Percy Dale was six years old, the first time he dreamt about a giantess. Now the word giantess usually implies a woman of giant size in comparison to earthlings. In this case, what he dreamt of was being tiny sized, so small in fact that a woman would look like a giantess to him and have the proportionate strength advantage. He dreamt that his teacher Miss Newkin and he were alone at his school on a Saturday afternoon. She had somehow reduced him to tiny size. He didn’t remember how, and didn’t seem concerned. She was now chasing him around the school lawn, laughing mischievously… and Percy was enjoying the dream.

It had been pleasant getting to know her in real life. When he was six years old he had commenced second class with the new teacher Miss Newkin, who had moved into Sydney two years earlier. She had been born and educated in America. His previous two years of schooling at Killara had been less than exciting. The first class teacher Mrs Wheeton had been too strict and unpleasant in his opinion. On the last day of the year in first class, she had lined the class up at the end of the day and made all the children laugh, by giving each one a kiss. Percy had done his best to sneak to the end of the line and had finally refused to be kissed. However, she had jokingly made him comply, and the laughter from the others had reached its peak.

If only Miss Newkin would now find a reason to kiss him. In fact, if she wanted to chase him to kiss him, that would be nice, especially after he had been reduced. He imagined how close that would bring him to her sparkling red tongue. In April, he had to spend a week of school term in hospital to have a hernia operation. When the time came for the operation, a nurse had said, "Come up and have a cuddle", and lifted him in her arms. To his horror, the next thing he felt was a hypodermic needle being injected into the rear portion of his anatomy in order to send him off to sleep.

When he awoke later, he discovered that Miss Newkin had sent him a puzzle book to help pass the time. It was full of mathematics puzzles, some of which she had worked the class through on the blackboard. She had always applied her different American education to making school lessons so much more interesting and enjoyable. Each day she would read them a chapter of a children’s novel, which had started Percy on an addiction to the works of the English author who had written it. She later went on to read the class an American children's adventure novel in a similar series of daily instalments.

One day Miss Newkin had played the guitar and sang a song about the alphabet, using as many amusing words that commenced with the relevant letters of the alphabet in succession. Every ploy or gimick in her teaching approach made lessons entertaining and the work material easier to understand and remember. His work was the best that he had done in any year at school. Each day he looked forward to going to school, instead of dreading the boredom and confinement as he had often done in the previous two years.

On the last day of second term, by which time Percy was now seven years old, the entire school was given free time from the commencement of morning tea until the end of the day. Percy and his friends had taken to playing super heroes in the bush every lunchtime, imitating the heroes and villains on television cartoons, to chase and wrestle each other.

In anticipation of this last day, he actually brought a super hero costume to school and wore it down in the bush during free time.

By one o'clock the chasings had tired a lot of the children out. So they evolved the game into a hide and seek version of super heroes and villains. The heroes would have to find the villains. At one stage, Percy was still searching for villains, when he noticed that Miss Newkin was the teacher on duty deep down in the bush. She had gone to the furthest point where the school's territory ended and the general public's bushland began. There was no actual borderline or fence, but the school and any public bushwalkers never seemed to meet each other, because the public bush tracks were several metres further on from the border of the school's territory.

Percy saw Miss Newkin sit down and start eating her lunch. She had not seen him. He decided to see if he could sneak up and surprise her. He tucked his cape into the back of his trousers to prevent it from rustling or getting caught in the bushes, and began creeping through the bushland. When he was almost within four metres of her, he noticed that, as she finished the last bite of her sandwich and stood up, a man was walking towards her from behind, from the public bushland.

Percy watched in horror as he stole up behind her, put his hand over her mouth, stood to face her and then forced his lips over hers. She struggled to free herself, but could not resist his overpowering physique. He removed his lips and cupped her mouth with his hand again.

"Don't like that, eh darlin'? Well you've only seen the start of it. I've had my eye on you for a while now, and what I like, I take."

Percy wanted to help her, but what could he do? How could a small boy stand up to a muscular adult man?

He saw the man produce an unused handkerchief and gag her mouth tightly. Then he seized her wrist and forced her to walk through the bush with him, away from the school's land. Percy was very frightened of the man, and wanted to run back and tell the headmaster, but that would mean giving the man a chance to get away with Miss Newkin.

"I'll have to really be a super hero now," he thought, "This man is the villain, and I must rescue Miss Newkin."

He crept through the bush behind them for a long time. The man came to a path and followed it out of the bushland to the place where he had parked his car.

While still trailing the man from behind, Percy found a solid club of wood. He picked it up, feeling a brief surge of confidence in the weapon before his fear of the man returned. The car was parked with the left hand side facing the path. Percy remained in the bushes when he approached the end of the track, and saw the man open the passenger door and push Miss Newkin onto the passenger seat.

"Now stay put!" he said.

He closed the door and walked around to the driver's side.

Miss Newkin opened the door and tried to run, but he caught her and slapped her face.

"It's now or never," thought Percy as he saw them approach the car after her attempted escape.

"Try that again, and I'll do it a lot harder. Understand?" he said.

She nodded and soon got back into the car.

Percy quietly tiptoed out of the bushes and snuck up behind the man, as the man leaned down to push the passenger door shut. Percy swung the club at the back of the man's head as hard as he could, and saw the man stagger and fall across the bonnet of the car after taking no more than two steps. He opened the car door.

"Come on, Miss Newkin. You've got to escape."

"Oh Percy, I can hardly believe it!" she said.

She stepped out of the car, took Percy's hand and ran with him, back through the bush as soon as Percy had dropped the club.

By two o'clock they reached the school's bushland. Miss Newkin cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and called out:

"All children go up to the playground! The bush will be out of bounds for the rest of the day! There is a dangerous man in the bush somewhere!"

It might well have frightened them, she thought, but this was better than having them remain in the bushes, if any of them chose disobedience for the sake of mischief. She could not have risked the man kidnapping any of them.
While other children set about starting games of handball and soccer in the playground, Miss Newkin and Percy went into their usual classroom and closed the door.

"Do you think that we should call the police about that wicked man?" he asked.

"Yes I will later," she said, and burst into tears, "Oh Percy, I was so frightened. How did you find me?"

Miss Newkin sat down on the carpeted floor beside him.

"I was playing super heroes, when I saw you sit down for lunch. I was going to sneak up on you and yell out 'surprise,' but when I got close, I saw that man get you."

"Why didn't you go back to the school to get help?" she asked, "That man might have caught you too and hurt you badly."
"He was scary, but school couldn't help you if he took you away and we didn't know where. I still had my costume on. So I thought I should really be a super hero and stop the man. So I followed you in the bushes. Then I found a club and saved it up and hit him."

"Percy, you really are a super hero and a very brave one. Still I hope you never take a risk like that again," she said. Then she actually took him in her arms and hugged him tightly, saying, "You saved me!"

Percy stretched a young hand up to wipe a tear from her cheek and spoke.

"You are safe now. That man is probably still fainted."

He knew that he liked Miss Newkin, but his young mind did not actually think of the words 'I love you, Miss Newkin.' Nor did he know how to bring up the subject of his impossible shrinking and chasing fantasy. So he said nothing and continued to enjoy the hug. In a few minutes she used the telephone at her desk to call the police, who soon rang back to say that they had caught the man.

"He was lying on the bonnet of the car you described, Miss," said the constable, "right out of it, with a nasty lump on the back of his head where your young student hit him. We told him you would testify, but he wanted to make a full confession as an attempt at contrition. I don't think it will keep him out of jail though. I will be needing you later for a full statement, but  I shan't need to trouble the boy."

"Yes. I'll be down early this evening then," said Miss Newkin, and soon hung up.

"Is he caught?" asked Percy.

"Yes. He was still unconscious. You really clubbed him hard. Wait until everyone else finds out what a hero you have been!"
"No!"

"What's the matter."

"Please don't tell anyone. I'm just glad that you're safe."

"But why?"
"My mother would never let me play in the bush again, if she found out. I don't want to tell anyone."

"Alright, I won't even tell the other teachers, or the headmaster, or anyone except the police. Still ,you will always be a hero to me for coming to rescue me today."

She knelt down and kissed his cheek.

For the rest of the year he enjoyed secret subtle hints of gratitude from her. At the end of the year she gave everyone in the class a small gift wrapped storybook. Inside the cover of his he also found a fifty dollar note and a message:

                        To Percy,

                                    a Super Hero's reward.

She had not written it in modified cursive writing, as it would be illegible to a second class child.

The following year he had a different teacher in third class, but he still tried to see Miss Newkin occasionally when she was on lunchtime playground duty.  Now he could never tell her about his shrinking fantasy.

2 years later

Percy had enjoyed the first ten days of the May school holidays, but the best was indeed yet to come. He was now eight years old and in no hurry to become a nine year old. However, he was keen to enjoy the final event of his holidays: a two night visit to his grandmother's house at 66 Burnseid Street Wahroonga. This meant that he would be in the care of his grandparents for a few days.

He said goodbye to his mother at four o'clock on the Wednesday afternoon, and unpacked his bag in the bedroom just near the top of the eastern staircase. Opposite this small room was the spare bedroom which his grandmother used on the occasions that Percy would be staying the night, in order that the young boy would be only a room away from assistance in the event of his becoming ill, or developing any other need for help. From his suitcase he took clothing, comic books, a torch and a packet of playing cards.

Eventually it was time for bed, and the exhausted young boy planned to exhaust himself still further before morning. He went to one of the three upstairs bathrooms to have a quick bath before bed, and enjoyed watching the warm water flow out of the red fish's mouth which was in fact the tap built into the bath itself. Percy enjoyed the atmosphere of his grandparents' bathrooms, because they all had colourful bathtubs and small red and yellow and green square floor tiles each about two inches wide.

When he got to his bed, Percy pretended to fall asleep, and then stole downstairs fully dressed, with a torch in his hand, and crept out into the garden and made his way to the streets. He walked to Wahroonga Station in search of an adventure which would surpass any of the holiday's activities so far experienced.

As he was reaching the far end of the footpath which ran alongside Wahroonga Park, he heard a series of voices coming from within the park. He slipped his torch into his pocket and crept into the bushes, getting down on all fours, thinking "Down, down, down, into a bush."

When he reached the other side of the bush, he looked into the park to see about thirty people, mostly adults sitting, talking, some of them humming pleasant tunes on the grass and on the park seats and tables. The girls and ladies wore light pink and white coloured dresses, and some of them had red and pink coloured stones in their hair. The boys and men wore either dinner suits or top hats and tails.

"Hey! A spy!" called one of the men, who had seen Percy.

A lady accompanied the man who had noticed him.

"Down, down, down, into a bush!" thought Percy, again diving into the thick bush at the edge of the park, surrounding himself with leaves and flowers. Had it been spring instead of the beginning of winter, he could have surrounded himself with many more flowers. He saw the lady and the man approaching his bush. The lady looked friendly, and Percy decided that, although he was a little frightened of the bellowing man, he was intrigued, and wanted to meet these unusual people who sat in a park with food and lanterns and drinks in the early hours of the morning. Percy crawled out and revealed himself.

"He spies on us!" bellowed the man.

"Oh Aygin, be civil. He's only a harmless boy," said the lady.

The man eventually took off his top hat, bowed and shook Percy's hand. The girls and boys showed Percy a book explaining some of their customs and habits. After a couple of hours of eating, drinking, singing and talking with these people, Percy was confronted with a farewell speech from the lady who had located his bush:
"We come from far far away, and your people would find us unusual, but thank you for being our friend, young boy. Now you must go home to bed before your grandparents awaken and become concerned about your disappearance."

Percy somehow knew that he had to obey them.

*          *          *          *

He went to sleep, and dreamt of the beautiful lady who had come to his rescue. In the dream, she lived alone in a house a few blocks from his Grandmother’s place, and was having an evening party out in her back garden for her female friends. He had somehow snuck into her garden at night at tiny size and discovered the party from the edge of the garden. She had seen him, and come striding towards him, laughing, and reached for him. It had been even more enjoyable than his memories of the actual encounter, if it had been an encounter.

The next morning, Friday he woke up, having had only two hours of sleep from four until six. He wondered whether or not it had been a dream.

No.

It had all happened.

It was true.

He knew it.

His grandmother agreed to an unexplained request to walk to Wahroonga Park; and did not notice the way he stared around the park, even into garbage bins, to find no evidence of their having been there, but they had.

They had all been there. He has not seen them again, to this day, but he always remembered the night when he had set out on an adventure and uttered his safety phrase, "Down, down, down, into a bush," and enjoyed an unusual but brief friendship with the Wanderers of Wahroonga. He remembered the beautiful lady and wished he could have been shrunken for her.

After some more time had passed, Percy finished fifth class and came to his Percy's eleventh December. He was 10 ½ years old.

Percy had broken up from school, and his parents were on holiday overseas, which was to last the entire duration of the Christmas holidays, which came to two months. Percy felt like a man who had found a ten million dollar lottery ticket in the street. He was going to spend the entire two months staying at his grandparents' house in 66 Burnseid Street Wahroonga.

