottom became an oxygen hole on the roof, and when she stuck one of her aluminum placemats underneath it, she could move Jim around the house easily without needing to take him out first--the way one does with a cockroach trapped under a cup. Jim still couldn’t see out but he noted the kitchen towel Allison had draped over him earlier had been replaced by some kind of silky red cloth. Though he was fully dressed in a casual Ken Doll outfit he felt a bit chilly. He could hear cicadas chirping quite loudly and figured Allison must have moved him to the table on her backyard deck while he was asleep. Suddenly he heard the unmistakable squeals of female friends meeting up after not seeing each other for a while. He could hear them chatting excitedly but couldn’t make out any words. 

“Welcome back!!!!” Allison squealed, as she bear-hugged her best friend as hard as she could. Morgan winced and grunted under her squeeze & said, “Ouch! Thanks??” Allison put her hand on Morgan’s shoulder and stretched her neck scanning the yard. 

“Where is she? You didn’t drive over together?”

Morgan interrupted, “Relax! Took a cab--She’s paying the driver. After we dropped our bags off at my place, we realized we probably wouldn’t want to drive back after...wink win--OH!! There she is.” Allison looked up to see a very thin, gorgeous woman waving to her cheerfully as she walked up her driveway. 

“Hello-Hello-Hello!” She chirped in a thick Australian accent. “Allison? Hi, I’m Samantha--but please never call me that. Call me Sam.” Morgan made a funny face & stepped back a little to let Sam charge past her to shake Allison’s hand. 

As they shook hands, Sam jabbed her thumb towards Morgan and said, “Please forgive the smell Allison, I know I stink. It’s because this one here wouldn’t let me shower first---said there wasn’t enough time! Not enough time?? for a shower??? I mean...YOU don’t care if somebody’s a few minutes late to dinner, DO ya? I know I don’t! Does anybody but HER???” Allison and Sam both laughed and Morgan stuck out her tongue. Allison ushered them all inside and took Sam’s coat. 

Morgan shouted “Who wants a drink before we eat?” as she threw her jacket on the floor and marched to the liquor cabinet. 

Jim’s hunger finally got the better of his pride. He sat down on his fancy aluminum-placemat-floor, leaned back against his Nutella jar-stool, & started picking lazily at the only food he’d seen in days--the tiny, stale chunk of pizza crust on the floor of his makeshift cage. Though it was muffled, he could hear the women laughing together in the living room. He could only assume they were laughing at him...or worse, maybe some new way they’d planned to toture him. Jim knew what day it was--he knew it had now been over four weeks since the night Morgan showed up for dinner & destroyed his entire life in 15 minutes. Jim’s previous life hadn’t all been roses but nothing--NOTHING he’d ever experienced helped prepare him for the levels of humiliation Morgan and Allison had been inflicting on him since then. The first week was the worst. It got a little better once Morgan flew to London but of all the dumb magic rules that govern his life now, the one he hated most was the one Allison couldn’t seem to get enough of. Any time Allison wanted to force Jim to do something he really didn’t want to do, all she had to do was start her command with the words “Ok, Pipsqueak,” -- And then JIm would do it. The insidious part though--the part that drove Jim insane--the insidious part was that Morgan’s magic never actually compelled Jim to do anything whatsoever--That’s not how it worked. If Allison said, “Ok, Pipsqueak, kiss my toe,” or something like that, Morgan’s magic doesn’t do anything at all to Jim. He’s free to decide if he wants to kiss that toe or not---totally still up to him. But when Allison says, “Ok, Pipsqueak, kiss my toe,” Morgan’s magic does something else--it starts a timer and thus forces Jim to make a decision--If he decides to obey, if he just kisses the toe, all’s good. Morgan’s magic literally leaves him untouched. But if he decides to disobey he immediately loses another precious half-inch of height. He can’t simply ignore it either--no matter what, if 15 minutes pass and he still hasn’t obeyed the command--another half-inch gone. The fact that every time Allison forced him to do some shitty thing for her amusement...the fact that every single time it was actually HIS free decision….it was so beyond humiliating he felt like he was losing his mind every time she did it to him.

For the first couple of days, when the girls were first testing it out, the commands they gave him were incredibly cruel. He desperately didn’t want to lose any more precious height so Jim did his best to grit his teeth and go with it until he could figure out a way out of it. Allison made him feed her grapes on command from a bowl on her belly as she reclined on the couch watching shows she knew Jim hated. They forced him to entertain them on the tabletop as they ate, dressed in rediculous dall clothes Morgan found in a thrift store--one night he danced as a balerina, another he tried to juggle frozen peas as a jester. He spent the whole of an afternoon standing motionless in the garden as a gnome.

But the whole thing took an even darker turn when Morgan said, “Ok, Pipsqueak, I want you to please legally transfer all your funds from all your bank accounts, every last one of your possessions and all other assets over to Allison here. Shrinking or no shrinking that was just too far. Jim balked--and instantly dropped to 11.5” tall. Morgan just gave him the very same command a second time, and suddenly he was down to 11.”  It wasn’t long before JIm had the pleasure of discovering that 9” was his limit--Jim was 9” tall when he decided he’d hit absolute rock bottom--that there no longer was anything he wouldn’t do or give away to save what little size he had left. Since then, Jim has obeyed every single one of their commands. It hadn’t been easy, and the costs had been high but here he was, one month on, and still standing tall at 9” flat. 

Just then Jim heard a glass break, followed by a very boisterous laugh that he didn’t recognize. Over the past month, both Morgan and Allison had laughed at him so much, so often that Jim could easily identify their distinctive laughs. He was sure there was a third woman in the house with them. He started wondering if he finally might have a chance to get help from someone. He felt his heart racing as he pushed his ear against the glass, trying to hear the mystery woman’s voice, hoping to learn something about her that might help him but a sound startled him. He was already edgy and he even jumped a little when he suddenly heard the “Vshoooooot” sound of a heavy sliding glass door being slid open. The women’s laughter was suddenly loud and near--he couldn’t see them of course but they had obviously joined him on the deck. 

Suddenly he heard the Australian mystery-woman shout, “Where?” Then, after someone knocked on the top of his cage, the same voice shouted  “NOOOOOOO. Come on, now.” Jim thought he heard something familiar in her voice. The way she said “Come on now.” He was sure he’d heard this very woman say that very thing many times. His heart started racing again. Whoever this woman was, he was sure she’d recognize him. “The bitches fucked up,” he thought. “I can’t fucking believe they were this stupid! They actually invited someone over for one of their cruel torture parties without making sure we didn’t already know each other. Whoever she is, I *know* she knows me from somewhere. When she sees me, she’ll help me.” Jim cracked his neck and shook out his arms like he was getting ready for a fight. 

  Allison said, “Trust me, we get it--it really is the kind of thing you just really have to see with your own eyes. It really is. So…….”

Allison was reaching for the Jim’s covering but Morgan grabbed her hand. “Wait...let’s let her do it.” Allison nodded at the Australian & gestured towards the cloth-covered object in the center of the beautifully-set dining table. Sam stepped up to the table and took hold of the tip of the cloth with her fingers.

“Like this?” she asked and turned around to see both Morgan & Allison standing behind her with their arms folded. They grinned & nodded. Sam turned back toward the table, pressed her face up to Jim’s container and then dramatically ripped the silk fabric away. She started to shout “PEEK-A-BOO!!!!” but the sudden sight of the shrunken man stopped her at “PEEK” -- she dropped the cloth and gasped. Jim stared up at Sam’s enormous face. There was no question about now--he and this woman definitely know each other--but he was having trouble remembering how. Her face wasn’t just huge to him, it was a bit distorted by the glass so he took a couple steps backward. 

“Steve?????? Is that…. Is he? That’s really STEVE?  Hey! Steve, is that really YOU??????”

 Steve blinked a couple times and then it hit him. His jaw fell open and he dropped the little pizza crumb he’d been holding. He felt his new tiny little ember of hope get obliterated in an instant by a sudden tidal wave of terror. He tried to say, “Sam. Sam Walker. Oh my fucking god,” but instead he just said, “Squeak!”

“Hahahahahaha! MY GOD. It IS you! Hahahahahahahahahahhaha..” Sam turned to look at Allison & Morgan who each gave her a “told you so” look. Sam couldn’t stop grinning as she turned back to face the man she thought she’d never see again. 

 “Wooooow, you look great, Steve! Did you lose some weight or something?” Even if Jim had the power to speak at that moment he still would have been speechless. He was trembling a little as he tried to assess how much worse his situation had just gotten. He tried to say “Fuck” and said “Squeak!”

“You know it’s weird steve--I never noticed your accent before! Where are you from originally? Munchkinland? A toy store at the mall?” 

Allison finally moved to take her seat and said, “I was about to introduce you two but it seems you know each other already? Wonderful!” Sam sat down very slowly, unable to wipe the grin from her face or her eyes from JIm’s little body. Jim finally fought down his fear enough to turn his back on Godzilla-Sam only to find himself looking straight at Morgan. She opened her mouth wide in a parody of the shock Jim was obviously feeling, then narrowed her eyes & hissed,

“Surprise, motherFUCKer. We’re done when I say we’re done.”

