17
year old orphan Garfield had just inherited his late grandmother's house. He
was one of the secret time travel class run by Sandra Corlani, and was also an
ace English student who had written some books and submitted them to a
publisher A woman from a publishing company telephoned to say that she had
reviewed his manuscript and wanted to come over and go through some suggested
alterations with him.
She
arrived around 9am on the Saturday morning.
"Hello.
It’s nice to meet you in person at last. I've been a publisher's editor for
years, and worked with several successful authors. I was at home a year ago,
when something odd happened, something I thought was scientifically impossible.
So I'm very interested in your science fiction novel. It struck a chord. With a
few modifications, we should be able to publish it."
They
worked on it all morning. The woman was very beautiful, and had a happy
effervescent smile all the time.
They
finished the book at 12:10, and he asked if she'd like to stay for lunch. After
the meal, he took her on a tour around the house.
When
he showed her the upstairs balcony, she said, "It's a lovely spot up here.
Do you bring your girlfriends up here?"
"I
haven't had a girlfriend yet," he said.
She
brought her head closer, and kissed him happily.
He
put his arms around her and she did the same.
After
several seconds, she withdrew her lips and asked, "What did you think of
that?"
"The
best moment of my life."
She
invited herself into his lounge room, where they kissed and cuddled.
"I
knew I loved you, as soon as you arrived," he said.
"But
you don't know me. Do you remember that scientifically improbable thing I told
you about, that happened last year? I was at my house one day. I go there to
read manuscripts in peace. One day I arrived and sat down in the garden to
read. It's not far from here actually, just a block or two away. After half an
hour or so, I heard a rustling noise in the garden, and saw something move. I
could have sworn it was a tiny boy. Then I stood up, walked over and searched
the garden, until I saw him again. I asked if there were any other little boys
like him.
He
said no, that he had been shrunken by someone, and was a normal sized boy
before then. I told him that, in that case, I would eat him for dinner the
following night. After an eventful two days, I did just that. Do you still love
me, knowing that?"
"I can't help it," he said, and kissed her.
She
let him set up his scientific experiments in her spare room. He had a special
tiny engine he had designed to run a time machine, but had not been able to
build one.
He
became her boyfriend, and would visit her often. One day he was followed by the
mischeivous Ellie Blish from his school. (She had gained possession of one of
Colleen’s earlier shrinking devices and had been using it to amuse herself by
shrinking boys from her school. See earlier chapters of this book.)
Ellie
waited until Garfield had run the publishing editor’s doorbell, and then fired
the shrink ray at him. He heard her giggle, turned and dwindled to tiny size,
and then heard his older girlfriend approaching the door from the inside.
Ellie
ran off, laughing as she went. The editor opened the door.
"You're
as small as the boy I ate," she said.
"Does
that mean you're going to eat me?" he asked, "It wasn't meant to do
this."