On the Monday morning of his first week at Burnseid Street, Percy opted to go shopping with his grandmother. As usual, they went down into the cellar and collected the old soft drink bottles, to take to the Turramurra milk bar for a deposit. They found six bottles, which would provide enough money for Percy to buy a comic book. 

Percy read the comic, and then wandered out into the garden to amuse himself.

At the northern end of the old property there was a large lawn, with a small reserve of trees and bushes at the end of it, bordering with the side fence of the next door neighbours' tennis court. The bushy area was large enough to hide in and small enough not to get lost in. Percy found a small tree in the bush, and began to climb to the top.

The author of this piece has read, heard and seen various stories, wherein a character climbs to the top of something, and finds a fantastic scene at the top. It could be a giant, a secret hideout, a castle, or various other interesting items to catch the attention of the keen climber. However, with no intent to disappoint his readers, the author wishes to assert that Percy had climbed a tall tree only to see a certain scene which would require any fascinated climber to climb back down to the bottom of the tree.

From the branches of the tree, Percy saw a girl walking onto a tennis court with a large dolls house in her hand, held by a handle which protruded from its roof. Percy had not been to Burnseid Street since the August school holidays, and there had been no children living next door then. The girl put the dolls house down on the surface of the hard court, and stared into the bushes of 66 Burnseid Street, but not in the direction of Percy Dale. Her house was addressed in Burns Road, parallel to Burnseid Street. Burnseid Street was between Burns Road and Braeside Street, and had been given a composite name of the two in the 1890s, when the large acreages had been divided, in order to make an extra road through Wahroonga and build more houses on the land.

The girl was definitely a lot taller than Percy, although she did not look more than a few years older. She stared into the bushes, probably trying to see the old house, and then sat down, removed a latch; and then the dolls house opened out for the girl to use as a toy for the morning.

Percy climbed silently down from the tree, and walked through the bush to the fence. The girl was too absorbed in her dolls house to notice him. Percy looked at her blond hair and a pair of green eyes that had so far failed to detect the presence of the boy.

"Hello. I'm Percy."

With a four inch brunette in her hand, the girl looked up at Percy, and smiled.

"My name is Jenny. Do you want to come over here, Percy?"

"Yes please. The quickest way is to climb over the tennis court fence. Will your mother mind?"

"She won't see you. The house is too far back and around the garden from the tennis court."

She was not a boy, but Percy was soon to learn that this would not be a problem. In an all-boys school, Percy had grown up to believe that girls were a species remotely akin to boys, except for the fact that they were given to sitting together at the back of school buses and giggling for no apparent reason.

Percy loved to giggle, but he enjoyed being let in on the reason for doing so. Percy saw ladies as "big, old girls, grown up, the ones that look pretty on television," and he could not begin to comprehend, or even be aware of the transition process that altered giggly girls into "pretty ladies on television screens."

"It would be nice to sit and giggle with Jenny occasionally," thought Percy, as he reached the top of the fence.

"You're good at climbing," said Jenny, "So am I, but my mother doesn't think I should go climbing. She says it is dangerous."

Percy jumped the remaining two metres to the tennis court, and waited for the effect of doing so to leave his feet.

"My grandmother's house has got lots of trees. If you can sneak out at night, we can do all the climbing you like."

"Easy. I'm the only one with a room downstairs, and I always leave a window open in summer, because it's so hot. But how will we get to your grandmother's house?"

"By climbing over the tennis court fence. That is my grandmother's house," said Percy pointing, "I'm living here for the holidays. Do you want to sneak out tonight?"

"I cannot tonight. I'll be staying tonight and tomorrow night at my cousin's house, but we can do it on Wednesday night. My cousin's coming to stay with us for two nights then. Can she sneak out with us too?"

"She sure can. When are you leaving?"

"After lunch, which isn't for a while. Would you like to play with my dolls?"

Percy had never played with dolls before. He had once had some teddy bears, and enjoyed playing with figurines of television cartoon characters. However, he saw no reason why he should not start playing with dolls now.

"Alright."

Percy wanted to secure the arrangements for wednesday night first, and then enjoy the fun.

"How about if I meet you and your cousin at this fence at one o'clock on Wednesday night, which is really Thursday morning?"

"We'll come then. Her name is Laura, and these are my friends Sally, Mary and Anna."

Jenny pointed to her dolls.

It was more than a change from his miserable life at school.

It was real fun.

Jenny wasn't like the boys, and Percy did not think that she was like the other girls either. During the next two hours, Sally's hair was combed, Anna went to sleep in the middle of the day, Mary tried on five new dresses, and then they all got together to have lunch, after

which - with a little less than an hour remaining, before Jenny had to go inside for lunch - Percy thought of an idea.

"Do you think that they would like to climb up that giant tree in my place just there?" he asked.

"Anna and Mary would, but Sally says she wants to stay here and keep me company. You go back over, and they can climb through the fence."

Percy was soon waiting to receive Anna and Mary, after which Jenny watched in admiration, as Percy helped the tiny pair to a branch where they could sit without falling off.

"They're having fun, Jenny."

"No they're not. Mary says you were too rough when she was climbing up."

"Well I tried to be ."
"You didn't try hard enough. They want to come back. Hurry up and help them back through the fence."

Percy did so.

He wondered whether he had upset Jenny, and whether it would cause her to change her mind about their midnight rendezvous.

For some reason this seemed to matter in a way that it had never mattered before.

"Sorry about that," he said, as Jenny reclaimed her dolls. She saw him try not to blink his eyes, and smiled.

"I was only teasing you. I still like you, and so do the friends."

"Oh...I just don't like teasing...unless I know it's only teasing. I thought you really didn't like me anymore."

"Then I shall never tease you again...Are you going to come back over now?"

"There's not much time left. I might as well see what Nan wants to have for lunch."

"But I want to make up for teasing you."

"Oh."
He climbed the tennis court fence again, and came down beside her. His head only reached her neck. He had no idea what she was going to do, because he did not know how girls made up for teasing people.

Percy was a boy who did not tease people, but the ones who did had never made up for it, and Percy was looking forward to whatever she was going to do.

Until she kissed his cheek.

For a split second it felt wonderful, and then he looked around, to see if there was anybody in sight.

"Don't you like that?"

"Yes I like it. It's just ... embarrassing, but you can do it again at night, if you would like to, not Wednesday night, but some night when it's just you and me."

"Alright, well I won't be embarrassing anymore. How old are you?"

"I'm ten."
"I'm twelve, and I like you," said Jenny.

This was why it had mattered so much not to have upset her when they had been playing with the dolls.

"I'm ten, and I like you too."

"Jenneeeey! Lunchtime!"
"Oh, that was Mother. I have to go. I'll see you here at one o'clock on Thursday morning. Here, take Sally to keep you company. Bye, Percy."

"Bye, Jenny."

He watched her close the dolls house, and carry it out of sight.

He'd never had a kiss from a nice young girl before. Percy merely thought of kissing as an embarrassing, nauseating procedure, which was always to be performed at the commencement and conclusion of visits to ageing relatives. This time it had been "to make up for teasing," and it was special, and pleasant, and fun.

As Percy found ways of amusing himself, in order to fill in the next two days, he found himself with new priorities on his mind.

On Wednesday night, Percy said goodnight to his grandparents and went up to his bedroom. Percy's bedroom was at the end of the eastern upstairs hallway.

He set his alarm clock for a quarter to one, and put it on the end of the bed beside his pillow. That way he could stop its ringing before it woke up his grandparents. He climbed into bed, still wearing his clothes, and slept ... for a few hours. He dreamt that Jenny had reduced his size and was putting him gently into her dolls house. He enjoyed this too, which made his real life feelings for Jenny even more significant. 

He crept out of bed, and stole out into the hall, listened for a moment to see if he'd awoken his grandparents, and then took his torch out from under the bed. He did not want to carry it around while they chased each other - and besides it would not be fair - but he did want to find his way silently down the stairs, out of the house, and into the bushes without disturbing anyone.

Then he was faced with a dilemma. The eastern staircase was wooden, with no carpeting, and would certainly creak, but the western one was at the end of the western hallway. There was little doubt about it. He would have to walk silently down both hallways, and go down the carpeted stairs of the western staircase.

He would then be able to choose from a number of doorways, and open any one door silently. The only one that made a significant noise was the front door. However, that would not be his choice. He went out the door to the porch. As usual, his grandmother had left the red lights on, but this did not matter. If anything, it would provide them with enough light with which to chase each other.

When he arrived at the tennis court fence, he could not see anybody on the tennis court.

Had Jenny forgotten him?

Had she been caught and sent back to bed?

Had Laura persuaded her not to do it after all?

Then Percy heard a soft giggle from high up in the tree behind him.

He looked up into the moonlit tree. They were both there. They had already climbed over the fence to Percy's side.

"We're not teasing you. Laura just thought that it would be nice to surprise you from up here."

"Yes, it was clever. You had better come down quietly now. Don't snap any branches."

Laura's brown hair was a suitable complement to her brown eyes.  

He led them out to the lawn, and explained that it would be best to restrict the game of chasings to the lawn, which followed the house around half of its perimeter.

Climbing trees and using paths while under the pressure of being chased would certainly initiate a whole series of unwarranted noises. So they played chasings for the best part of an hour and then decided to slow it down to hide and seek.

"Alright then," said Percy, "The rules can be simple. One person hides. The other two go to look for them, and the first person to find the hidden person can be the next one to have a turn at hiding."

"No," said Laura, "Why can't the person who finds them last be the one who has to hide?"
"Because hiding's the best bit, and I'll try harder to find somebody, if it means I can hide next."

"Okay," said Laura, "You can hide first."

"I will, and we'll change the boundaries. You can go anywhere outside the house - if you're quiet - but not in it. You can climb trees, but don't climb up the house, and you can also go as many as five houses down the road to the North, and as far as Eastern Road in the other direction. Close your eyes and count to sixty. Then start looking. If I'm not hiding, then it will be a longer counting time for me, because I know the place better than you two. Okay, start."

Percy ran across the lawn and played his usual gambit for the game of hide and seek. Percy loved to double back in time to position himself where he could see the seekers open their eyes and start to look. Then he would move around and follow their attempts to find him, until he made a fatal slip at the crucial moment and gave himself away, or they happened to turn around and look in the place where he was, so that he could not remain behind them.

This was why he never preferred to play a method of hide and seek wherein the hidden person must simply find a place and stay there.

Percy ran right around the house, and then crept along the narrow strip of grass on the driveway side of the hedge, and peered around the corner at the end. The girls were still out on the large lawn with their eyes closed. Then they started walking. So their eyes were open.

However, they did not both go in the direction in which Percy had run.

Laura did, but Jenny walked towards the hedge. Percy ran along the strip of grass, around the corner, and stood up straight against the third hedge, and hoped that Jenny would pass by him without noticing.

"Oh they split up!" he thought to himself.

Jenny walked into view, turned her head and spotted him.

They played another round, during which Jenny hid in the oak tree, and it was Laura who found her. She knew her cousin well, and had guessed that Jenny would make use of her height to climb a tree. So Jenny and Percy waited at the bottom of the oak tree, counted their time and stared out at the large lawn.

"Percy, can I kiss you again now?"

"What about Laura?"

"She's off hiding."

"But we're the ones who cannot see where she is. What if she's hiding somewhere close watching us?"

"Alright. Let's go and find her. I'll kiss you another night."

"How old is Laura anyway?"

"Eleven. Let's split up. We'll find her faster that way, like we found you before."

Jenny went the same way as she had gone earlier, and Percy followed the lawn around the house again.

"Nobody's hidden out in the street yet," thought Jenny, and wandered quietly down the drive. 

She stepped out into Burnseid Street, and decided to wander up past the five houses allowed, looking in bushes and up into trees. But she heard Laura's voice.

"Jenny, down here where the drain runs under the driveway. It's quite dry. You won't get dirty, and you can squeeze in too. It will be funny with Percy looking for both of us. You'll have the chance to play one round of the game the way you first suggested after all. Percy won't mind. He's a nice boy."

Percy searched in most of the obvious hiding places. He did not bother looking into places that a stranger would not consider using in the dark; and he came to the conclusion that Laura must have hidden out in the street. So he wandered out into the street himself, searched in every possible place within the boundaries, and then sat down on the front wall of 66 Burnseid Street, to think.

Then he saw Jenny's head peeking out of the drain, and he suddenly felt a special sensation in his mind. He had never seen such a sweet face before, and he guessed what had happened, and out they came.

"Oh Jenny, that looks so ... sweet. You can kiss me now if you want to. Make it the other cheek this time."

"But aren't you embarrassed? We decided to give ourselves up. It got uncomfortable in there."

"Yes of course I'm still embarrassed, but I cannot wait any longer."

So she kissed Percy for the second time.

"Can we do lots of climbing tomorrow morning at one o'clock?"