“Sam, Morgan told me there was no food on your flight--you both must be famished. Please! Dig in!” Allison told her guests as she grabbed a plate of green beans herself & scraped a bunch onto her plate. Morgan grabbed a chicken leg & some stuffing but Sam was still too transfixed by the sight of the tiny man trapped in the center of the table to think about anything else at the moment. She tapped her nail on the top of Jim’s makeshift centerpiece/jail cell

“Gotta be honest with ya girls... I mean, Morgan told me the whole deal -- she convinced me she's a witch, she showed me the funny videos you took of him...but wow. You’re totally right Allison, seeing him right in front of me... in the flesh...It’s just incredible.”

“Right?! Here, take this,” Allison replied and handed Sam a little wooden-handled magnifying glass. “Look at his little bare feet---look how tiny his miniature little toes are! So much more detailed than the real Ken Dolls wouldn’t you say? Yeah, sometimes I catch myself just gawking at the marvel of it all.” Sam moved the glass up and Jim thought she might be inspecting his little thumbtack of a dick now. When she giggled he knew she was.

“Morgan said she thought he literally had the world’s smallest human penis now and I don’t think we need to call Guinness to find out, do we Steve? Is it ok if I call him Steve? Morgan told me you want everybody to call him Pipsqueak now but it helps me savor all this if I can call him the name I knew him by when he….was still with me. Do you mind?” Allison looked embarrassed. 

“Oh Sam, you just go right ahead and call him whatever you want. You have your own history with him--do whatever you think will help! Speaking of history though, I’m curious about something. When Morgan told me she’d found Jim’s first victim, she didn’t say anything about what he did to you. Would you be willing to share it with me or is everything still too raw? I’d TOTALLY understand if you’re just not ready to talk about it yet--I mean I’m not sure *I* am ....”

Sam just waved her hand & said, “Oh it’s fine. It was years ago--I haven’t gotten any less *pissed* at him….” she threw a green bean at him and he jumped as it bounced off the glass. “...but the pain’s mostly faded by now--It’s a long story though, mind if I just give you the short version? Here goes. I met Steve...Pipsqueak...whatever…..We met randomly at a coffee shop only later I found out it hadn’t been random at all--Steve had planned everything--even how we met. This was at a time when I was really vulnerable -- I’d just been through a messy divorce and I was blaming myself for it. Steve had done his research on me apparently and knew all about that. Together with my wealth, it’s why he chose me as his first victim---I’m sure of it.   

Jim couldn’t bear to look at Allison’s face--he’d worked so hard to make her pity and forgive him...she was starting to trust him again. He did not want to see all it all evaporate in one evening. He knew Sam's story obviously since he wrote it. He didn't want to hear her tell it and he didn’t want to look at any of them. He just sat down & watched Allison’s dumb dog running around in circles in the yard. He shook his head and thought about all the humiliations he’d had to endure with a smile the past several weeks---all the embarrassments he’d pretended to take in stride--all the rage he’d had to choke down and swallow. It hadn’t been easy, but he knew it was starting to pay off--Despite everything and against all odds, Jim could tell he was actually managing to worm his way back into Allison’s heart. He was pretty sure he’d played on her empathetic & forgiving nature perfectly. He’d even convinced her to think of him as her boyfriend again--just a new, more compact version. He still had zero idea how to get himself back to normal yet but he was positive that whatever the ultimate revenge plan turned out to be, step zero was definitely “Make Allison love him again” -- and it was fucking working! The last thing he needed *now* was for Sam of all people to just show up out of the blue and erase all his progress in one fucking dinner chat! He couldn’t bear to listen, so he plopped down and covered his ears like a spoiled little boy. Nobody even noticed though, and Sam went on,

 “So yeah, he easily seduced me--we were together for about a year when I asked him to move in with me, and soon after that we got married. Dad wanted me to get him to sign a prenup but I didn’t listen.” Morgan blew some smoke into Jim’s cell which forced him to cough and Sam giggled. Allison grimaced at Morgan, causing her to shrug & mouth the word “S o r r y” in response, though she clearly was anything bug sorry. Allison turned back to Sam & said “Please just ignore her, she might be a witch but she acts like a 9 year old sometimes. So then, how long were you two married then?” Sam looked down at Jim, still coughing on his little hands right in front of her. 

“Eh, long story short...the prick stole everything I had: My flat, my BMW, my entire savings---and apparently that wasn't enough for him. He talked me into helping him convince my dad to invest in a fake company he said he was starting--my whole family lost their life’s savings to this fucker.” Morgan interrupted,

“Woah, holy shit, really Sam? You didn’t mention that bit. ” 

“No? How about the time he fucking *raped* me and then convinced me it was *my* fault---that I’d ‘made’ him do it. He made me *apologize to him!*  Trust me there’s loads I didn’t mention. I could go on for days, but I think you get the picture.” Allison put her hand on Sam’s shoulder and tried to comfort her,

“Oh Sam I’m so, so sorry,” And morgan blurted out,

“What the fuck are *you* sorry for? There’s somebody at this table that sure as fuck should be sorry but it sure isn’t you--Or should I say *on* this table?” as she gave Jim’s glass container a violent shake, making Jim duck nervously. Allison just ignored her,

“So then, how did you figure out it was all just a scam? Did someone tip you off?”

“Well actually I *didn’t* figure it out--not everybody has their own personal guard-witch you know. No, he just bled me dry ...bled us all dry & disappeared without a trace as they say. I woke up one day and he was just gone. He left a little note on a sticky---I still have it--It said ‘Thanks for EVERYTHING you stupid cunt.  P.S. Your sister fucked me in your bed this weekend and she was great--so that’s one more thing she does better than you.’ He knew that I had a huge inferiority complex about my big sister Hannah, who I hated back then and hate even more now obviously. The police had closed the case years ago for lack of evidence. If it hadn’t been for Morgan and her magical detective work I’m sure I never would have seen him again. I’m sure that’s what he thought too--at least I’m sure he HOPED he’d never see me again, didn’t you little fella?” Jim didn’t respond or even turn around. All this talk about Jim’s shitty past was bumming Morgan out and she was relieved when Sam’s face suddenly lit up like she just remembered something. She chirped,

“Oh I almost forgot! I came bearing gifts!” She leaned over, unzipped the bag by her chair and started rummaging around in it. “Damn! I actually brought three presents but I guess I only put one of them in this bag--The rest must be in one of the bags I left at Morgan’s place. Oh well, I do have THIS one….Ta Da!!” She plopped a tall rectangular box on the table, making a clunk loud enough that Jim turned around to see what it was. The box was made of metal. It looked to be about 14” tall and it’s base & lid were both  roughly 6”x6” square chunks of stainless steel. The base was itself supported at each corner by four rubber-tipped metal legs and those same metal tubes continued up through the base all the way to the matching lid up top. A very fine mesh screen--stretched tightly around the four corner pillars--made up the entirety of all four walls. In the center of the lid was a lockable circular trap door and it’s sides connected to a D-shaped wooden handle. Jim cocked his head to one side as he regarded the thing, trying to decide what it’s arrival might mean for him. He hated the times Allison felt the need to put him under the planter that presently contained him. But those times were becoming very infrequent lately, and he was starting to let himself think that if he kept being a good boy that she’d stop using it altogether. This new cage-or-whatever-it-was looked sleek. It looked ‘designed.’ He scratched his head and worried that Allison might love it and want to keep him in trapped in it full time. Morgan casually lit a cigarette and looked on while Allison tried to work the latch on the trap door. Sam offered to help. 

“It’s actually just an easy little flick like…. that. See? And now it’s open! Easy!” 

“Well...I bet it’s a little bit trickier from the inside though...What do you think, Pipsqueak?” She was trying to trick him into squeaking but he didn’t fall for it and just looked on silently. Allison tried out the handle and picked it up.

“Wow it’s a LOT heavier than it looks isn’t it?”

“Yeah it’s meant to be very hard to tip over--it’s actually a transport container for dangerous insects. My Uncle’s an Entomologist and he gave it to me for my birthday one year, hoping I’d get interested in bugs or something I guess. I forgot I even had it but when Morgan filled me in on Steve's little housing situation I thought I’d donate it to the cause--I mean, he himself is basically not much more than a bug now is he?” Sam gave Jim a look that chilled him to the bone. Of all his victims, Sam was the by far the smartest. He knew Sam wouldn't fly all the way here just to say 'hi' and eat some fried chicken. He knew her well--he knew she had a deep cruel streak and that her grudges never fade. Jim was sure Sam had her own plans for him, seperate from the other two, and wouldn't let anything stop her from completing them--not even Morgan. She might not be a witch but Sam scared Jim even more than Morgan. Allison put the box back down on the table & said,

“Sam, it’s just lovely--Thank you so much! And yes, as you can plainly see,” there are indeed times we can’t just let Pip run around on his own so this will come in very handy. You’d both be surprised though--I’ve been training him every day & he’s been turning into such a good boy that I leave him free to run around loose on the floor most of the time now.” Morgan raised her eyebrow yet again. She was sure Jim was working Allison again and it sounded like she might be falling for it. 