"I think so Jenny. We shall climb as many trees as we can, and probably do nothing else."

"We'll have to sleep in this morning," said Laura looking at her watch, "It's after three o'clock now."

When the specified Monday came along, Percy met Jenny at the tennis court as usual, and informed her of a small unplanned delay in the proceedings.

"Nan and Grandpa are running a little bit late. So we will have to wait for a while."

"Mother does not mind me coming around, but I have to go over the low fence just past the tennis court."

"Well I'll have to go through the bamboo on our side, so that I can show you how to get out into our garden."

Soon they were both walking towards the house, and Percy's grandparents were gone. He led Jenny across the courtyard and into the house, and they walked up the large western staircase. Jenny expressed her surprise upon finding another staircase at the eastern end of the house.

"I love it up here. Nan usually asks me up once or twice in the holidays, and it is great to have a happy couple of days here before I go back to school again - which I hate - but this time I can stay for two months. I don't know how  I shall cope afterwards, but let's not worry about that now."

He led her into his bedroom, and showed her some of the things that he had brought from home with which to amuse himself. There were his comic books, his models, and his box of disguises and costumes. This collection of clothing had accumulated from various family Christmas and birthday presents in the last year or so.

"Shall we put on some costumes and dress up?" was Jenny's request upon sighting Percy's second wardrobe.

"Why not? You be a princess. I think that you would look very beautiful as a princess, Jenny."

"I think," replied Jenny, "that I look very beautiful already."

"Well I actually meant that as well."

"But you've only got boys' clothes in this box."

"You can still wear what you have on now, and add one of the crowns, and some other things. If you're going to be a princess, then I shall be a knight."

In order to be a knight, Percy took out a shirt with a shield painted onto it and some plastic armaments, and the sort of boots that he thought should be worn by a young boy pretending to be a knight.

"And what should a knight and a princess do now?" queried Jenny.

"How do you fit all of those costumes in that box, Percy?"

"With the greatest of squeeze, Jenny."

The young pair chose to occupy the television room, still clad as a knight and a princess, in order to watch a romantic movie. Most romantic movies feature at least one scene, wherein the lovers collide their lips together - at varying speeds, depending on the movie - with a view to expressing amorous feelings towards each other; and the movie chosen by Sir Percival Knight and Young Princess Jentil was no different with regards to its uncompromising readiness to provide such arousing scenes of many splendored things.

And Percival and Jentil were aroused.

"Why don't you kiss me like that?"
"Because I've got a plastic ... err iron mask on my face."

"Then you will just have to take it off, for I wish to be given a chance to try out this new kind of kissing."

"I will not take it off. I am a knight."

"Then I shall chase you until you do."

"Fare ye well," said the witty young Sir Percival Knight, as he jumped up and ran out the door. He found his way to the western staircase so fast that he wondered whether princess Jentil would look for him in the house or the garden.

The chronicler wishes to assert that Princess Jentil was not always light on her feet, and something happened when she began to ascend the eastern staircase, which was not carpeted.

The thing that happened was this: Sir Percival heard Princess Jentil climbing the eastern staircase.

Quietly he ran back down the western staircase and made his way back to the television room and sat down to stare at the screen.

It took her ten minutes.

"Sir Percival, I've-"

"-been looking everywhere for me. Come and see the rest of the movie. Then we can have lunch."

Which they did.

After lunch they went for a walk to the station, and then walked up to Wahroonga Park, where they spent a solid three quarters of an hour on the swings, until the novelty began to wear off.

Then the two extremely young lovers kissed 'the way they did it in the movie', as they sat on the wall of the Wahroonga Park fountain.

"Start young, don't they?" said a man to his friend, as the two of them got to work on the gardens of the park in order to go about their jobs.

They walked home, and the day soon came to an end.

"Pity we can't have the house to ourselves all the time," said Percy, as they returned to the tennis court fence.

"Why don't we build our own little cubby house in the bushes just here? I've got a lot of father's unused wood at home."

The next few days were busy ones.

Piles of wooden boards were carried to a fence and passed over it. The same piles of wood were carried to a location in the bushes, where they were joined together in various ways, by means of a hammer and nails from Percy's grandfather's toolbox; and a rectangular prism supported by four wooden blocks had been constructed by the twentieth of December.

Percy took the eiderdown from his bedroom cupboard - which he would not need for the bed during the summer months - and used it to soften the floor of the cubby house.

"We'll have to use the fluorescent tube alternative of my torch as a lamp if we ever use this place at night. Now I can bring out what we need each day, so we can play chess or checkers, or dress up or whatever in here, without cluttering up the tiny house with heaps of stuff. It will be alright if I take it back at the end of the day."

The young pair failed to ever become bored with each other's company. Percy's grandmother never wondered what he had been doing. She was simply relieved that he did not seem to be bored. Jenny's mother was both educated and happy about the situation. On the twenty-third of December, Percy asked Jenny to come to the cubbyhouse - which they had ceremoniously christened Jentil Manor (after the play on Jenny's princess identity) - the following morning at ten o'clock.

Percy had saved his money and bought a Christmas card and a box of chocolates for his grandparents,  a box of large coloured hair ribbons for Jenny - who sometimes wore her hair tied at the back by beautiful ribbons, creating the prettiest of ponytails - along with a Christmas card, and some party food which he brought down to Jentil Manor at half past nine on Christmas Eve.
Both Percy and Jenny would want to be with their families for the preparation of Christmas decorations and other procedures in the afternoon. So Percy had planned a surprise Christmas party for Jenny in the morning.

"Percy this is wonderful!" exclaimed the part-time princess, as she entered the manor of her namesake.

They enjoyed their party, and Percy enjoyed his first Christmas at 66 Burnseid Street. The only new event to Percy was being there on Christmas Eve, because Percy's grandparents usually held large Christmas Day parties every year, and invited all of the family and relatives. The only people missing were Percy's parents. His cousins, aunts, uncles and various others were all there as usual.

His only concern was that some of them may venture far enough into the bushes to discover the location of Jentil Manor. However, he was able to keep the activity away from that area, although plenty of games were played on the large lawn nearby. If a ball ever strayed into the bushes, Percy would opt to fetch it out again, which made him very popular with the adults, because he was seen to be a good host keeping the games going, while doing the dirty jobs. His ulterior motives were justified. Jentil Manor was a private world for two, and he didn't want to explain its existence to anyone.

He did not need to.

Nobody found it.

He was fortunate.

Christmas passed them by, and there were new things to do, and new days in which to do them. Kissing was done in both of the methods previously attempted by Percy and Jenny. Sometimes they felt in the mood for collisions of the lips, and on other days, kissing of the cheeks seemed more appropriate.

It was always fun.

It was never violent.

It never needed to be.

Whatever they did, they were content. If there was potential for disagreement, one of them would think out a suitable compromise. The author almost considers it a regrettable shame that they chose to preserve the secrecy of their relationship, because the successful ongoing pattern of rendezvous made by those two youths would put a lot of unfriendly adults to shame.

However, there was something in Percy's mind which warned him, that if they told of their relationship to anyone, there would eventually be some unwarranted efforts to undermine it, which might possibly arise from the activities of adults.

When he had been seven years of age, Percy had once dreamt that he had saved an extremely beautiful princess from a threatening fate in the bushes behind his first preparatory school in Killara. Now he had his chance. The princess in his dream had also worn a blond ponytail.

Jenny really was his beautiful princess, and they had so far saved each other from boredom and loneliness.

So far.

There was another day, when his grandparents went out and left him by himself at the house.

It was an extremely cloudy day with rain pouring down every now and then. Percy invited Jenny around, and took out the water pistols which he had been given as  Christmas presents. The two of them enjoyed a riotous water pistol fight. They chased each other all around the garden, and up into trees, onto rooves, and anywhere else that they could reach, filling up their water pistols at separate taps whenever they had both the chance and the need.

At one stage, Jenny pursued Percy up into the oak tree, with a fully loaded water pistol, immediately after Percy's pistol had run out of water. He was too high up to jump and run for it, so he simply climbed higher, and Jenny climbed after him.

"You'll never get away Percy. I'll catch you."

Percy adored her.

Even in the middle of a wild chase, with a pistol in her hand,  Jenny was  able to produce a sweet smile on her lips, as she announced Percy's fate. He was realising that he had had a romantic capacity ever since he had been six years old. It had taken a girl like Jenny to help this tendency towards romance to hatch itself, so that Percy gradually became more and more aware of it. So there had been pretty ladies on the television. Why had he not developed this capacity for romance then? Subconsciously, Percy had acknowledged that he would never see those ladies anywhere, except on the television screen. So he had dismissed them from his mind as soon as they had left the screen, and gone back to reading comic books or finding other things with which to amuse himself.

There had also been times when he had met young girls. However, Percy was unlikely to be moved towards any act of romance with a collection of young girls who sat in a bus or a train and giggled together, probably for no logical reason. Here was a twelve year old girl who Had Fun and Made Sense.

But their time was rapidly moving towards expiry date.

This did not occur to young Percy Dale, as he made up his mind to climb further and further, higher and higher, out along the branches of the oak tree, heading for the end of a special branch, his safety branch. Percy had prepared for the event of his running out of water at the most crucial moment, by opening the upstairs doorway, which opened out from the western upstairs hallway to the upstairs courtyard. This special branch brought Percy to within jumping distance down to the courtyard.

It never occurred to him that Jenny's mother would be extremely displeased with a boy who had led her daughter to a tree branch six metres above the ground, with nothing but hard concrete to land on in the lower courtyard if she fell; but children are children, and children have underhanded fun sometimes, and they are ignorant, and the moral issues behind such facts are not necessary to the thrust of this story, so we shall omit them here.

Percy made his jump, ran into the house, waited for Jenny to land safely in the upstairs courtyard, and then closed the door, locking it tight.

He ran down the stairs and out into the lower courtyard.

"Percy, let me in!"

"Toss your pistol down to me first, and I'll go up and let you in."

"That's not fair."

"That's the fortunes of war."

She tried to squirt him from above a few times, but he was free to run to wherever he chose, and she eventually tossed the pistol down to him, and admitted defeat.

Percy climbed the staircase, walked down the hall, opened the door, and then ran to his own bedroom and prepared to defend himself with his pillow.

"Alright then," said Jenny, and went into one of the spare bedrooms.

"Alright then, what?" said Percy, relaxing on his bed with pillow in hand.

"Alright then this!"

Jenny ran into the room and initiated the first pillow fight that those two had ever shared in their brief acquaintance. The both fought furiously, swinging the pillows with the speed of squash racquets; but Jenny was overmatched, and she eventually called upon a previously unknown reserve of aggression, and swung the pillow wildly towards Percy, knocking his own weapon out of his hand, and brought her own down hard on Percy's chest.

"You're the cheekiest cheat of a boy I've ever met! You're .... hurt."

"Oh ....., " groaned Percy, caressing his stomach with his hands.

"I'm sorry. I'll rub it better. Oh my poor Percy!"

Percy giggled hysterically.

"You're not hurting at all!"

"No, but I'll bet that's cured your attacking me for a while."

"Yes I think it has," giggled Jenny, and Percy sat up and hugged her.

It was all part of the fun.

The weeks went on, until there was only one week of Percy's stay at 66 Burnseid Street left.

They had a long and special cuddle in Jentil Manor on the last full day - the day before Percy's parents came to collect him - at Burnseid Street.

Then Percy and Jenny said their secret goodbyes.

Percy's parents had brought him some souvenirs, and he still had a week of holidays remaining in his own home, but nothing seemed to be fun anymore. Jenny was to move house again that year, but Percy was not to know.

At that stage in his young life, he would eventually be sufficiently distracted by hanging out with male friends, television shows, comic books, and all of the things that had occupied his mind in the years before he had met her, so that he was not continually depressed. However his heart would always hold a special place for his tenth summer, spent at his grandmother's house, and the days and nights of that period in which he had been privileged to enjoy the company of Jennifer Winters. Somehow the thought of Jenny chasing him was not as prevalent as the chasing and mischief scenes had been in the dreams of Miss Newkin and the Wanderer of Wahroonga. Yet the sweetness of Jenny as a giantess seemed to compensate.

Percy was lying in bed recalling what had happened to him in recent weeks.

            It began two months after Percy's young ten year old self had last seen the twelve             year old Jennifer Winters. He had been staying at his grandparents' house

            over the December and January Christmas holidays, while his parents were overseas.

            He had befriended a young girl who lived behind his grandparents' property. Her   name was Jenny Winters. She had encouraged him into an early youthful love affair

            which had been brought to an inevitable end by Percy's return to his parents' house at

            Killara in February, in time to start with sixth class.

            He was still missing Jenny in April. One day he concluded his Friday schooling

            and boarded a train to take him home to Killara. The train had arrived late and was

            therefore unusually crowded. He walked up and down the carriage searching for a

            vacant seat and found none.

            "You can sit beside me if you like, little boy," said a beautiful lady.

            She had her hair done similarly to Jenny's. It was tied behind her head, but not in a

            ponytail. It was blonde like Jenny's. The lady looked like an adult version of Jenny,

            except that Percy still thought Jenny to be the prettiest of the two.

            "Thank you," he said, "My doctor thinks I shall grow to about five foot seven when

            I'm an adult."

            "I'm Ilona, and I'm six foot five," she said.

            "Then I suppose I shall never be as big as you," he said, as she moved her bags to

            make room for him, "I'm Percy Dale."
            "Well Percy, you may sit beside me until I alight at Wahroonga. That way you won't

            have a crowded train to worry about."

            "Actually, I'd be getting off at Killara. My grandparents live at Wahroonga though."

            "Whereabouts?"

            "66 Burnseid Street."

            "Well why don't you come over for some afternoon tea and then catch the train, if you

            need to later? Maybe you'll like to stay."

            The offer was irresistible. A beautiful lady, who reminded him of Jennifer Winters

            was showing him every kindness. He would accept the offer. He felt happy sitting

            there with her beside him. It was almost like having a cuddle. This lady was a grown

            up, but she cared about a ten year old boy.

            "Thank you very much, Miss Ilona. I would like to have some afternoon tea."

            The train eventually pulled out of Killara. Some people had alighted at previous     stations, and there was now plenty of room. Percy had been looking at Ilona as often

            as possible, hoping that his keenness would not alter her intention to welcome him

            into her home.

            The thought of arriving home late at Killara was soon dismissed from his mind. He

            had been late before, to visit a friend, and Ilona was definitely to be considered as

            his friend. With Ilona's car, he would not have to face the exhausting walk with his

            schoolbag that would have been necessary, had he been allowed to visit Jenny.

            However, Jenny was a high school girl, and would be busy with her homework all

            afternoon.

            They left the train at Wahroonga, and Ilona drove him to her house, and parked in

            the street outside its twelve foot high stone wall. Ilona unlocked the door, showed

            Percy inside and locked it again. After walking across an expanse of garden, she took

            him into a large mansion which was luxuriously furnished and decorated.

            Ilona sat him at the kitchen table.

            "What would you like to eat and drink?"

            "Well what do you have?"

            "Ask for anything. I'm sure I'll be likely to have some."

            He chose cola and lamingtons, and enjoyed a generous supply of them. It was a     unique opportunity to eat as much of his chosen food as he wanted, and not be

            discouraged. Ilona was a generous host, he thought.

            After he had finished the thorough satisfaction of his sense of taste, he asked what

            time he should leave.

            "How about this: I'll show the house to you, little Percy. Then you'll see all of the

            rooms here."

            "There must be a lot of them."

            "There are."

            "Are there any other people who live here?"

            "No. I bought this house myself."

            "How old are you?"

            "Twenty-four."

            "I'm ten. I don't think I will be able to buy my own house when I'm twenty-four."

            "Why not?"

            "I would never have enough money."

            "I'm very rich, Percy. So I have all the money that I'll ever need. If you ever need

            something, I could buy it for you."

            They came to a bedroom which had a captivating view of the back garden.

            "Do you think this room would be a pleasant one to stay in?" she asked.

            "Yes. It's got lots of shelves to put things in too."

            "Maybe you could choose that as your very own room."

            "Do you mean you would let me stay here overnight sometimes?" asked Percy.

            "You may think of it as your own bedroom, Percy."

            "It's been awfully nice to meet you," said the boy, "It would never have happened, if

            the train had arrived on time."

            "Yes little Percy. Something wonderful has evolved from the tardiness of the train."

            "What does tardiness mean?"

            "Tardy means late."

            "I see. So what is your job? It must be something important, the way you earn so

            much money."

            "Actually, I don't have a job."

            "So how can you be so rich?"

            "I inherited all this from my parents when they died. I'm glad you came over today.

            It's nice to have somebody else here with me in this big lonely house."

            "Do you feel lonely sometimes?" asked Percy.

            "Yes, I often do. Now that you're here I feel happy instead."

            "I've been feeling lonely for two months."

            "Why did it start in February?"
            "I was living at my grandparents' house in the Christmas school holidays. I met a

            beautiful girl in the house behind us in Burns Road. We fell in love with each other,

            but when school started, I had to say goodbye to her. Nobody else even knew that

            we were friends, apart from Jenny's mother. Jenny's cousin Laura might know that

            I used to let Jenny kiss me, but she would be the only one who does know. I've been

            missing Jenny for the whole two months since it happened."
            "Maybe you won't miss her so much, now that you've seen my house. There's lots of

            places here for a little boy to play and enjoy himself."

            "It's very kind of you to show me all of this. Has anybody seen it, apart from me?"

            "No, Percy. You are the first visitor that I have had for years. I think very carefully

            about whom I would be prepared to trust inside my secret house inside the high

            walls."

            "When did you have a chance to think about me? We only just met this afternoon,"

            said Percy.

            "I thought about you on the train. There's something about you that makes me feel

            very sure that you are a special young boy, Percy."

            "Well you must be a special lady too."

            "How do you know that?"    

            "Because anybody else on the train would have just left me to stand up. You let me

            sit beside you, moving your bag for me."

            "I didn't think that you should have to miss out on sitting down, all because the train

            was running late. I hope you were comfortable."

            "Yes I was. Thank you very much for everything, Ilona. I suppose I will have to be

            going soon."

            "I was hoping that you would decide to sleep in your nice new bedroom tonight. I

            can give you  a nice big dinner and read you a story or something before you go to

            sleep."

            "I'm old enough to read my own stories now."

            "Then maybe we could play cards."

            "But my parents will be wondering where I am."

            "I can send them a letter explaining that you won't be coming home anymore," said

            Ilona.

            "But I would still like to go home myself," said Percy, "I've enjoyed being here, but

            I live in Killara."

            "Wouldn't you like to live here?"

            "Not all the time. I'd better be going now. Could you unlock the door at the front wall

            for me, please? I'll come back to visit you again another day, Ilona."

            "No Percy. You're going to stay here from now on. I've decided that you're going to

            live here in this house so that I'll always  be able to see you."

            "Why do you have to keep me here?"

            "I think you're a nice little boy, and I don't want to have to say goodbye to you, ever.

            You're going to live in this house for years, Percy. You can have whatever you like,

            but you must do what I tell you."

            "But I have lots of things at home. Can't I get my comics and toys before I settle in

            here?"
            "No. You might want to stay at Killara, if we went there to collect your things. I will

            buy you some new comics, and some toys too."

            "I don't want to be trapped here," he said.

            "Well you are trapped, Percy. You can never climb the stone wall, and I have the only

            key to the locked door. I'm a lot taller than you could ever grow up to be, and you will

            never escape from here. Why don't you just accept your situation and enjoy your new

            home? You shall have no chance at all to get away. I'll never let you go, Percy, at

            least not for many years. Come out to the kitchen and tell me what you would like for

            your dinner."

            Percy had no choice but to obey. He was completely in the lady's power. He         suggested fried chicken; and she put the television on for him to watch while she was

            cooking the meal. Eating dinner with her was an enjoyable experience, but he

            objected to being denied his personal freedom.

            After dinner Ilona produced a packet of cards, and he chose some games for them to

            play: fish, blackjack and five hundred.

            Finally it was time for him to go to bed. Ilona made the bed for him and tucked him in

            neatly.

            "Goodnight, Percy. I'm sure you will like being here, as soon as you get used to it,"

            she said.

            She brought her head down and he saw that she was going to kiss him. Her lips

            touched his right cheek. Then she smiled and withdrew them.

            "I'll see you tomorrow, Percy."

            He soon drifted off to sleep, but he awoke in the middle of the night and thought   about his situation. Ilona was beautiful to look at, and she would look after him for

            many years, but he would miss out on other things, which often seemed so much

            more important than a crush to a child. He would be like a prisoner. He knew that he

            wanted to be able to do things by making a free choice, rather than obeying the lady

            who had kidnapped him.

            "This is it," he thought, "My only chance to escape is at night. I'll have to find that

            key to the door. Ilona's too grown up to give me half a chance of getting away with it

            in the daytime. She won't miss the key while she's asleep though."

            Percy crept out of bed and quietly slipped off the pair of pyjamas that she had lent

            him. It was a pair of her own pyjamas, and it was too large for him. He had had to

            tighten the draw cord and roll up the legs and sleeves. She had said that she would

            soon buy him a pair of his own. Now he put his own clothes back on.

            "If I do make it to the street, I'll look exceptionally suspicious to anybody driving

            around tonight. I'll be a young boy wearing school clothes walking the streets in the

            middle of the night."

            Once dressed he slung his schoolbag over his shoulders, and tiptoed into Ilona's

            bedroom. She lay looking lovely, fast asleep, but he knew that he had to lift the key

            from her bedside table without making a sound. If she heard him and chased him,

            she would be able to catch him in no time and overpower him with the greatest of

            ease.

            He clasped the keys in one hand and the ring in the other, and lifted the lot up

            without causing any movement from the bunch of metal objects now in his

            possession.

            Ilona had not stirred at all.

            He must leave the house silently.

            "I don't know whether she's a light sleeper or a heavy one, but she might wake up to

            the sound of the front door opening, if I'm not careful about it."

            He left the room and found his way to the front door, using only the small portion of

            moonlight that fell in through the closed windows. When he reached the door he

            gripped the handle tightly, paused to summon his nerves, and then turned it,  planning

            to gently ease the handle back after the door had been opened, rather than letting it

            click back into place.

            He pulled the door open. It made no sound at all, but to his utter surprise, an electric

            buzzer sounded from Ilona's room.

            "She's had the house alarmed," he thought, as he ran towards the front wall, hoping to

            find the door quickly in the darkness, "She'll be up and after me as soon as she notices

            that her keys are missing."

            He was nearing the wall when he heard her calling from the front door:

            "Come back, little boy! I'll catch you, Percy."

            He frantically turned the key, as she ran towards him, opened the door with a haste           that was in itself a perfect antithesis of the way that he had opened the front door, and           ran down the footpath. Ilona caught him up in less than one minute. He had only   emitted two cries for help before she cupped his mouth, lifted him up and carried him             back inside her property.

            He went to sleep and had a dream that she had reduced him in size to ensure that he          would not escape, and he had made his attempt, awoken her, and been pursued in the   night, recaptured and taken inside and kept beside Ilona’s head on her pillow, so that         he could not elude her again. This appealed to him in a strange way. He saw his lack    of freedom in a new and more arousing light.

*          *          *          *

            In the weeks ahead Percy enjoyed playing all sorts of games from sports to box     games with Ilona.

            He avoided suggesting hide and seek, for fear that she might see it as an

            attempt to escape. However, one day she chose the game herself.

            "I'd better hide in the house rather than the garden," he thought, "Since I can't use this

            game to escape the property anyway, I would be wise to give the impression of not

            even wanting to."

            Percy concealed himself under a pile of bedclothes which were lying on the floor  in

            the hallway awaiting a journey to the washing machine. Ilona counted for three

            minutes and then called out:

            "Here I come, Percy!"

            She searched the gardens first and then came into the house. She stepped right over

            his hiding place and continued on into the nearest room. She searched in cupboards,

            under beds and behind the doors of all the rooms, but she eventually gave up.

            "I can't find you Percy. Where are you?" she called out.

            He waited until she came down the hallway again and then jumped up with

            bedclothes still wrapped about him.

            "There you are! Oh you look cute like that."

            Ilona lifted him up and gave him a cuddle. It was a nice experience, and he waited

            until she put him down, before he started to think about what had happened.

            "Well I fooled her. She never guessed that I was under there. I would have at least

            thought of looking under the pile of sheets and blankets, after I had lost the chance

            of success in all the obvious places. Maybe I can win this by being cleverer than

            she is," he thought.

            It was Ilona's turn to hide.

            "It should be harder for her," he thought, "because she's bigger than I am. There are

            fewer places small enough to conceal her."

            Percy counted his three minutes and then decided to use as much stealth as the hidden

            person.

            "Some people move around rather than hiding in the one place for hide and seek. I've

            done that myself, when I played with Jenny and Laura. It would be to Ilona's

            advantage to move around and hope to spy on my attempts to find her. She has the

            speed advantage of longer legs and the size disadvantage of fewer places to hide. So

            she would be better off to find me and stay out of sight behind me. So the best thing

            for the seeker to do is remain as well hidden as the hider. I'll have to creep around and

            surprise her. She'll give herself away with noisy movements, if she doesn't know I'm

            nearby. If I'm this good at outwitting her, it's a real wonder that I haven't broken out

            of Ilona's childproof prison fortress yet," thought Percy.

            He called out to Ilona that he was coming to find her.

            He tiptoed through the house on the balls of his feet, listening for even the slightest

            scuffles or sounds of breathing. There was still no sign of Ilona.

            "Maybe she used her longer arms and legs to climb up somewhere," he thought. I'll

            save looking up from the bases of trees until last."

            He stepped out of one of the side doors and crept around the house staying between         the walls and any available bush cover. The second window he passed made him

            stop and think.