“Well I think it’s perfect for him. Let’s take it for a test run, shall we?” Morgan said as she lifted Jim’s planter with one hand and reached for him with the other. But Allison slapped her hand away and took the planter from her. 

“You don’t have to handle him like that anymore, Morgan, watch this.” Morgan and Sam both did watch as Allison set the planter on the floor and placed the maximum-security-bug-prison on it’s side.  

“Come here, Pipsqueak.” she said sternly. 

“Squeak-Squeak!” Jim said back cheefully & dutifully. Morgan and Sam looked at each other skeptically for a moment and then watched as Jim marched across the table to Allison like a little toy soldier and then stood in front of her plate as if at attention. It reminded of Morgan of how he looked when she'd forced him to stand that very first day. It was odd seeing him apparently doing it all on his own. 

“Good boy.” Allison dipped the tip of her index finger in her whiskey and offered it to Jim who licked it off greedily. She looked up to Morgan and said, “You were right, M--This is his favorite treat!” When Jim was satisfied he’d gotten it all Allison made her voice stern again and said, “Now, go crawl through that hole, Pipsqueak.” Jim looked at the steel-mesh box. He was still 12” tall and the hole looked to be around 4” in diameter so he had to do as instructed to fit through & get inside.

Jim cheerily said, “Squeak-Squeak!” as he got down on all fours. This was killing him on the inside. Bad enough to be forced to debase himself like this but the fact that his plan required him to pretend to do it happily, willingly...it made him shudder thinking about it. Sam started to giggle loudly at the sight of her once-tormentor timidly crawling into his own tiny cage on his hands and knees at the bidding of one of his victims. But the second Jim's trailing foot cleared the opening Morgan quickly snatched up the cage handle, jerking it upright. All Jim could do was tumble awkwardly, straight down onto his face on the bottom. 

“Oopsie! Hey Al, you might want to think about some kind of padding for his little floor here--looks like he hit his head pretty hard.” She joked as she held Jim up near her face with one hand. Jim could only stare into Morgan's enormous eyes. Morgan knew he'd have no trouble reading her expression and he did not: Her expression said "You may have Allison fooled, but not me you little shit," And then he heard the <click> of the latch being locked shut. 

“May I?” Sam asked Morgan as she held her hand out. Morgan said “but of course m’lady!” and handed Jim over to her. Jim sat at the bottom trying to brace himself against one of the corner pillars while Sam swung him back and forth in front of her face. She said,

“This is So. Fucking. Cool. You guys I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing big, strong, scary steve so puny, weak and helpless!”

Allison lightly leaned over slightly, dragged two fingernails down the screen near Jim’s face and said, “I know what you mean but...you but you’d be surprised, Sam--People can get used to almost anything.”

Jim started coughing when Morgan blew more smoke at him. She poked at the screen with her lit cigarette and asked him, “What about you, Pipsqueak? Can people get used to anything? It’s been like a month or so now, have you gotten used to your pathetic new little life yet?”

Jim was frantically waving his hands around trying to clear the smoke away. Morgan shifted her gaze to Sam and told her, “You know, I read that even prisoners of war who get tortured and humiliated like, every day...I read they eventually get numb or something. Even with all that pain, it happens every day so they just kind of adjust to their new horrible normal.” She put her eyes back on the tiny captive again & asked him,

“So what’s the scoop, Betty Boop? Are *you* used to getting humiliated and tortured every day now?”

“Oh Morgan, things have changed a lot with Pipsqueak while you were gone! It’s really not like that now. This transformation has done wonders for Pipsqueak’s attitude--more than you..more than I ever would have thought. Now, I know you’re not going to want to hear it but if you'd been here, if you'd how good he's been to me...I'm telling you he’s honestly different now. I think you shrank all the asshole out right of him. All that's left is a trusting, adoring, little cutie-pie. Don't look at me like that, Morgan, he has! He’s my tiny little boyfriend named Pipsqueak! Aren’t you pip?” Sam was utterly shocked and baffled as she watched Allison lovingly stroke the screen-wall of Jim’s new cage. She blurted out, 

“YOUR BOYFRIEND?! Sorry but, you’re joking, right?  How could you possibly still….” Morgan joined in and pointed out,

“Allison he’s doll-sized now but you do realize this is the same fucking asshole right?” Morgan looked at Jim and noted his smug expression. He knew this was coming and he was savoring it. 

“No, that’s just it. It’s *not* the same asshole...er...not the same person I mean. *This* little guy here….*he* isn’t an asshole--*he*’s never done anything bad to me--I mean...look at him-He’s too small & weak to do anything like that even if he tried. No, the fucking asshole was big Jim...or “Steve” or whatever his real name was...And yes, Jim/Steve was absolutely a horrible, horrible man who did horrible, horrible things to me and many other nice ladies such as yourself, Sam. So yeah, Jim? FUCK that dude!” But the thing is, that dude Jim is long gone!” Allison placed her hand on Jim’s new cage and smiled sweetly at him. “ This little cutie here isn’t Jim or Steve--His name is Pipsqueak. He’s tiny and handsome and adorable and I just love him. I take care of him, M--I don't want to torture him--any more than we already have, I mean.” Morgan raised an eyebrow incredulously as she grabbed two more chicken legs with one hand. She said,

“Oh no? Al--What about that time you taped him to the fucking…” but Allison cut her off & continued,

“I’m not saying he doesn’t need to be *disciplined* from time to time, but only when he needs it--you know, to keep him safe & to help him adjust to this very different kind of relationship."

“Tom-ay-to, Tom-ah-to…” Morgan replied & shrugged again. Jim noticed Sam was staring directly at him with an absolutely predatory look in her eyes. He wanted to be somewhere else--anywhere. He started waving both his arms, trying to get Allison’s attention but she didn’t seem to notice. He opened his mouth and almost tried to yell but he remembered just in time that he could only squeak now. Though his strategy wouldn't allow him to show it, Jim hated the sound of his own squeaks so intensely that he only ever opened his mouth when he had to answer a direct question--Allison had trained him to use one squeak for yes, and two squeaks for no. On rare occasions she’d let him speak his answer with words but he hated that sound too and kept his words to a bare minimum--even in the rare instances he was permitted to use them. 

But Sam was still utterly confused by what she was hearing--she thought she’d been invited to a torture-steve party, not a…. whatever-this-is! She couldn’t get her head around why Allison would want to try to reboot her life with this fucker. She wonderd if Morgan knew about Allison's soft spot for the little asshole. She looked at Morgan with a “what the fuck?” face but Morgan just shrugged and felt she should apologize a little for her gullible-but-lovable best friend. She tried to offer an explanation that Sam would understand,

“Yeah…. I didn’t get it at first either. But.. I've been watching how Allison is with him now---all the training and the treats and the punishments and everything...…It's actually not as weird as she's making it sound."

Allison looked relieved and chimed in, “Yay! Morgan I was dreading telling you that I made him my boyfriend again. I was going to wait until after Sam’s visit but I started getting worried one of you might do something cruel so it just kind of came out. I know it must seem odd for you both, but you'll see: Jim’s shrinking has changed everything--thanks to you Morgan, and what you did for us, we can finally be very happy as boyfriend and girlfriend!” Allison gently took the cage back from Sam and looked inside smiling, “Right Pip! You’re the best little boyfriend I could ever hope to have, arentcha.” Jim swallowed hard and did his best to make his fake loving smile look genuine, but it only seemed to fool Allison. Sam clearly wasn't satisfied and Morgan could tell so she kept explaining her take on it,

“Allison. I hate to be the one to point this out but…” Allison angrily cut her off,

“NO! Morgan, you are NOT going to ruin my new relationship with Pipsqueak right when it’s starting to get good! I know it's a little..unusual...for a girl to treat her boyfriend the way I treat Pip here but whatever, it works for us.” Sam's mouth opened a little & looked at Allison like she was a crazy person. Sam was even starting to wonder whether she should have just stayed in England. But Morgan just smirked and replied,

“Dear, sweet Allison. Witches honor, I have zero interest in messing with your wonderful new relationship with Pipsqueak here, in fact I don't even agree that your relationship is ...'unusual' as you called it. 

“What do you mean, of course it is. Boyfriends don't usually need to get literally trained with treats. That's all I meant."

“Well that's just it--That's unusual for boyfriends but that's not what he is to you. You and Pipsqueak indeed do seem to have forged a new relationship all right but it ain’t boyfriend & girlfriend...... Honey, it’s pet & master. Pipsqueak is your pet. Not judging, just calling it like I see it.”

“Oh fuck you--he is not! Why would you say such a thing! You’re always ..right when….Morgan there's no way you can tell me that Pip here is just a pet to me and nothing more.” 