            "She's been past this one. She must be creeping around, peeking in the windows to

            see if she can locate me in there. This part of the glass that's not obscured by the bars

            is a hint that she was there, because it has fogged up to show that the glass was

            recently the target of somebody's breathing."

            He crept around as fast as he could and soon came up behind her.

            "Hello Ilona," he said.

            "Percy! You're very clever. It looks like you've won both games of hide and seek.

            What shall we play now?"

            "Chasings and tips would be no good at all, because you would always catch me. I

            would never catch you, and I'd be out of breath in no time at all."

            "Yes, it wouldn't be very fair to you. I could give you a piggyback ride into the house

            if you need a rest."

            "Well I don't need a rest, Ilona. Can I have the piggyback anyway, because it would

            be fun to ride on your back?"

            "Of course you can, little Percy."
            She knelt down and let him climb onto her back.

            "Don't worry, Ilona. I know that you should never pull tightly on somebody's neck,

            when you're having a piggyback ride. It might choke a person."

            "That's exceptionally sensible, Percy. If I choked and fell over, you would fall down

            too. Now into the house we go."

            She carried him into the living room and let him down onto the couch. Then she sat

            down beside him and put her arms in two places. Her left arm went around Percy's

            shoulders, and her right hand reached down to hold Percy's right hand gently.

            "Are you enjoying yourself today?" she asked.

            "I enjoy myself every day now. I don't know how I ever used to put up with going to

            school and having to do boring things all day. You make every day of the week a

            lot of fun. Now I shall never be bored or lonely again, all because of you Ilona."

            For a twelve year old like Jenny, on the borderlines of becoming a teenaged girl,

            the acting would have been a major accomplishment. For the ten year old Percy

            Dale it was a superb masterpiece of thespian espionage. The trained observer

            would have perceived no suspicion at all to be emanating from Ilona, because there

            was none.

            "I'm so proud of you, Percy. You have come a long way since you first moved in

            here. To think that you tried to run away the first night."

            "Thank you for bringing me back and showing me that it was worth staying here,"

            said Percy.

            "You're absolutely welcome," said Ilona.

            He saw her leaning towards him, bringing her face closer to his cheek. The lonely

            Percy Dale of subsequent years would spend most of his times reflecting on the

            fact that most ten year old boys were not fortunate enough to have a beautiful adult

            lady kissing their cheeks whenever the opportunity arose. A lot of them would not

            even have an appreciation of such things. He would also reflect on the fact that he

            could have been encouraging the lady to expose a child to romance way ahead of his

            time. However, he wasn't.

Finally Ilona's kissing of Percy's cheek came to a complete halt, as Ilona announced

            the need to prepare Percy's dinner as well as her own.

            "I could do worse than to stay here," he thought, "I would probably never be in any

            danger. I would never have to work at all. I would be with a beautiful lady and have

            all of the nice things a boy could want. Still I know it isn't right to let her get away

            with kidnapping me. So I must escape. The question is: Will she ever forgive me, if

            I succeed?"

*          *          *          *

            "Would you like me to teach you how to dance?" she asked him after they had eaten

            their dinner.

            "It would be lovely to dance with you, Ilona," said Percy, looking into her eyes with

            genuine admiration of everything she had done for him other than holding him there           against his will.

            "Then I will teach you after dinner has been cleared up," she said, and proceeded to

            clear the table.

*          *          *          *

            She held his hands gently and instructed his movements as they danced around the

            floor slowly.

            "Do you like dancing?" she asked.

            "Well it's fun with you, except that I can't be close to your beautiful face down here.

            I'm a lot shorter than you are," he said.

            "I can solve that problem, little boy," said Ilona. She put a table in the centre of the

            room and lifted Percy up onto it.

            "There, Percy. Now we're roughly the same height," she said, "So I'll hold your

            hands and follow with you from the floor while you dance around the edge of the table. We won't be able to do crossovers, but we'll have a nice dance."

            He was almost ready to abandon the idea of escape.

            "All of this would have to be sacrified purely because she is doing the wrong thing,

            and yet I believe that I should escape from that, and I do still miss Jenny Winters

            too. Maybe I just might meet her again one day," he thought.

            He went to bed with every intention of continuing his facade with Ilona, enjoying

            it while he had to, and waiting for the chance to escape. The bottom line was that Ilona couldn’t reduce him to tiny size, and he might as well look for a way back to his regular life.

*          *          *          *

            "There'll be no end of fun and thrills with these three great toys: remote control plane,

            remote control boat and remote control car..."
            Percy watched the advertisement and then the cartoons returned to the television

            screen.

            "Ilona," he asked at breakfast, "Did you say you would be able to buy things for me?"

            "Of course I will, Percy. Have you found something you like?"
            "I'd better ask for the whole set," he thought, "Otherwise she might smell a rat. If she

            does happen to expect me to choose one, then I shall ask for the plane."

            He asked her if she could go and buy one of each of the three remote control models

            for him and some batteries to work their remote controls and the models themselves.

            "Why certainly, Percy. I'll bring it all home for you this morning, and you'll have

            plenty of room to play with them in the large gardens outside this house."

            "Thank you Ilona. Just think of the war games we could have if we each took one."

            "We would have to leave the boat out of it, and save it up for the bath. I might have a

            swimming pool built in the garden one day."

*          *          *          *

            While Ilona was out, Percy found some paper and a pen. He proceeded to write the

            following in small capital letters:

                        ATTENTION PLEASE. MY NAME IS PERCY DALE. I HAVE

                        BEEN MISSING FOR SOME WEEKS NOW.

                        THERE MIGHT BE A BIG REWARD FOR YOU.

                        ANYWAY, CAN YOU PLEASE TELL THE POLICE THAT I HAVE

                        BEEN KIDNAPPED BY A LADY WHO WANTS TO ADOPT ME

                        WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?

                        I AM INSIDE THE FOUR HIGH WALLS THAT ARE BUILT AROUND

                        THE HOUSE AT THE ADDRESS WRITTEN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF

                        THIS SHEET OF PAPER.

                        YOU MAY KEEP THIS PLANE, BUT I COULD NOT FLY THE

                        CONTROL DEVICE OVER THE WALL AS WELL.

                        PLEASE HURRY!

                        THIS MAY BE MY LAST HOPE OF BEING RESCUED!

                                    PERCY DALE.

            He turned the sheet over, wrote the address on the back, and then took off his right           shoe and sock. He concealed the message under the arch of his foot and covered it            with the sock and then the shoe. He paced around the room and convinced himself             that he could achieve the necessary deception.

"Good. It doesn't rustle about in my sock when I walk. When Ilona returns, I'll pretend to be keen to have her accompany me to run the boat in the bathtub until she eventually insists on making lunch. Then I will still have a full supply of battery power  in the plane. I'll have to work fast and secretly while she is making lunch. Luckily the  kitchen's at the back of the house. She'll never see the plane clear the

            front wall and head for the street. I'll have to show a major interest in the car, the   boat, or a completely different game, so that she doesn't notice the plane's absence too           soon after  lunch. I'll have to allow time for the person who finds the plane to use it,          before she goes out looking for it. Then I can confess everything. She will have to let    me go   and hopefully flee herself. Once we're out in the street she won't be able to             make me go  with her, without my causing a scene at some stage."

*          *          *          *

            Ilona returned with all three toys.

            "The shop has included batteries in all of them, Percy. So you can play with them             without having to change the batteries over, as soon as you like."

            "Could you come and watch me do the boat in the bathtub?" he asked.

            "Why not? We've still got an hour before I need to start working on that curry we're          going to have for lunch."

            Percy had chosen a curry, which he knew from previous experiences of waiting, took        a long time to cook. Ilona would be well and truly occupied by the time Percy had         launched his call for help.

            Lunch was eventually declared the next order of Ilona's business, and she herself    added to Percy's happiness by suggesting that he go outside and try the other two        toys.

            He walked out the front, left her to return to the regular task of preparing their meals,        and removed his shoe and sock. He opened the cockpit of the plane, inserted the             folded piece of paper and sent his most recent attempt at securing his liberty over the       front wall and crashing down somewhere in the street below.

            "Someone must find it," he told himself, as he tied his right shoelaces up again, "I'll            have to confess it soon after lunch, I suppose. If it hasn't worked, she'll go out and        find it anyway."

*          *          *          *

            "How are the others?" she asked at lunch.

            "I haven't tried the car yet, but you should see the plane go. Let's try the car on that          clear stretch of grass out the back after lunch."
            "Alright Percy."

            "Thank you for buying all three of them, Ilona, and for the batteries too."

            "You're very welcome. I said you could have anything, and I'm so glad that you     finally asked for something."

            "I would feel guilty, if you spent your money on special presents all the time, but I           thought I should wait for something I really liked. You were very generous."

*          *          *          *

            "The car works well, Percy. Now I only need to see the plane."
            They had eaten lunch at a leisurely pace, and spent an hour playing with the car after        that. If somebody hadn't found his crash offering by now, then he had no hope of           liberty from Ilona's imprisonment anyway.

            "Well actually, I can't use the plane anymore. I started it up at the front of the house,        and it flew up towards the street. I could make it go forwards easily, but the steering         dial on the remote control did  not seem to stop it from flying right over the wall and         crashing somewhere, I suppose. I guess it was very silly of me."

            "Don't be sad, Percy. It wasn't your fault if it didn't work. I can always buy you   another plane, with a new remote control too."

            "You're very understanding to me, Ilona."

            It had all come to him, even as she had asked. What was there to lose? Why not stall         for even more time?
            And she had taken the bait!

            Ilona was not even going to bother searching for a plane that she thought must       obviously have been broken beyond any constructive repair. He decided to wait one     more hour, and then give Ilona a chance to escape from the police.

            "By that time  it will be half past three, and half the school children will be close to           home. Somebody must find it by then."

*          *          *          *

            "Ilona, I have set up a sneaky trap for you, I'm afraid," he said.

            They were playing cards.

            "What do you mean?"
            "I sent a call for help out on a piece of paper wrapped in the plane's cockpit. I made it      while you were buying the plane. The police will be here soon."

            "Oh no!  I'll have to leave. I can get at my money, but I will never be able to use this          house again. You fooled me well over all these weeks Percy, but why did you tell me          now? You could have waited for the police to break that locked door down."

            "I have to give you a chance to get away."

            "Why don't you want to see me arrested?"
            "You remind me so much of my Jenny. Liking you wasn't a trick. I really did like you       the whole time. The only trick was me pretending not to try to escape from here."

            "There's no way I could drag you along now. I'll have to let you go. You're a clever            boy, tricking me into buying that plane for you."

            She collected some small personal items and then led him out to the gate, unlocked it         and put her arms on his shoulders in the street.

            "I guess this is goodbye, Percy."

            He burst into tears.

            "I hated being trapped here, but I'll miss you, Ilona. I'll miss you very much. You're a        pretty lady."

            They hugged each other.

            "I don't want you to go to jail. You never really did anything to hurt me," said Percy,        still crying.

            "Thank you very much for warning me about what you had done."
            "I would have warned you earlier, but I had to be sure that the plane would be found         before you noticed it missing."

            "I understand. You were brilliant."

            They heard the sound of an approaching siren several blocks away.

            "Percy, I will never get away in time. They will arrest me."

            "No they won't, Ilona. You hide in the front garden bushes next door until I can draw        them all inside. I'll let them think you're still in the house. I'll be keen to show them        the alarms on the house doors, and everything I can to get them inside. You slip away       when the coast is clear," said Percy

            "Thank you, Percy!"

            She kissed his cheek and ran for the bushes next door.

            Soon the police wagon arrived. Two officers stepped out, as well as the local

            postman, who held the remains of the plane in his hand.

            "I saw it lying on the road," he explained, "and thought of doing it up for my son, but

            then I found your letter. It took some time to convince the police I wasn't making a

            game or a joke, but I am glad you're alright, lad."

            "She seems to have gone out, after she bought me the toys," he said, "It gave me my

            chance to escape. You should see the alarms on the doors and the barred windows.

            She has had me here for weeks."

            "We might never catch up with her," said a policeman, "but we'll all search the house

            now. It might give us some clue as to where she went."

Percy Dale walked home from Killara Station. He was eleven, and it had been some months since he had spent an enjoyable Christmas holiday period of his life with Jennifer Winters, the twelve year old girl who lived in the house behind Ordinairy Man Manor. He had been ten when he had met that girl when he was ten, and had since turned eleven.

On this particular day, he just come home from Waverton Boys Preparatory School, located two streets from Waverton Station. It was a Wednesday afternoon. Percy made himself a hastily prepared afternoon tea consisting of chocolate wafer biscuits and fruit juice. He then turned his attention to his homework.

Mathematics was easy for him. If he learnt the new rule or formula for the lesson at school, he could complete a number of homework questions in very little time. English grammar was similar, although compositions required and extra degree of thought. Social studies was the problem. Percy did not lend himself graciously to the task of exploring an atlas, and he had equal difficulty in writing an essay about a portion of world history. In time, Percy would move up into Waverton Boys High School, which was around the corner from its preparatory counterpart. There, Percy would discover, social studies was replaced by two subjects: history and geography. Fortunately, he would be able to abandon geography in pursuit of a foreign language subject in school year eight, also referred to as second year in high school. The foreign languages he studied in high school would prove useful in his adult Sneaky Spy adventures overseas.

After making a reasonable effort at his homework, Percy found other ways to amuse himself, until it was time for dinner. He then read a chapter of a novel before lying down, switching off his reading light and preparing to go to sleep. He could never drop off to sleep immediately after dinner.  

Having decided that dinner was the most counterproductive meal of the day, Percy would spend up to an hour reading in his bedroom between dinner and sleep, in order that the revitalising effects of the food would be somewhat negated.

Now it was time to relax and enter the world which was different in many ways, each time one went to visit it. To Percy, the world of dreams would alter at least once every twenty-four hours, depending on how many dreams he would have in one night.
Percy was soon sound asleep. The weeks and weeks of sixth class that he had, in reality endured that year had been replaced by the end of those Christmas holidays. He was still ten years old, and he was about to commence his first day of sixth class. He wondered about his teacher. Would learning be fun? It had been enjoyable in the previous year, if he ignored certain unpleasant events.

He arrived at school at half past eight, which gave him about half an hour to spend in the playground, before the school bell announced the unwritten instruction to move into the classrooms. One of the teachers had left the school at the end of fifth class, Percy remembered, and there had been some talk of rearranging the remaining teachers' classes, and leaving one free for the replacement teacher. Percy wondered about the likelihood of sixth class being taught by the new teacher. Sometimes new teachers were easier to get to know, because they were politely feeling their way around an unfamiliar system in a previously un-encountered area of educational territory.

"What did you do in the holidays, Percy?" asked one of the boys.

The question rang like a fire alarm in Percy's ears.

"Oh no," he thought, "I cannot tell people about Jenny. She was my little secret. Now she's gone. How would these boys understand about the cubby house in the bushes, the Christmas party we had, the chasings and the hide and seek in the gardens at night, the adventures as Sir Percival Knight and Princess Jentil, and worst of all how much it made me feel so sad to say goodbye to her?"

He thought about it and eventually replied, "Oh nothing much. I just did a few things at home."

"You never go away, do you? How boring. Good one, Percy."

Time rolled on in the dream world, and then the bell rang. Percy walked into the classroom and sat down in the front row. He would be close to the door at recess, lunch and at the end of the day. He would also have easy access to the garbage bin, and would have less distance to walk, if he needed to bring a question out to the teacher's desk in order to ask for help. There was one more reason for sitting almost in front of the teacher. Percy would be able to get on with his work, because any attempts to harrass him would be more readily seen by a teacher if he sat in the front row.

"I wonder if we'll get old Wacky," said one of the boys. The origin of the nickname of the teacher concerned had never been publicly declared. Percy had guessed at three possible reasons. Firstly, linguistic corruption could be responsible for converting Mister Jackson's name to Jacky and then Wacky.  Secondly, the word Wacky could refer to the suspicions held by numerous people, that Mister Jackson was becoming senile in his later years of life. Finally, Mister Jackson's nickname could act as an alternate adjective, pertaining to Jackson's reputation with a long thin stick. He was known, in the educational circles at Waverton Boys Preparatory School as being "the hardest caner in the prep."

"Well I hope we don't," said Percy, turning his head around to look back at the boy who had first mentioned Mr Jackson.

"Don't you have any respect for the school rules?"

The voice came from the doorway into the classroom.

It was not Jackson's.

Percy turned his head back to face the front of the classroom, feeling most unfortunate about the likelihood of the teacher arriving as soon as he had turned his back.

The voice sounded vaguely familiar, as it continued: "Yes, you. Turn around, face the front and stop talking. You should be quietly waiting for the first class of the year to start. Your behaviour is absolutely shameful for somebody in the first few minutes of sixth class."
"So we do have the new teacher, and all of the good things about that may not happen now," he thought, "I've gotten off to a bad start with a brand new teacher, and now all my hopes about a fresh new year have gone to waste. Why oh why did I have to turn my back and talk? It's just not like me to do that, but somehow I did."

Such is the confusion of events which occur in a dream, where a person can act in a manner which is highly inconsistent with his character, then recognise the fact and face the humiliating scarcity of explanations for such an apparently incongruous act of misbehaviour.

He felt a strange mixture of emotions revolving in his mind. This new teacher had been a surprise to him, a shock which had taken him into an unexpected round of embarrassment. Despite the surprise, Percy had the confused suspicion that he knew this teacher in some distant way.

He racked his brains and shovelled into the soil of his memory, searching for the chronological location of any clue which may serve to remind him of a possible previous encounter with this teacher.

"Well now that you're all quiet," said the teacher, "You can write my name in your home lesson books, and then copy down the class timetable as I write it on the blackboard. My name is Miss Winters."

"That's it," thought Percy, "but how? Jenny Winters didn't have a sister, and this lady doesn't look like Jenny's mother. She looks and sounds like an older Jenny. It makes no sense. Jenny should be twelve, and with her hair up in a ponytail. It's crazy. She's too different from Jenny to be Jenny; but she's also too much like Jenny for her not to be Jenny. I cannot be making it up. She had a voice I remembered even before I turned around to see her walking angrily into the room. She must be Jenny Winters. I've got to understand all this somehow."

Percy realised that he had been lost in thought. Miss Winters rubbed Monday's timetable off the board, in order to make room for Wednesday's.

She looked at least as  pretty as young Jenny Winters had been, probably even prettier, Percy decided. Percy turned to look at the timetable for Monday on the desk adjacent to his. The boy let Percy copy it.

"You again!" snapped Miss Winters, "What's your name?"

"You already know," thought Percy, before he almost made the mistake of saying it out aloud.

"It's Percy Dale, Miss Winters."

"Well Percy, why can't you copy from the blackboard like all the other boys?"

"I didn't get all of Monday's stuff written down, Miss Winters."

In truth, the brain has two sides, one that dreams and one that reads, making it impossible to read anything in a dream.

"Let's see what you're missing," she said as she approached his desk, "What? You haven't even started it! You naughty little boy! You can stay in at recess and I'll dictate the timetable to you then. I'll teach you to sit in my classes doing nothing."

Percy was almost in tears from the surprise. She did not remember him. There was no sense in attempting to relate the story of their Christmas holidays adventures to her. She would probably punish him further. There was nothing to do except try to find proof that she was Jenny Winters. Then and only then could he attempt to tell her the truth and ask her some questions.

"Well maybe it's good that I have to stay in at recess," he decided, "It will be just her and me. Maybe I can find out something then."

They finished copying the timetable, and then started the first lesson. It was social studies, and Percy found it unusually interesting, enjoyable, and for reasons only possible in a dream, he was able to do it well. He even scored full marks in the quiz at the end of the lesson.

"Jenny had a better way of teaching it just now than my old teacher had last year," he thought, and then he realised that he had called her Jenny without thinking, "but Jenny Winters and I used to be equals and friends and in love, like on television. Now this Miss Winters thinks that I am a trouble causer, and she's my teacher. She is older and looks down on me and doesn't like me. If only I could know it was really her and things could be happy again."

An idea suddenly came to Percy as he was putting his social studies quiz into his desk, leaving the desktop free to receive the mathematics exercises being handed out as Miss Winters paced the rows of the classroom. Jenny had been taller than Percy, and Miss Winters, a lady apparently in her mid twenties towered over these sixth class schoolboys. She was one of the tallest ladies Percy had seen. How had she managed to be so similar to Jennifer Winters, and yet so different?
"I know," thought Percy, "There is one way to make any teacher like me. I'll work very well, better than all the other boys. If I can do this well in social studies, the maths and English will be so easy. Then she will like me enough to believe that I used to know her, or someone very much like her. Then she can perhaps be like Jenny Winters again, sort of. I can see her every day at school. Imagine that. Instead of school being awful because I never see the girl I missed, I will be able to look forward to going to school for five days a week, and that will make the weekends worse than school instead, because school will be better. Maybe I can even see Miss Winters on weekends too. That would be something."

"Alright boys," said Miss Winters, "You won't be able to get your books from the school shop until after lunch. So these are just some more exercises to keep you all thinking until later. If you get stuck, go onto the next ones, and we'll go through it all in about twenty minutes."

Percy began to work through the mathematics exercise, until his train of thought was interrupted again by the voice of Miss Winters:

"Well I think you're all doing a good job at social studies. I've just worked out that Benjamin got the second highest mark, and the top mark was one hundred per cent in social studies, so someone else did even better."

Why had Miss Winters read out Benjamin's name and mark and ignored Percy's name?

"I got higher than Ben. Well I'll do even better in maths anyway," thought Percy.

To exceed a score of full marks is hardly a plausible feat. However, Percy's intention to improve on his social studies performance when he did mathematics was based on his hopes of achieving full marks while all other boys in the class achieved considerably less than Benjamin's social studies score, when their marks were totalled up for the mathematics quiz.

*          *          *          *

Percy achieved his goal, but he was still unable to comprehend why Miss Winters again declined to mention his name. He put his hand in the air and waited until Miss Winters noticed him and said "Yes Percy."

"Who got full marks each time in maths and social studies, Miss-"

"How do you know it was the same person each time?" asked Miss Winters.

"Well I don't, but I just meant whichever two people it was. I mean, I'd like to know."

"Why don't you mind your own business and think about your own marks?"
"Yes Miss Winters."

"You can all go to recess now, except for Percy Dale," said Miss Winters.

The other boys left the classroom, and Miss Winters began to dictate the timetable. Percy wrote it down in his book and wondered if she would say anything about the Jennifer Winters girl whom Percy could not forget.

"After all, we're alone now. Maybe Miss Winters was keeping it secret, and she does remember me," thought Percy.

"That's better. Now why can't you copy it off the board like everyone else in the class?"

"Well I'm sorry. I was just daydreaming by accident."

"Why do you daydream in class time? Are my lessons supposed to be too boring for you?"

"No, they're good. I was just thinking about a friend I used to know."

"Well please do your daydreaming at home. Any more of it in class, and you can do detentions after school to make up for the work that you miss out on while you're thinking about your friends."

"I won't do it again, Miss Winters."

"I'm a new teacher here, Percy, but that doesn't mean that I don't know what little schoolboys get up to. If you want to misbehave, then you'll be punished for it. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Miss Winters."

"I hope so, because if I have any more trouble from you, then you will have a lot of trouble from me. I'm here to make you all work hard for the whole term. You're in sixth class now, not kindergarten or pre-school. I just won't put up with all the antics that silly little boys get up to."

Percy put his home lesson book in his desk, and Miss Winters allowed him to venture out into the playground for the remaining five minutes of recess.

"Would you like me to carry your bag to the teachers' room, Miss Winters?"

"I'll carry it myself, thank you, and you just be seated at your desk quietly when class resumes in five minutes."

Percy was avoiding fact and fiction with equally definite prejudice. He had copied from another boy, and come top of the class. He faced a losing battle. If he worked his hardest, he would avoid trouble, but receive no mention of Miss Winters' apparent counterpart Jenny.

Percy had no problems with the double period of recess between recess and lunch. At lunch time,  Percy decided to put his suspicions to the test.

"All I need to do is to climb into the teachers' room while the teachers are out supervising the playground. Then I can look for some way of checking to see if Miss Winters is called Jenny."

Percy stole around behind the school building and located the teachers' room. The room was empty and the window was open.

"Hooray for summer," thought Percy as he climbed through the open window. He found Miss Winters' pigeon hole, and then her books. All he could see in the inside covers of her books was the same unintelligible group of letters, which his mind could not read in the dream.

"Another failure," thought Percy. It had been merely enough to whet his appetite, without giving him any certainties. He still had to find another way to determine whether or not the J definitely stood for Jenny.

"And what do you think you're doing?"

It was the voice of Miss Winters.

Percy rapidly turned away from her books, and composed a lie.

"Well I was playing hide and seek, Miss Winters, and I was really sure that nobody would think to look for me in here."

"Hide and seek! What nonsense! You were going to steal my books, weren't you? Why don't you eat your lunch at lunchtime, like everyone else does?"

"I was going to eat it."

"When? Where is your lunch now?"

"In my schoolbag in the classroom."

"Well fetch it at once and bring it back here. It's a good thing I remembered to come back for my tuckshop money, or I would never have caught you in here."

Percy soon returned with his lunch.

"Now Percy, I have to buy my lunch, but from now on I won't bother. Since you're too busy hiding in teachers' rooms to eat your lunch, you're going to secretly give it to me, as well as your recess food every day. If you don't bring me all of it every day, I'll tell the rest of the school that I caught you trying to steal things in here, and then you will be expelled from the school."