Nobody was paying attention to him but Jim looked thoughtful. He thought Morgan had a point--and that maybe he hadn't made as much progress with Allison as he thought if he really was just a fucking pet to her--Pets don't have a great track record at talking themselves out of jams. Morgan gave Sam a quick nod to thank her for refilling her glass & said,

“You might be right. Maybe I can't convince you. So let's ask Ji...Pipsqueak what he thinks. Mind if we get his take on it? I just want to ask him a few questions and whatever happens I promise I'll drop it.”

“Okaaaaaay….I guess so.” Allison didn’t like the cocky tone in Morgan’s voice but didn’t see any harm in letting Pip confirm that he is, in fact, Allison's new boyfriend. Without looking away from Morgan, Allison said, “Pipsqueak! Speak! You’re free to talk for a bit sweetie, I want you to answer every question Auntie Morgan asks you ok? I know you’ll be honest--remember: No more lies in this house.” 

Jim was ready with his fake plastic Ken-smile. He nodded and just said, “Yes. Of course my love, I will be nothing but honest as always. What would you like to know, Morgan?”

Sam wrinkled her nose as Jim spoke. She was looking forward to seeing him get forced to talk--she'd been told about his new voice and she knew how intensely he must hate it. She'd been looking forward to seeing him visibly disgusted by the sound of his own new chipmunk voice. But as he stood there lying through his fake smile, he didn't seam disgusted at all--he was obviously so good at pretending it didn’t bother him in the slightest that not even a trace of that disgust she knew he must feel came through. Moreover, Jim was laying on such a thick layer of fake, syrupy sweetness to every sentence that Sam couldn’t enjoy anything about this farce at all. She just found it gross. Morgan, on the other hand, had known to expect this tactic.

“My! My! Aren't we the polite little one now!” she said and noted that Jim and Allison exchanged proud smiles at that. “Well, look dude. I know we girls have been kind of rude, talking about you like you weren't here even though you were literally sitting right in front of us. I'm sure you had plenty you wanted to say so I know how frustrating that must have been for you--sorry about that." Morgan knew well that for someone like Jim, being ignored and talked over by women was all but intollerable so she couldn't resist a poke.

"But while you're not such a strong talker anymore your ears still work ok don't they? I'm sure you've been following along...kind of like a fly-on-the-wall...so to speak?" Jim nodded and strained to keep that smile on his face. "So is Allison right? You're her boyfriend again?”

“That is correct, maam.” 

“Not...her pet.”

“Yeah, well, obviously we have a rather large um….height difference between us, but so do lots of happy couples, frankly. And thanks to you---and what you...did to me --I can finally see Allison with new eyes. I can see how wonderful she truly is and how foolish I was to almost lose her. We love each other very much, Morgan. She knows I’m different now. I'm not the same man anymore. I'm proud to be her boyfriend.” Allison beamed down at him, full of pride. 

“So….not her pet.” Jim was starting to find it hard to keep his cool, and knew Morgan could sense that and was poking him-- but he had to keep up the charade at all costs. He took a deep breath and in a forced-calm he said,

“No! Not her pet! That is ....Sorry I was just saying that while our relationship might not be conventional, for obvious reasons, I am indeed Allison’s boyfriend--not her pet.” 

“Wow, you both sound so sure. Jeez, maybe I got this all wrong. Let’s see….so where do you sleep? In a human bed or a bed made for pets?” Allison’s eyes darted to Jim's doggie bed, just visible through the sliding glass door. She interjected,

“That’s not fair, Morgan, you know how worried I am about accidentally squishing the guy if I let him sleep up with me….you knew I found that perfect little bed just his size...who *cares* it was intended for a dog originally?” Morgan had more questions though,

“Ah, right. Right. But Allison I already know what you think...you said I could talk to your boyfriend here about it. May I continue please?” Allison said, “oops.” & put her hand over her mouth. 

“OK Pip, just a few more ok?” Morgan was enjoying interrogating the tiny man like she was a detective. Jim took another big breath and calmly said,

“Ask anything you like, Morgan--I’ll answer you clearly and honestly.” Jim was really laying it on thick. Sam rolled her eyes. She wanted Morgan to just get to the point already. 

“Ok. So when you eat dinner, do you sit at the table with your girlfriend?”

“...Um, no, but...well you see since I’m her boyfriend again she wants me to have as much freedom as possible and she knows how much I hate feeling dependent on her. Since she knows I can’t reach the table or the fridge or the cupboards, she just keeps a little plate of cold cuts down low where I can reach it.”

“And where’s that exactly?”

“Over there...in that bowl”

“Oh I see. You mean the little bowl with your name on it next to the bowl with her pet Roxy's name on it. That bowl? Got it.” Allison bit her lip and Sam thought she looked a little embarrassed. Morgan pressed on,

“Ok, I hope this one isn’t too indiscreet for you but if you don't mind my asking, where do you.. relieve….where do you poop and pee?”

“Ok well again, just because of my height disadvantage...I can’t exactly use the toilet anymore obviously. So Allison likes me to do that in the backyard, under a bush.”

“Oh I see...so you have to ask her to open the door for you every time or…”

“No, I just use the little door inside the big door.”
“The...doggy door you mean.” 

Jim didn’t reply, he just looked at Allison who said, “Morgan, you know very well he’s too small to keep…” Morgan held up her hand,

“He’s small. I get it. But I mean……..c’mon. He eats out of a dog bowl. He uses a doggy door to go do his business in the backyard. He sleeps on a doggy bed. He can’t speak, but he makes happy noises & comes when you call him.” Allison started getting a little flustered--hearing all this at once did give her pause. But no, it was different with Pip, she told herself and then protested again,

“Ok, haha, you’ve had your fun, M. I’m sure you’ve made him feel quite bad about his handicap and how we’re forced to work around it but…c’mon. You know very well that just because he’s small, that doesn’t mean he’s my pet.”

“Haha what? Girl I haven’t even mentioned that his size yet, but since you did... Name one other human boyfriend who weighs less than the average cat and can’t even free himself from an unlocked room because he can’t work doorknobs. He's smaller than literally any human, Al--it would actually be strange if you still thought of him more as a man than a pet. OH! Just thought of another one. When you have to leave the house with him, like to take him to work with you or whatever, how does he ride? That's right--in fucking cat carrier.”

"But it's a FANCY cat carrier!"

This made Sam bust out laughing, and Morgan started counting on her fingers and kept going,

“There’s more! Let's see. Does he make any money? Is he dependant on you for everything, including his food and shelter? You still put him in a cage whenever you’re not home, right? Didn't you say you were ceven onsidering getting him a fucking leash??.... Ha, look at his face! He didn’t know that yet, did he?" Jim had indeed not heard about any plans for a leash and he clearly wasn't pleased. Allison had no answer for that one.

"For fuck's sake, Allison--You don’t even let him sit on the couch! Hell even *Roxy* is allowed on the couch!” 

“Oh that’s just because last week Pip spilled my...oh. ...Huh.”

Jim was properly angry now and he was forced to struggle very very hard to hide it. But as he was processing Morgan’s parade of evidence he suddenly felt a new wave of humiliation wash over him. Both he and Allison came to the same realization at the same moment--Morgan was absolutely right about this. The facts were the facts--Jim hadn't been promoted to Allison's boyfriend, he'd been demoted to Allison's pet! Jim kicked himself for not realizing it earlier, but she was right--He was literally nothing more than a fucking pet, in every sense of the word. Morgan noticed his face turning red and gave him a little sarcastic pout which made Jim even more pissed. He looked up to Allioson, still holding out hope that she'd react by changing the rules--he hoped she'd see the light and stop all the pet-treatment bullshit. But his hope was short-lived because after only a moment’s reflection, Allison wasn’t angry at all anymore. She even brightened a little as she lifted Jim’s cage up to her face & said,

“Ok, maybe you have a point. But so what?  I mean, if that’s what he is, then I guess that’s what I want him to be and that’s fine with us. I mean, pets and owners can have wonderful relationships-- right Pip?" Jim was at a loss. He didn't know what to do so he just nodded back at her. Roxy barked and Jim started feeling sick to his stomach as Allison went on,

"Look at me & Roxy for example. We love each other--maybe not as lovers, but we're definitely more than just friends. You don’t mind being my little pet, do you Pip?” But Jim had reached his limit. He couldn't take it anymore and allowed his rage to boil over. He kicked the screen wall nearest Allison’s huge face and screamed, 

“I’M NOT ANYBODY’S FUCKING PET! Put me down, you bitch..You cow...zilla! Get me out of this fucking bug cage! You can’t just...” He started jumping up and down and throwing a little tantrum until Allison gave his new home a single shake, knocking him to his ass. She said, 

“ENOUGH! Pipsqueak, squeak.” Jim’s high-pitched barrage of impotent threats didn’t have any teeth as it was, but when Allison's command morphed his chipmunk threats into a tiny barrage of little frantic squeaks, all three women busted out laughing at him. Allison said,

“Ok, ok, he’s getting fussy now. I think it’s past his bed-time. Let me set him on a shelf in the living room and then I’ll bring out the desert. We have mousse!” 

Sam and Moran smirked at each other as they watched Allison casually swing Jim’s cage to and fro as she walked away, Jim’s increasingly frantic little squeaks fading away as she did so.