He could only sit and watch her gobble down his lunch, knowing that he would now have to surrender all of his food to her on a daily basis in order to escape being punished for a nonesuch theft, when he had actually been attempting to conceal a minor act of espionage.

As she finished off his sandwiches, Percy had an idea. If he could see her wearing her hair in a ponytail, he would know a little more about the similarities between Miss Winters and Jenny Winters.

"Miss Winters, could you do something to help me? I could bring you extra food if you do. I was writing a poem called 'Going to the Barber's' for a hobby at home. I found a word that rhymes well with ponytail, but I don't know what a ponytail looks like, because I have never seen anybody wear their hair that way. Could you hold your hair in a ponytail with your hand, just for a minute?"

"Percy Dale, I'm not about to do a favour for a boy who won't stop breaking the school rules. Now you go out into the playground and don't forget to bring me your lunch, and your recess food too, every day; and if I catch you eating anything yourself in this school, I'll have you expelled for coming in here."

*          *          *          *

"Alright, we've got two periods left. I can't give you any more maths or social studies work until you've got your books, so I think you had better all write a composition in this period, and I'll mark them next period while you go and get the new books."

Percy decided that he was too shy a boy to confront Miss Winters with the truth.

"I've had two chances alone with her today and I couldn't do it. I'll use this composition to tell her about Jenny and myself, only I'll disguise it a bit," thought Percy. He began to write (not in words, but in his mind):

                        There was once a girl called Jean Wilkie who lived in

                        a nice house. One day she met a boy called Presley,

                        who invited her over to his house to play chasings and

                        hidings. One day they couldn't see each other anymore.

                        So Presley missed her, but when he thought he

                        recognised her somewhere else one day, she couldn't

                        remember him.

                        He bought her some lunch, but she still didn't

                        remember him. He knew that he had to solve the

                        mystery. So he tried all sorts of ideas, but they only

                        got him into trouble. Eventually, he felt so sad that he

                        just sat down and wished that Jean Wilkie would

                        remember him. He wasn't even sure that it was Jean

                        Wilkie, but he was pretty close to sure. She seemed the

                        same, and also different. He decided that it would have

                        to stay a mystery, until she proved who she really was.

                                                            THE END.

*          *          *          *

"Well I did some marking while you were all getting your books. I don't know where some of you get your ideas from, but they're all very well written, for sixth class boys anyway. You can all go home now, and remember to look at your timetables each day and get out the correct books to start first period."

Percy absorbed the fact that his composition had failed to invoke a reaction from Miss Winters.

"She caught me when I stole into the teachers' room at lunchtime," thought Percy, "but I'm sure I know her. I don't know how old she is now, and I don't know how she got that way in less than a month, but I am going to find out. She won't catch me creeping into her house, until it is too late."

"But how can you find her house?" said the silent mentally questioning voice which represented the cynical side of his young mind.

"That will be so easy," thought Percy, "because I will just let her show me the way."

He used his chemistry set to invent a shrinking formula, took it and reduced his size unnoticed in the empty teachers’ room, and then hid himself inside Miss Winters’ handbag. He would now be taken to her home by Miss Winters herself.

Now Miss Winters could not drive, and this would be the logical inability of a person who would be the age of young Jennifer Winters. Instead, she walked to a house located in Wollstonecraft, two small suburbs away. He was finally doing something for a lengthy period of time, and managing to avoid being caught in the act. Everything he had attempted had resulted in his own humiliation. He was finally able to outwit the lady who bore the surname and initial of his friend Jennifer Winters.

He waited until he heard her entering the house and putting down the handbag, and leaving the room. Then he crept out of the bag and heard her on the telephone. He found himself listening to an unhappy mixture of tears and words. It had been intended for the recipient of her telephone call, but its volume had no trouble penetrating a closed window. It reached the ears of Percy Dale in time to inform him that Miss Winters was speaking to-

"Laura, it's been an awful day. You're the only one who knows all of this. I couldn't believe myself at school, but it was the only thing I could think of to do."

"Laura," remembered Percy, "the name of Jennifer Winters' eleven year old cousin."

"Laura, how can I give the boy good or bad marks for a composition like that?"

"Yeah, figures," thought Percy.

"Laura, it's too much to cope with right now. I'm going to lie out the back on the hammock and sleep until whenever. If I had the energy, I'd prepare myself some dinner, and with daylight saving going on, I could eat out in the garden, but all I want to do now is sleep."

Percy waited for her to say goodbye, after which she put down the receiver and was soon settled in the hammock.

"Well that's good," thought Percy, "She left me an open back door."

With Miss Winters asleep in the hammock, Percy was able to walk through the back door, discarding his need to use the side boundary bushes for cover. He made his way towards the sleeping woman, enjoying the realisation of his giantess fantasy.

We do not know if, and if so what type of dreams were being encountered by Miss Winters. However, we know that she awoke to see a tiny boy standing beside the hammock.

"Percy! How did you find me and get here so small?"

He explained.

Miss Winters had broken her pattern of belittling his every word and action.

"Miss Winters, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, I guess."

"And you'll answer truthfully?"
"I'll try... if I think it's something you have a right to know about."

"And you won't punish me again?"

"Of course not."

"Then who are you really?"

"I'm Jennifer Winters, formerly of Burns Road Wahroonga," said Miss Winters.

"Jenny, you are Jenny! I've always suspected it, but how did you become a teacher, a lady over twice my young age? Why did you pretend not to know me, and be so unfriendly to me at school?"

"I wanted to tell you when I caught you, looking for what J stood for, I suppose. Then I wanted to show you a ponytail like this."

She held her hair up in a ponytail. She looked just like the Jenny that Percy knew well.

"So why not?"

"Because I'm older now. I was afraid you wouldn't understand, that you wouldn't want to be my handsome young boyfriend any more. I'm an adult, Percy, and you're a handsome young boy. We used to be neighbours of neighbouring ages. I was hoping to frighten you away to a new school, so we'd never see each other, until I could work out how to fix myself. I could only get a job at Waverton Boys Preparatory School, because they happened to have a job that didn't need experience. How can I have experience and prove it, when I was twelve only a month ago? Now I must be twenty-four. Oh Percy, you just wouldn't understand."

"Tell me, and of course I'll understand. I recognised you, didn't I? That was before you wanted me to find out."

"I just woke up the day after you left your grandmother's house, and I was a grown adult. I told Laura about it on the telephone, and then felt a strange urge to come here, where I found an empty house with a key in the door lock. I found furniture, but no people in the house. I knew I could stay here, and that's why I knew that I had to take the job offer from your school. They both came to me in the same area, the house and the job."

"Maybe it happened so that we could be together. It's actually easier for us now than it was when you were a twelve year old girl living in Wahroonga and going to a girls school."

"I don't know how I changed, but I'm sure Laura would love to be a girlfriend of yours if

you-"

"I don't want to be Laura's boyfriend."

"But she'd be your own age."

"I love you Jenny. I'm young and I don't understand love the way some people do, but if you really still love me, then we could be special friends at school."

"But look at your size, and I thought I’d changed! Percy, I’ve just had an amazing idea! You look so nice and small that I can eat you for my dinner!”

It was in that moment that the young boy understood why he had been dreaming about being shrunken and chased by giant ladies and girls for years. The focus had always been on the smiles and laughter of their mouths. He had subconsciously wanted to be shrunken, chased and EATEN by a beautiful woman. And this Jenny wanted to do it.

"Well it's more useful than an apple for the teacher," said Percy.

Jenny giggled adorably.

“No, really, I mean it, Percy. You’ll go down whole in a few gulps!”

"Oh Jenny, this is what I hoped for all the time."

"Even though you seemed to know I was older?"

"And you must stop worrying about that. The problem wasn't that you were older. The thing that upset me was the way you made the worst of everything at school. I've seen movies about boys falling in love with their teachers, but this time the teacher and the boy were both already in love, and I’d love you to eat me."

"And in love in the strangest of circumstances," said Jenny, "I guess it would be silly for a lady my age to be in love with a ten year old boy, but I remember you and the way I felt about you last month, when I was only twelve. We mustn't let anyone find out about us. I shall swallow you down this very night."

"Nobody will, Jenny," said Percy, "Oh do I still have to call you Miss Winters?"

"No."

"I nearly called you Jenny today at first."

"Well don't worry. You fooling me today was the hard part, and you've already proved you can do that. The two of us together fooling everybody else will be easy."

"So long as I don't have to read out my compositions to the class."

"Well you won't have to read today's little effort, which was not bad by the way," said Miss Winters.

"Thanks Miss... Jenny."

Then he was amazed as Jenny lifted him up and began moving him towards her mouth.

*          *          *          *

The real world Percy Dale awoke.

"She... it all seemed like it really happened," he thought, "She had a strange feeling telling her to go to live in Wollstonecraft. Maybe if I have a look around the streets of Wollstonecraft after school, I can at least find a young Jenny, which would be everything to me right now. I can be as devoted to my search as I was in the dream. Maybe I’ll at least find someone who wants to shrink me and eat me. I thought it was possible at last, but it was a dream. Now I know I don’t just want to be tiny. I want to be eaten.”

*          *          *          *

Percy did manage to locate a house in Wollstonecraft. He had never seen the house before. He had never even entered the street wherein the house was located, prior to this Thursday afternoon, the day after his dream. He did not dare to approach or enter the property, but it looked extremely similar - in fact unmistakably similar - to the house in the dream. He waited until he saw a family drive in and step out of their car. None of them bore any resemblance to either Jenny aged 12 or the Miss Winters of his dream. Detouring home through Wollstonecraft would still see him at a station covered by his student's free rail pass, but a trip to Wahroonga would not be possible. He would not be able to see Jenny again.

"All I can do is call it an incredible coincidence," he thought, "and I might as well head home to Killara."

His teacher had been Mr Jackson that year, and he was still unable to perform well in social studies. Perhaps he would never meet Jennifer Winters again. How she would giggle at the dream if her met her and told it to her!

In reality, time is a confusing dimension of life. In a dream, time is impossible to account for, because a dream allows time to break its own rules, and to demolish its own barriers. There are as many numbers between zero and one as there are between one and infinity, and there is as much likelihood of Percy recapturing his dream about Miss Winters as there was of that Miss Winters recapturing her mysteriously vanished youth.

Consider the following facts:

(1)        It is impossible to make - in the sense of command and force - a dream to come true

            in the future.

(2)        It is equally impossible to hold onto a past reality in the future. It can be copied and

            repeated, but the original experience cannot be maintained.

Thus there may be no resulting implications from a decision about whether an event was a reality or a dream. If neither can be seized, captured, manipulated, stored and withheld; then is there any internal value in asserting the status of the event?

The author does not seek to answer these questions, but rather to present them as an answer to the apparent void left in the mind of a person who is unable to differentiate between his dreams and his realities.

A dream is also a means of satisfying the callers of both heads and tails, with merely one toss of a coin. The mind can rest, free of controlled thinking, and yet it is subject to the extraordinary level of erratic thought, which is able to equip the brain of the sleeper with a mental experience of certain facts that are not true facts. A dream enables a sleeping mind to traverse the boundaries of reality and exceed the constraints of physics, biology, geography and history. A dream can redefine these studies, as new concepts.

It was the May school holidays, one full term after the summer holiday period that Percy Dale had spent with the twelve year old girl called Jennifer Winters. Percy was ten years old, and was to spend two nights and three days at 66 Burnseid Street Wahroonga. This was the home of his grandparents.  

Having arrived at 66 Burnseid Street, Percy farewelled his family, and was anxious to explore the bushes which led to the tennis court fence of a special house with a Burns Rd address. That was the home where Jenny Winters had lived. For fourteen weeks, these two had been separated. Now, perhaps, Percy would see Jenny again, and they might even be able to plan a way to visit each other during the school terms in the future. Jenny was two years older than himself. In less than a year, she would be a teenage girl. Maybe she would be able to find a way to see more of him.

He gave the football a hard kick, aiming it straight for the bushes. He then walked into the bushes, as if to pursue the football. The cubby house was still undisturbed in the bushes. It had obviously remained undetected. He would have heard something said about it, had it been discovered by one of his grandparents.

Then the surprising news was discovered by the young Percy Dale. A young boy about eight years old, wandered onto the tennis court, put down a model car and directed its movements around the tennis court, using a remote control device.

"Hello," called Percy, "Does Jenny Winters still live here?"

"No," said the boy, "We moved in here, about a few weeks ago. We live here now."

Life just did not seem fair sometimes, thought Percy, as he retrieved the football and went back indoors to see whether his grandmother had finished her chores.

They spent the day relaxing, watching television, building with toy modelling dough, and feasting on the results of his grandmother's cooking.

However, by the time Percy had climbed into bed, he was still thinking about Jennifer Winters. There was something different about having been special friends with a GIRL. If he was kept from seeing his male friends in the past, he had soon found new friends and forgotten about it.

However, it had now been fifteen weeks, and he still could not forget Jennifer Winters.