Sam joked, “Uh, did she say ‘mousse’ or ‘mouse?’ Hahahaha, either way, this is already the best night of my life. Thanks for this Morgan.”

Morgan was taking a big gulp of her Pino but replied with a little two-fingered salute. Just then something suddenly occurred to Sam and she said,

“Oh hey, while she's gone….I wanted to ask you about something. Since Allison’s obviously decided to make the dude her literal pet...what should we do about the other presents? I mean...now I'm worried she might hate one of them--you know which one I mean. Should we throw that one out? It'd be super disappointing but I like your friend Allison--I don’t want to upset her.” Morgan wiped her mouth with her sleeve & said,

“Ooooooh no. Are you kidding? No way--I HAVE to see him in that thing and I know you do too. She's already thinking of him as a pet now--a pet who needs discipline. We just might need to stretch blur the boundery in her head between discipline and torture. Since he's too big to fit in it yet we'll also need to talk her into letting me shrink him some more but that should be pretty easy I think. In fact.. ” Morgan saw Allison approaching with plates of desert and lowered her voice for one last bit of reassurance. She whispered,

 “Just...trust me, Sam. Pet or no pet, that little fucker is gonna get a lot littler soon, and then he’s going to be spending a lot of  quality time inside that thing--inside... YOU. Stick with me, kid, I won't let you down."

“Well, I’ll drink to that!” Sam blurted out and they both raised their glasses and giggled. 

The next morning, Allison’s 9” tall pet Pipsqueak woke up very early--long before his master Allison. It was Jim's first night sleeping in his new bug cage and it didn’t go well. His new home was much taller than he was but the square floor wasn’t large enough for him to lie fully flat on it, even diagonally. Allison had kindly lined it with a washcloth which he’d bunched up in the corner, hoping it would make it more comfortable. It hadn’t. He rubbed his eyes and watched Krusty, Allison’s clownfish, swim around in the tank right next to his cage. He had spent the night on the same shelf as Allison’s saltwater fish tank--he assumed that after his little tantrum about being called a pet the night before she’d done that to help remind him that that’s exactly what he was now, nothing more. As he sat there, Krusty swam up to Jim’s side of the tank and started staring right back at him.

“Hey Krusty, I never asked you--what are you in for?” Jim asked it as if Krusty was a fellow convict in jail with him. Krusty answered him by swimming away again. “You’re right--we’re not in prison--we’re in a fucking zoo.”

 There was nowhere Jim could go, and nothing he could do except just sit there. He’d only been in the cage one night & part of a morning but the boredom was already excruciating. He wished he had some scotch. There was no sound except for the soft tick-tocking of a grandfather clock. For the n-th time Jim carefully inspected the inside of his cage again, scanning for a way he might escape from it but again came up empty. It really did seem as though the only way out was through the locked hatch, high out of reach above his head.  He threw himself against the screen wall as hard as he could. He managed to flex the screen a little, but the base didn’t budge a bit, so he just started pacing back and forth for a while--stewing about the fact that his plan to convince Allison to convince Morgan to restore his height had crashed and burned. He tried hard to think up a new angle--another way he might try to convince Allison to stop thinking of him as her pet. At the moment though, it seemed every bit as impossible as finding a way out of his bug-cage. Eventually, he heard Allison in the kitchen, cleaning up the pots and dishes from dinner the night before, he assumed. He swallowed his pride and squeaked as loud as he could hoping she’d at least move him to the kitchen counter, but she either didn’t hear him or didn’t care. He hoped she just hadn’t heard him because being ignored was one of the things he hated most about his new situation.

After another hour or so of more excruciating boredom, he heard footsteps getting louder and then the immense figure of Allison entered the room, fully dressed. Jim couldn’t help but gawk at how huge she seemed now--he still hadn’t gotten used to it and wondered if he ever could. He tried to get her attention with another couple squeaks but she didn’t even look at him--She just hummed to herself as she fluffed up the couch pillows & scrubbed at a wine stain on the cushion. Jim jumped a little when he was startled by the Wicked Witch theme that started playing loudly in Allison’s back pocket. Jim hoped she’d put it on speaker but alas, he’d have to settle for hearing Allison’s half of the conversation. 

“Morning, witchie-poo--say, you’re up early today!…….Ha, that's hilarious. Well, between you and me she kind of *looks* like the sort of person who’d snore-- if that makes any sense…..…...Mmhmm. I bet she is……….. Sure, of course she can--I have the week off & I know she flies back Saturday. Believe me, I’ll make sure she gets loads of Pipsqueak-time before that. ……...I should be back by 10:30 or 11 if you two feel like swinging by. Or if you want to come sooner, well, you've got a key.....................Yep no problem. Ok, see you guys at 11 then. ..….” Allison turned to glance at Jim and he knew Morgan must be talking about him. But at least Allison was finally looking at him so he waved his arms frantically, trying to beckon her without resorting to squeaking. He was desperate to be let out, even for a few minutes. But Allison didn't even acknowledge she'd even seen him. She just turned back around & continued scrubbing the stain while she continued, “....Ha!! Oh man that would be so satisfying wouldn’t it. If I thought he could manage it I totally would but I’m afraid he’s just a liiiiiiitle bit too short now to drive to *my* dry cleaners for me……” Allison held her phone between her chin and shoulder as she put on her coat.  “Oh goodie!  I totally forgot about that!......Tell her I can’t wait to find out what it is…….” Jim watched hopefully when he saw her finally approaching his cage but without so much as a glance at him, she casually dropped a couple sliced mushrooms through his hatch. Jim kicked them into the corner. He hated mushrooms--He found them disgusting and Allison well knew that.  Jim wished he could scream. Then after snatching up her Prada bag Allison continued happily chatting with her friend as she strode out the front door. She'd left without even saying a word to Jim and after the door slammed shut, he squished his carpet-sized washcloth into something resembling a beanbag chair and flopped down on it to sulk. As infuriating as it was, he realized literally had no choice but to spend the entire day trapped in a bug cage, like a tarantula or something--a decoration--an object on display for Allison's entertainment, same as Krusty. The realization that he'd been demoted from a dog-analogue to a passive, decorative pet like a goldfish. But the truth was he couldn't think of many functional differences between Krusty the clownfish and himself. Krusty could do everything Jim could and more--he was allowed to swim around in a far larger container. Except for that, he reconed he really was functionally equivalent to a fucking clownfish now--still very much a pet, but the type of pet that sits far below dogs & cats on in the pet hierarchy. The very thought brought back his rage so fast he soon found himself throwing another violent, childish tantrum--he started kicking his legs and rolling on the floor of his cage squeaking at the top of his lungs. 

Jim had no idea what time it was when the sound of keys in the front door woke him up. He hadn’t realized he’d fallen asleep and found himself lying in a fetal position in the corner of his cage. His nose itched and he scratched it before remembering both his hands were covered in his own shit. 

As luck would have it Allison had barely finished wheeling her 7-Series back into her driveway when she heard Morgan’s vintage black Thunderbird roaring up behind her, Sam hanging out the passenger window, waving excitedly. The three ladies were all laughing about something as Jim watched them walk in. He tried to unfold himself and stand up in spite of the fact that his legs were cramping up. 

“PRE-SENTS! PRE-SENTS!! Morgan chanted loudly, punching the air as she kicked off her shoes & headed towards the couch. She tried to throw her long leather black coat on the floor but Allison intercepted it and then carefully hung all three coats in her neatly-organized coat closet. 

“Ok, ok! Sheesh! Just let me change into my house clothes ok?,” Allison said over her shoulder as she disappeared down the hall. Sam plopped heavily down on the couch next to Morgan, pulled out what appeared to be a sloppily gift-wrapped shoe box and set it on the coffee table. When Morgan saw Sam zip her bag shut again She asked,

“Wait--what about the other one?” 

Sam shook her head, “Later. I think we need to prepare Allison for that one a little bit first, don’t you?”

“Uuuugh. Fine, but I really think we should give it to her today. You saw how she was when we left last night, I’m not sure she needs as much softening up as you think anymore.” 

Just then Allison walked back in wearing a colorful silk Kimono & holding a board loaded with meat & cheese. 

“Charcuterie?” She asked with a big smile. After setting it down next to the box, she stood up and sniffed the air. “Gross what’s that smell??” She followed the odor across the room to Jim’s cage and screamed “WHAT THE FUCK!?” when she saw some tiny letters scrawled in shit on the side of Krusty’s tank--it was a little hard to make out but it looked like the letters spelled out “THIS ISN’T OVER, BITCHES!” Morgan had trotted up to see what was going on and put her bare foot right into what appeared to be a puddle of urine on the carpet. 

“Ew, grooooooooss!” She said with a wrinkled nose as she lifted her foot and looked down. Allison became even more furious. She put her face near the cage and screamed,

“You little shit!! Did you seriously pee on my white carpet???! ”  

Jim saw his chance and threw his final chunk of poop at her and it stuck on her cheek. Morgan gasped, but couldn’t stop herself from smiling--she had to give the little guy credit for thinking up a creative way to hurt Allison when even she assumed that would be impossible for him now. But more than that, she smiled because she knew he’d crossed a line now that he’d never be able to uncross. This is something she knew Allison would not, could not ever forgive. She no longer had to worry--Jim had just cut off any possible chance of winning her back now. 

Allison and Jim glared at each other for a moment, neither saying anything. Sam had come over and whispered “woah” to Morgan when she saw (and smelled) what he’d done. Allison suddenly left them and marched to the kitchen. Morgan whispered back, “We should stay out of this,” and after she motioned towards the couch with her thumb they went back to eat cheese and watch the show. Soon Allison returned wearing rubber gloves and an apron. She was carrying a huge jar with about 6” of soapy water in one hand and a bucket in the other. With her gloved right hand, she opened Jim’s cage, held it upside-down over the open jar & and shook it vigorously until Jim couldn’t hold on anymore. He tumbled awkwardly into the foamy water with a little sploosh. Allison then picked up the jar, screwed on its lid, and started shaking *it* vigorously. Even Morgan was a little surprised by how violently she was shaking it. She wasn’t sure if he’d survive this but she hoped he would, at least long enough to ‘enjoy’ Sam’s final gift. Eventually Allison’s arms started getting tired & she stopped to inspect him. Seeming satisfied, she took the jar’s lid back off and poured all the ice cubes in the bucket into the jar, filling it up top to bottom with ice cubes. Then after angrily slamming the jar back down on the shelf, she covered it with the same cloth she’d used to cover his planter-cell and walked back to join the other women, smiling and adjusting her Kimono--clearly trying to regain her composure.

“Sorry about that guys, I just kind of lost it there.”

“Ice cubes?” was all Sam could think to say.

“Hahah, I don’t know, I was going to strain the soapy water and rinse him in ice water but I was so mad I just skipped right to the ice. I’m not going to let him that fucker ruin our fun today. 

Morgan heard the tinkling of ice coming from Jim’s jar. He was obviously not a happy camper right now but he was clearly still alive. She could tell Allison didn’t want to talk about what just happened so she just smirked, grabbed a handful of meat & slid the box down the coffee table towards Allison’s chair. 

Morgan started changing “O-PEN! O-PEN!” and clapped her hands in time. Allison looked at Sam and when she nodded, Allison opened the box and pulled out what appeared to be a very small red dog sweater. She was about to check the label but as she inspected the knitting more closely, she could tell it wasn’t store-bought. This had clearly been hand-made by an expert. It wasn’t nearly as interesting looking as Roxy’s other sweaters but it did appear to be the same size at least. She was definitely confused though because she’d assumed it was going to be another ‘gift’  for Jim--like the bug cage. 

“Oh! It’s….very nice! Thank-you Sam, I’m sure Roxy will love it.” 

Morgan made a circle with her finger and though she had a mouthful of salami she quickly mumbled, 

“Flip it over, dummy!”

Allison turned the little sweater around and her eyebrows shot up when she saw what appeared to be a strange little leather object woven securely into the middle of the sweater's backside. It appeared to be some kind of tiny leather bondage chair or saddle or something, just the right size for a 9” tall dog-rider. It was more chair than saddle, which made sense considering a rider small enough to sit in it would obviously have legs far too short to straddle a dog--even a cute little corgi like Roxy. Instead, it had a little metal tube mounted horizontally, just in front of the chair. It was very narrow, only wide enough for both little legs to fit in the opening, but it was long enough to stretch from the rider's toe all the way up to his crotch.  The seat itself was a tiny, uncomfortable looking thing with a rigid, 2” high back, clearly designed to force the rider’s back upright. Three leather straps with buckles were attached to the chair back with rivets--the straps were plainly meant to securely bind the rider’s chest and arms. With all his limbs bound, the rider would have zero control over anything the dog did--he’d be merely an immoble passenger, helpless to do literally anything but look around as the dog did whatever she pleased. Alison held it up and it unfolded a bit, revealing some white stitching on the sweater just beneath the chair.  On both sides there was a big white arrow pointing up, and underneath the arrow, the words “WORLD'S SMALLEST ASSHOLE” had been stitched at a size large enough to be easy to read from a distance. Sam was relieved when Allison started laughing. 

“It’s a Roxy bondage-saddle for Pipsqueak! I’m hoping you agree it’s time to demote the fucker from 'Pet’ to ‘Pet accessory.’ What do you think?” asked an excited Sam. Allison poked at the leather with her finger. 

“Holy shit it’s absolutely incredible, Sam! And yes, obviously I agree--Jim’s But how...I mean….how does something like this even exist?” Morgan couldn’t resist cutting in,

“Turns out Sam’s new boyfriend makes high-end, custom bondage gear & strap-ons. He’s actually pretty famous amongst the wealthy connoisseurs of such things. He sells them online--they’re very expensive!” Sam glared at Morgan,

“Don’t say that! Allison, he was more than happy to make this for you….he loved doing it actually. His only request was that we send him a video of Roxy running around with Jim stuck on her back.” 

Across the room, Jim was absolutely freezing underneath all the ice but he tried to keep as still as he could. It was a little hard to hear the women now but if he kept still he could catch bits and pieces without the ice cubes drowning out the women’s voices. He heard enough to know they were going to tie him to Roxy. He figured Morgan must have told Sam about his intense hatred of Allison’s little dog. He always tried to be nice to her when Allison’s around but she’d caught him a few times & once even saw him kick her for making him spill his scotch. He tried to look on the bright side--He reasoned, ”Well, this is lame, I know I’ll look ridiculous but at least it’ll get me out of this ice..” He was really shivering hard now, “And hey... a little trot around the backyard on the back of Allison’s stupid dog...It’ll be lame but it sure won’t be as boring as being stuck in this fucking cage all day.” 

But by the time the sun had set Jim was desperately wishing they’d let him spend the day alone in his bug cage. Sam’s boyfriend had done a great job with the measurements--Once Allison had strapped him in, he couldn’t budge. He’d been stripped of his Ken clothes which was a relief since they were drenched with ice water but the feeling evaporated when he realized they had no intention of replacing them with dry clothes. They strapped him in buck naked and the straps pinched painfully against his skin. He had expected the girls to simply watch Roxy take him for some laps in the backyard while they looked on and laughed at him. But instead, they just went to brunch without even saying one word to him--they were clearly just going to let Roxy just go about on her own, just living her dog life--and now Jim would be living that dog’s life right along with her. So the second Allison had checked the straps and was sure he couldn’t move much less escape, she whistled twice and Jim lurched hard as Roxy suddenly sprinted for the doggy door as fast as she could. Seeing it approaching fast, Jim started worrying his head might not clear the top of the door. When it got close he realized it wouldn’t. He couldn’t duck--he could only cock his head to the side a little and sure enough the top of the door smacked his forehead so hard it almost knocked him out. It wasn’t enough to even slow Roxy down though. She took Jim on a high-speed roller coaster ride around Allison’s backyard. Jim was freezing again. It wasn’t dangerously cold but it didn’t take long for Jim to become intensely jealous of Roxy’s new sweater. Suddenly his face was sliced up when she ran through the bush that used to serve as Jim’s toilet. A little blood dripped into his eye and of course he had no way to wipe it out. The straps cut into his chest when Roxy stopped suddenly, walked around in a circle a couple times & then squatted to poop. He just had to sit there while she did, and she took her own sweet time with it. He looked down at the brown fur to his left and saw a flea crawling by. That’s when the humiliation really hit him hard--it stung far more than the wounds to his face or forehead. That was when he realized that even the tiny flea next to him had far more agency than he did. The flea was riding Roxy by choice. It could go anywhere it pleased--it could even jump off Roxy altogether at any time if it wanted to.  He couldn’t stand to look at it anymore so he looked down to his right and saw a little lump or cyst in the middle of a little shaved patch of fur--cleary some skin problem that she’d already been treated for. Seeing it made him feel even lower than the flea. He thought, “My god, I literally have more in common with that cyst than a flea now.” He had been expecting to feel like a tiny cowboy riding around on a funny looking horse. That would have been a humiliating feeling for sure. But now it was sinking in that this was much worse than that--He was overcome by the feeling that he was no longer even human--like the collar around Roxy’s neck, Jim felt he was now nothing more than a glorified part of a dog’s body--a dog he despised. He was so light that he knew Roxy had no idea he was even back there. It’s a pretty insignificant being that can be tied to a dog’s back without the dog even noticing. 

Jim and Roxy’s coller spent the entire rest of the day riding around as mere glorified parts of Roxy’s body. The only times his humiliation took a break was when it was replaced by terror--like when Roxy ran through that same bush, over and over again--so many times he wondered if Morgan had somehow arranged it. He wasn’t even able to fully escape the boredom of the cage-- like the hour or so when Roxy took a nap on the porch. It was worse than his cage actually. At least in his cage he could walk around and not feel like a fucking dog cyst. At one point he had to pee so bad that he couldn’t hold it anymore & peed all over his thighs. His seat became so saturated with his own urine that had to sit in his own piss the entire rest of the day. One of the more memorable moments was when he saw a bulldog walking slowly towards Roxy. He wondered how the hell the bulldog had gotten in the yard until he saw Morgan standing & waving at the gate--holding it wide open. He braced for what was surely about to be a huge dogfight & it occurred to him that he literally might be about to die by being chomped in two by a smelly bulldog. But the dogs didn’t fight. Roxy turned around and JIm had to endure a very long humping session---as a part of the dog being humped. He couldn’t help himself and started squeaking uncontrollably. While he was being bucked around, thinking about the fact that the bulldog's penis was inside Roxy just inches away from his own naked ass he heard laughter coming from the deck. He had to strain to turn his head far enough but could see Sam & Allison waving and laughing at him as they sipped blue drinks with little umbrellas in them. 

It felt to Jim like it took forever but eventually the bulldog was finished and trotted away. But before he had time to be relieved he heard a huge pssssssssss sound as enormous streams of water started filling the air above his head. Morgan had turned on the sprinklers. Roxy loooooved playing in the sprinklers no matter the temperature. Jim was instantly freezing again as the women watched Roxy run around in the streams of water, soaking Jim’s naked shivering body. Then just as he thought he was probably going to die of hypothermia, Roxy started rolling around in the mud coating his entire upper-body and head in a thick coat of it. He was having trouble seeing but he had no trouble hearing the squeals of laughter coming from the deck. But then when Roxy suddenly stopped, he could smell it--it wasn’t mud. When Roxy finally arrived at Allison’s chair, Allison stopped laughing and sniffed him--she recoiled instantly and exclaimed, 

“Omygodyouguys!---he’s covered in Roxy’s shit!!!!” And all three of them broke into peels of laughter that seemed to last forever. Nobody even tried to clean Jim up. Sam tried to stop laughing and said,

“Awwwww, poor thing needs another one of your special baths I think, Allison!” which made Allison laugh even harder. 

“Pipsqueak, speak.” she said through her laughs, trying to catch her breath. She wanted to hear what JIm had to say about all this. She thought surely spending a day as a cute little dog accessory would be enough to break him. Surely. But the humiliations of the day somehow weren’t enough. His rage was actually back & more intense than ever.  Jim started screaming as loud as he could, in the lowest register he could muster. He still sounded ridiculous but the women could all hear what he was saying.

“I meant what I said you fucking bitches! I don’t know how yet, but mark my words: I’m going to fucking kill every single one of you cunts. And it’s not going to be quick, trust me! You’ve gone waaaaay too far. You crossed waaaaaay too many lines. When I get through with….squeak squeak squeeeeeeek! squeaksqueak!” Allison had heard enough and cut off his power of speech again. She didn’t reply. Instead she just mocked him with an exaggerated sarcastic frown. Then she looked in Roxy’s eyes and said, 

“Roxy! You bad girl you rolled in your poop again! Go clean up or I won’t let you back inside!” Then she whistled three times and while Jim was in mid-squeak, Rocky put an end to his rant by instantly whisking him right Jim back into the yard. The women giggled a little more as they watched Roxy back at her rolling-around-in-shit-and-mud-under-the-sprinklers game. Sam asked,

“Mind if I take Roxy for a walk around the neighborhood tomorrow morning? Morgain said all your neighbors know about Morgan and would probably love to see little JIm’s new station in life as part of a living dog sweater. 

“Of course! I’ll come along even!” 

Even Morgan, who initially didn’t see the saddle as much more than a weird diversion had a great time once she saw how hard Jim had taken it. But as usual, she was the first to get bored and ready to move onto something fresh. She said,

“Ok that was worth it….Sam and I are both really glad you like Roxy’s new sweater. But you probably guessed we were saving the best for last, and I’m here to tell you we absolutely did. Are you ready?”

Allison was distracted, still grinning ear-to-ear watching Roxy add a new coat of shit to the bump on her back called Pipsqueak. 

“Allison! He's getting another coat of shit, who cares? We brought Sam’s third present! Open eeeeeet!!!!” she begged. 

Allison had a hopeful grin on her face as she carefully handed Morgan a pink narrow box about 10” long. 

Allison picked up the little pink box with her left hand, inspecting it on all sides. 

“You sure you don’t want to wait until after dinner? You know, to keep something to look forward to?” she asked.

Morgan and Sam replied in unison, “Nope!” even before she could finish her question.

“Wow, ok then! I have to admit I’m pretty curious...you’ve both been dropping weird hints about this one.”

Allison put down her glass so she could use both hands to untie the bow. As she slid the lid off and peered inside, Sam looked on excitedly but also nervously--She really hoped Morgan was right--that Allison wouldn’t be offended or think she’d gone too far with it. It didn’t help when she found it hard to read Allison’s expression as she delicately lifted the shiny metal tube-shaped object out of the box and inspected it. The thing consisted primarily of a 5” long, extremely reflective metal tube. It was flat on both ends, but at the top, the perfectly vertical sides of the cylinder transitioned to a somewhat rounded & totally transparent cone.  As Allison silently twisted it around in her hand, regarding it up close, She noticed a seam near the end opposite the cone. It ran all the way around,  suggesting that the bottom quarter-inch could be twisted like an old-timey flashlight. She twisted it, and was startled when it clicked & the cone at the other end lit up brightly. Odd... “Could it *be* a flashlight?” She wondered. She flipped the glowing end toward her and through the clear plastic cone she could see now that the top of the cylinder included a little ring-light circling a small hole in the center--perhaps a quarter-inch in diameter. 

Sam bit her lip. She was starting to wish she’d trusted her instincts and just kept it. But the truth was, the reason Allison hadn’t said anything yet was simply because she was too embarrassed to admit she wasn’t 100% sure what the thing even was. It was obviously very phallic, but she really didn’t think it could be a dildo--the only dildo she’d ever had (or even seen) was made of rubber, and it looked just like a human penis--veins and all. If this was a fake penis, it was a fake robot penis.  If someone at work had handed this to her she would have assumed it was a small rocket-ship sculpture made by some minimalist artist. Hefting again she noted that it was much lighter than it looked. Then Morgan loudly cleared her throat. Allison knew she couldn’t stall any longer so she just hedged her bets. 

“Ok, this is either the most futuristic dildo ever created...an art-deco toy rocket….or an alien flashlight,” she finally said, “and whichever one it is, it’s absolutely gorgeous!” 

Allison carefully set the thing down vertically on the table.  The transparent cone-bit was pointing straight up, it’s integrated ring-light casting a little circle of light directly above it on the deck’s awning. Still unsure how it was being received, Sam looked at Morgan quizzically. Morgan had a strong urge to tease Allison about not knowing a dildo when she saw one. But she thought it too cruel to embarrass Allison in front of her new friend Sam so she decided to just let her friend off the hook.

“Ha! You know, you’re right! It’s kinda all three!” she said. 

“...it is?” Sam asked, and had the feeling she gets when people are laughing at a joke she doesn’t understand. 

“Isn’t it though? ...in a way?” Morgan asked, as she picked the thing up and flew it around making rocket sounds with her mouth.  “Behold! The world’s first dildo that doubles as a cocketship for the world’s smallest ASStronaut! It might be propelled by a woman’s hand instead of photons or whatever, but make no mistake ladies, this baby can still take a man where no man has gone before!”

All three women giggled as Allison took hold of it again. She had already admired it aesthetically, but now that she knew it’s true purpose, she gawked at it with awe. Sam was relieved to see Allison’s sheepish grin transform into a full-on, ear-to-ear, open-mouth smile. Once again Allison peered inside the little plastic cone, but this time she imagined Jim’s tiny neck & stupid Ken-face sticking up through the little hole, helpless to do anything but watch dumbfoundedly as she plunged him head-first through her pussy’s lips--the same pussy that apparently disgusted him even when he was big. And with his ship's little headlight light lighting up the cave's glistening walls, well there’d be no way for Jim to forget exactly where he was & what he’d become--what they’d turned him into. Allison could feel herself starting to get aroused just imagining it. She turned the ring-light back off and set it back down on the table while Sam & Morgan waited for her to say something.

After a beat, Allison put her palms on the table and said, “You guys, I honestly don’t know what to say. This thing……….wow. It’s just….it’s incredible. Sam, did your boyfriend make this beauty as well??!” She gestured to it with both hands like it was a valuable work of art. Hearing this finally put Sam at ease. She could tell Allison really wasn't just being polite--she genuinely seemed into it!

Sam clapped a little & said, “Yep! Tom...his name’s Tom by the way….he said it was the most fun he’s ever had making a dildo, and trust me--he’s made plenty! He said he wished he had a reason to make more of them. But since your Pipsqueak's the only tiny asshole in the world...well, not much of a market for them, ya know?” 

Morgan said, “Not yet, anyway...muah ah ah!” which caused Sam to giggle and Allison to wonder if she was really joking. “Seriously though, Allison, I’m glad you like it too. I knew you would....you just needed to realize he's not even good enough to be your pet. There’s is just one thing though, Al.  Before it’s ready to use, ....Al, I said there’s one thing ….”

Allison was barely paying attention as she watched Roxy take ner new sweater back inside for a snack. She was still daydreaming about what it would be--no--will be like for Jim when he takes his first ‘ride’ in his new ship. Morgan snapped her fingers in front of her friend’s face, startling her back to reality. 

“HEY! You need to hear this, lady, it’s important. Look, Sam & I can’t wait for Jim’s first rocket slide either but it can't happen just yet--There’s a 'little' problem we have to fix first.”

“I’m sorry, what are you guys even talking about? It looks perfect to me," Allison said as she inspected it more closely. 

“I'm surprise you didn't notice it right away, Al, don't they call you the Queen of Details or something?” Morgan asked sarcastically as she rummaged around in her bag. 

Allison turned the Jim's dildo-ship upside down and said, “Oh, wait. I don't see a....Did Tom forget to put in a hatch?” 

“Here. Give it here.” Sam said, sticking out her hand, “No, it opens up fine--that’s not the problem.” 

Sam then pointed at a thin seam a little bit below the cone--there was a second twistable ring at the top, mirroring the light-switch on the bottom. Gripping the metal between the seam & cone, she twisted until she heard it go ‘pop.’ Then she slid the cone, together with it’s light-up base, out of the tube, and handed the now-open metal cylinder back to Allison.

“That is the problem,” Sam said, pointing at the tube’s opening. Allison peered inside but was obviously still baffled. She looked at Morgan for a clue. 

Morgan sighed loudly & said, “For fuck's sake, Al--She's saying Jim's too big for it. Your little ass-tronaut is too big to fit in his little cockpit.

"He is? Well Sam, can't your boy your..Tom...couldn't he just make this thing a little bigger?" Allison asked, wiggling the dildo in her fingers. 

Sam said, "Well actually, no. His paying work piled up while he was making these gifts. He wouldn't be able to get to it for months. But Morgan said it wouldn't matter anyway. She said you wouldn't...she said..."

Morgan explained, "Al--The problem isn’t that the dildo-rocket’s too small--the problem is that Jim’s too big. Think about it--Your dildo is a 6” dildo. Now, you and I both know there's no way you'd ever go any bigger--I mean if I can't talk you into it, nobody can. And I know you’re a ‘right brain’ gal but this is simple math, babe:  Since your 9” tall ex-boyfriend won’t fit into your 6" tall cocketship, and since we can't make the cocketship larger, there's only one thing for it: .......We gotta make Pipsqueak smaller.  

Allison sounded a little offended. “Well, right...obviously... But, so what? Why is that a problem? I just assumed you were going to shrink him more until he fit perfectly...no?”

“She can’t do that,” Sam said, feeling a little proud to be somewhat in-the-know about the rules governing witches & magic. She looked to Morgan for a sign of approval but Morgan was too busy fussing with the plastic wrapping on a fresh pack of cigarettes no notice.

“Sounds strange, I know, but yep--Sam’s right--I can't do it. Because on day one, you made it very clear that if he shrank all the way to Ken-sized, that it should be permanent. Well you know I don’t bluff when it comes to curses, babe--when I make something permanent, it's fucking permanent--Even *I* can’t do anything about it afterwards.”

Allison started getting exasperated.  She asked, “Ok but then how did he keep shrinking smaller than that when he disobeyed us?”

“Because he was causing the new shrinking, not me-- No witch or spell *forced* him to disobey us, those were his own free choices. I was kind of exploiting a loophole with that one. Theoretically we could trick Jim into doing it himself if we could trick him into disobeying a few more commands but....I mean, say what you want about the little fucker, I think it's safe to say by now that he'll literally do anything to keep the curse from making him any smaller. He's not going to help us out here.”

It was Allison’s turn to roll her eyes. She always got exasperated when Morgan tried to explain the weird witch rules & laws to her--it all seemed so arbitrary & random to her. 

“Well if you can’t shrink him and he won’t let the curse shrink him ...what’s left? Cut off his legs?” she joked.

“Yep! And his arms too! Well...not ‘cut off’ exactly, but basically yeah! Pretty clever, right? Your new dildo’s little ‘cockpit’ is way too small for a whole 9” man but it’s actually the perfect size for a a 9" tall man's torso & head!  Clever, right? We worked out the measurements really carefully to make sure.”

Allison looked up at Morgan & asked, "Hang on....you mean you....you knew you wanted to do it this way before Tom even made it? He designed the thing for a limbless version of Jim?"

When Allison saw Morgan & Sam exchange knowing smiles, she figured they’d come up with this plan together and she couldn’t help but feel a little left out. She pursed her lips & nodded appreciatively. 

“Huh... Well, I have to say I agree with Sam--it does seem a little extreme, doesn’t it? Well, maybe ‘extreme’ is the wrong word...I guess we crossed that line a long time ago, heh. I just mean...Jeez, M, chopping off someone's limbs seems pretty fucking barbaric to me, M--not really my style. You know this.”

“No no, I’m not saying we take a pair of scissors to him, Al...I’ve got some cutting thread. See??!” Morgan exclaimed and plucked a little spool of glistening metallic gold thread out of her bag and waggled it in the air. “I told you about this stuff, remember? It’s what I used to neuter Mr. Binx. You just wrap it around the...thing you want removed...pull it taught, and then *pop* -- off it comes. I don't know why it should matter, but if it makes you feel better, it's totally painless, Al--doesn’t even leave a wound behind! I've never tried using it on a human before but I don't see why it wouldn't work--especially since he's smaller than a rat now.”

Allison picked it up and asked, “Will I be able to put his arms back on him afterwards or is it another one-way type deal? ”

“No, sorry, it’s very much a one-way deal,” Morgan said as she took the spool back from Sam. “ Trust me, I’d love to be able to pop his little limbs back on whenever we want to make him dance for us or something but….well, it sucks, but even us witches can’t have everything we want. But c'mon Al, you don't really care about that do you? You and I both know there’ll still be loads of ways for him to keep you entertained! He’ll still fit just fine in Roxy’s saddle-sweater-thing, for example...”

Allison shook her head & said, “No--you misunderstand--Dude, I'm 100% on board, M--I’m just thinking about all the extra work to keep him fed when he can’t feed himself. And no way am I going to be changing tiny diapers for him….you can’t expect me to..” 

Mogan interrupted, “Oooooooopps I forgot the other part! While I was rooting through my little bag of magic pet stuff, looking for the thread, I found this.” She handed Allison a small vial with a small amount of yellow liquid at the bottom. “Ever wonder why you've never seen any kitty litter at my place, even though I have 5 cats? Well, witches don’t like dealing with that shit any more than mortals but we have better ways of getting around it. Two drops of that yellow gunk, and Jim will never need to eat again for as long as he lives--he’ll get his nourishment from the Sun, like a plant. He’ll still get hungry every day like always, but the feeling will just go away on its own." Allison started nodding. "Ah, I can see you already guessed the other little benefit that comes for free! Yes, if you give him this it also means he will never ever piss or shit again. Ever.”

“Omigod seriously??????? Why are we still talking about this then, LET’S DO THIS THING!”

Sam started clapping loudly. She was absolutely elated. She hadn’t mentioned it yet but she really hoped she could convince Allison to let her borrow the thing and give Steve a ride in her asshole before she had to go back home. She knew it wasn’t the right time to ask but Allison's reaction meant that it might actually happen!

Sam whistled for Roxy & laughed, “Morgan you might be a powerful witch and all...but that was a terrible pitch.” She held up the vial & added, “If you’d started with this thing, you would have had me at “he’ll never poop again.” Sam laughed hard at that one.

Suddenly Roxy appeared next to Allison, panting happily, completely oblivious to the almost unrecognizable lump of mud, shit and blood subtly squirming on the back of her sweater. 

Allison scratched under her chin and said, “Heeeeeey, there’s my good girl......wow, you didn’t do a very good job cleaning yourself up did you girl?”

“Hey Allison, I’d be happy to hose her...er, them off for you if you want. I’d enjoy it actually,” Sam offered helpfully.

“You would? Oh that would be wonderful, thank-you Sam!" Allison said as she stood up. "Morgan, where do you want to perform Jim’s little operation? Coffee table ok or do you need more light?” 

“Anywhere's fine. I mean, it’s not actually surgery, Al---it’s more like tying your shoes, to be honest. We could do it right here, right now if you want.”

“No, I’d like to freshen up first too if you don't mind. Meet you both in the living room in a few minutes then?”

“Sounds good to me!” Sam chirped. 

Morgan said, “Mhmmm” as she responded to an email on her phone. 

Sam grabbed hold of Roxy’s collar to coax her toward the hose and thought she heard a faint, weak squeak. She knelt down a little and poked the side of Jim's head with a straw. 

She said, “Oh….. poor Steve. You must be so sad your doggy ride is over now.

That looked SO fun--I can't say blame you.... But buck up, little buckaroo!

The amusement park isn’t closing yet...there’s still one more rollercoaster you can squeeze in!”

Then a blast of water with the strength of a thousand firehoses suddenly slammed into Jim's shit-covered face with so much force it knocked him unconscious almost immediately.