"Now I will never know where she is," thought Percy, as he lay in bed with tears forming in his young eyes. He had exhausted himself both physically and emotionally that day. His grandmother had sat, watched and talked to him, which was enough for a boy who merely wanted some company while he ran around doing things to wear off his pre-adolescent excess energy.

Percy thought back to other previous visits to 66 Burnseid Street Wahroonga.

"What else do I remember?" he asked himself, "Oh well, there was that time I snuck out at night and found that group of people in very historically old clothes in Wahroonga Park."

Percy remembered their top hats, tails, old white shirts, the jewellery in the hair of the girls, their lovely dresses, and the fact that he had discovered them eating and drinking and talking away in the park in the early hours of the morning. Having discovered him and temporarily confused him with a spy - because he had been crouching in the bushes observing them -they then permitted him to partake of their activities. He had only been seven years old at the time, or was it eight? He was not entirely sure.

"Eight, no, seven, no it couldn't be eight. I was definitely seven, because it was in third class, and I turned eight later on that year."

With the memories of the Wanderers of Wahroonga Park, and the girl called Jennifer Winters floating about in his mind along with his growing desire to be shrunken and eaten, Percy Dale sat up in his bed and looked out into the night. Below the stars were some tops of trees, a rose garden, then the driveway, the hedge, the lawn strip (not the one where Percy had kicked the football), the downstairs roof outside, and the window.

What would happen if he went out there right now?

He decided to lie down for about half an hour. This would revive his energy, as well as allowing his grandmother some time to get to bed and fall asleep herself.

"It's funny how I often have fun and adventures with special people at night, when I'm up here for a visit to my grandmother's house," thought Percy, and then he did something which had not been incorporated into the plans which he had just made. Instead of lying in bed for half an hour, prior to creeping out of the house, the young Percy Dale fell into a deep sleep and began to dream.

            The first part of the dream was merely a repeat of the events which had transpired in

            the reality of the days just gone past. Percy's dream self was to spend some time at 66

            Burnseid Street Wahroonga. His family had driven him to Wahroonga, dropped him

            off, shared a few welcome words of conversation with his grandmother and departed.

            Percy collected the football from the cupboard in the upstairs guest bedroom (where

            his real self was currently located in deep sleep), and kicked it around the large lawn

            for a while, until it sailed into the air and landed somewhere in the distant bushes.

            Percy walked over to the bushes, and began to search for the football.

            After a fruitless effort of crawling, lifting small branches out of his line of sight, and

            failing to find the football, Percy decided to lie down for a short rest in the cubby

            house, which was called, but not labelled, Jentil Manor.

            Percy climbed through the doorway, having opened the unhinged block of wood

            that had often served as  a door during the Christmas holidays of Percy's real life.

            Seated in the cubby house, cuddling the football as though it were a teddy bear was

            a smiling Jennifer Winters.

            "Percy boy, I have missed you," she said, "I hope you didn't mind my little prank,

            but I thought you would never look in here. I was about to come out and surprise

            you."

            "I'm so glad you are here too," said Percy, "School was just no fun at all after

            spending the summer holidays with you."

            "Summer holidays, yes. But Percy, in five days, it will be well into winter. You know

            how the second week of the May holidays  always gets colder than the first, much

            colder. I would love to sneak out with you again at nights, but how can we play

            chasings in trees when the branches feel so cold and hard on my hands?"

            "We'll go for a walk around Wahroonga instead," said Percy, "and we can wear

            plenty of warm clothes. But let's have a cuddle."

            Percy and Jenny embraced, until a voice sounded in the gardens of his grandmother's

            house.

            "Percy, where are you?"
            "Oh, that will be your grandmother. Can I meet you here at eleven o'clock tonight?"
            "I'll get here as soon as I can sneak out. Will you wait for me?"

            "Sure. I will just come out early and have a rest in Jentil Manor, right here. It's easy to

            trick my parents."

            Percy kissed her cheek and ran out from the bushes, clutching the football.

            "Sorry, Nan. I kicked it hard, and it went into the bushes. I have been looking for it

            for a while. Then I found it. Then soon after that, you called me."

            "Well you'll want to kick it the other way from now on, won't you? Then you can

            bounce it off the wall," said Percy's grandmother, "You don't need to be ratting

            around in all those bushes every time you kick it hard. You might get yourself lost

            in there, and I don't want to have to come in and find you. I don't like going in dark

            and creepy places like those bushes and trees. I never go where you have just been."

            "That's lucky," thought Percy.

Percy, in reality, usually demanded a fairly active grandmother. He enjoyed lengthy walks, outdoor games, wild card games of snap, and plenty of mischief to go with it.

            However, having in this dream planned a meeting with Jennifer Winters, Percy made

            a conscious decision to choose activities which would conserve his physical and

            mental energy, without arousing suspicion. So he replaced the morning walks and

            outdoor activities with a long session of card games, which pleased his grandmother

            to no end.

By nine o'clock he was lying in bed wearing his winter pyjamas.

            Percy decided to put on a black pair of long trousers, some white socks and           sandshoes, and wear a white shirt under his black jumper, which had a long neck.

            "I'll wait until quarter to ten and then start putting those things on," thought Percy.

To amuse himself, he imagined what sort of clothing would be worn by Jennifer

            Winters.

            "Oh she will look lovely no matter what she chooses for clothes," thought Percy,

                        "She always looks very lovely. It's like she's too special for anyone else but me to know about. That's why I don't tell the boys at school about her. They would

            probably think that I was becoming a cissy."

To the real Percy Dale, the concept of being called a cissy sounded rather stupid. His interpretation of the word "cissy" was  "a boy who is interested in the hobbies and interests of girls." So what was wrong with that? It was unusual, but the word "cissy" was always used

in a derogatory tone. Percy was less than pleased about it. However, in his dreams, he could put the realities of school aside and see Jenny again:

            "I'll bet she would tell them not to call me a "cissy," he thought, "but it wouldn't

            matter anyway, because right now they're not going to get another chance."

            The grandfather clock at the far end of the house, on the ground floor actually, struck

            a quarter to ten, which meant that it released the same combination of chimes that it

            gave out after every third quarter of the hour.

            However, the clock was not heard by the young Percy Dale, who was in fact

            relying on his watch. He slipped out of bed and dug deep into his suitcase. His hands        soon emerged with the items of clothing required for his visit to Jentil Manor and

            beyond.

            "Just what I need to look dark in the dark," thought Percy, "And I found the lot in the

            dark. Oh, oh. That's Nan coming up the stairs. Well I will jump into bed and pretend

            I am asleep. She'll never know that I've got all this on."

            He soon had his black necked black jumper completely covered by an eiderdown

            that reached his chin with ease and still enveloped his feet. He soon heard his door

            being opened.

            "Are you awake?"

            He lay there motionless until his grandmother had decided that it would be absurd to

            expect him to say 'no', after which she closed the door and retired to her own bedroom

            for the night. Percy knew that the wooden steps of the eastern staircase would creak

            loudly.

            "It would actually be less risky if I walk along the hall carpets, past Nan's bedroom,

            and go down the other stairs. Then I can get one of the distant downstairs doors open

            and make it to Jentil Manor secretly."

            He chose to leave the house via the billiard room, opening one of its side doors and

            stepping out onto the terrace. He then walked along the terrace, looking up at the

            vines and the wooden framework above him, until he reached the large lawn.

            A short and silent sprint brought him to the bushes, and he soon found Jenny waiting

            for him in Jentil Manor; waiting, but fast asleep.

            The prowl through his grandparents' house had been slow, in order to ensure that its

            total degree of silence had been maintained. She must have dropped off while waiting

            for him. He pressed the light button on his watch. The time was a quarter past ten.

            "Well the whole thing took half an hour," he thought, "but it would have been longer

            if Nan hadn't gone to bed early. She gave me a chance to sneak out now instead of at

            eleven. Jenny does look so sweet and delicate like that, sleeping with her forehead

            up this end.  If it weren't for the moonlight, I wouldn't be able to see her at all."

In reality, Jentil Manor was dark enough in the daytime, because of the surrounding plant life around and above its wooden structure. At night, it would be pitch black, but this was a dream:

            Percy gently lowered his hand onto her forehead and stroked her hair backwards,

            until he reached the start of the ponytail.

            She opened her eyes suddenly, and then smiled as she recognised him.

            "Percy, what time is it?"

            "About quarter past ten, my darling."

            Jenny sat up and put her arms around Percy as he sat in the doorway of Jentil Manor.

            "Isn't it nice to have all of those trees above us?" said Percy, as he looked out at the

            surrounding environment which had served as a concealment for Jentil Manor in

            the daytime for fifteen weeks.

            "Percy, I could almost make a picture of your face, right now. You look like a

            handsome young adventurer in your black and white clothes with those lovely eyes

            looking up at an angle."

            Percy looked at Jenny. She was wearing black sandshoes, a white dress with a black

            jumper on over its top half, and transparent stockings kept her legs warm.

            "I think you look so lovely that I wish that the whole world would leave us alone for

            a long time, so that we could be together instead of at schools far apart," said Percy.

            "I wish something like that too," said Jenny.

            "Well why don't we go off and have an adventure now?" asked Percy.

            "Okay, let's go for a walk.  Shall we go out your way to the street?"
            "I've never been out your way. We could climb over the tennis court fence quietly

            and..."

*          *          *          *

            Percy and Jenny had soon made their way through Jenny's garden and down the sleep

            but short driveway to Burns Road.

            They walked along Burns Road, arm in arm, passing its most productive landmark,

            Larmont Orphanage, which was also addressed in Water Street, the next street

            along. They eventually navigated the remaining streets to Wahroonga Park, and

            found the fountain empty.

            "That's funny. It's usually full of water," said Jenny.

            "Listen, I hear voices near the swings," said Percy.

            "Let's hide in the fountain and see who they are," suggested Jenny, "We won't be

            seen if they don't come this way."

            "Alright," Percy agreed, and the two of them watched a crowd of strangely dressed

            people walking past the swings with large picnic baskets. The group of some twenty

            or thirty odd people sat down on the grass, having lowered some rugs to absorb the

            dew, and began to conduct a nocturnal picnic.

            "Their clothes must be from the early twentieth century," said Jenny, "because they

            look like the people in my history book pictures, well sort of anyway."

            "You're right, Jenny, and I have a strange feeling that I have actually met these people

            once before... That's it! They're a group that I called the Wanderers of Wahroonga."

            "Let's join in with them," said Jenny.

            "No wait; I've got another idea. Last time they let me join in, but sent me home to bed

            when they were ready to pack up. This time, why don't we wait until they pack up?

            Then we can follow them out of here and see where they go?"

            "Well we could do that, but I'd rather meet them. I won't let them send us home. You

            wait and see."

            "Alright then, let's go," said Percy.

            Then they simply strolled over and introduced themselves. Percy and the Wanderers

            remembered each other, but Jenny was new to all of them. The two young children

            joined in with the unusual evening festivities, and then came the familiar

            instruction from the man called Aygin.

            "It's very late. Don't you two need to be going home to your beds?"

            "But some of you are young children like us," said Jenny.

            "Now why didn't I think of saying that last time?" thought Percy.

            Jenny continued: "We were really hoping to learn more about you. We're outsiders,

            and my school English books say outsiders are a little different to most people.

            Shouldn't we stick together?"
            "I guess you can see why we're out here in the first place," said Percy.

            "Alright then, perhaps I should be honest," said Aygin, "It is not easy for us to trust

            people outside of our extraordinary group. We are called the Ninthstar Nomads, but

            your calling us 'the Wanderers of Wahroonga' is also clever. We were actually born

            in the late nineteenth century, but every so many years, a strange star called the

            Ninthstar appears over earth, where we are and then vanishes. We will then be

            transported nine years into the future. Hence the name Ninthstar. It's not always nine,

            actually. Sometimes it's eighteen or twenty-seven, but always multiples of nine. Then

            we will live in that time period until the Ninthstar comes again. This time we have

            been here for four years. We usually avoid people, but you're one of the few who has

            ever seen us twice, Percy. We all have the strange properties in our bodies, which

            make us susceptible to the time spanning properties of the Ninthstar."

            "Well I hope you're here for a little longer," said Jenny.

            "We cannot remain here indefinitely," said Aygin, "but we have wandered in many

            places which are in fact all the same Wahroonga, but in different time periods. Our

            powers are confusing to most people, but we are aware of your problem. Percy

            cannot be in Killara and Wahroonga at the same time, which has the effect of

            separating you two during school terms. However, we have one last gift for you,

            before we depart from this time period. Even now I can feel the Ninthstar

            approaching the earth, but you must remember the jewels in the hair of the ladies

            and girls in our group. Each jewel has a different power according to its colour. We

            shall give you a green jewel, which can teleport its holder to any place on earth.

            Either of you can hold onto it and visit the other from Wahroonga or Killara. You

            have only to exchange what your time period's people refer to as telephone

            numbers in order to arrange your engagements for the future. The Ninthstar is

            coming. We must leave you for now."

            "Thank you, all of you," said Percy, as Aygin handed him a green jewel.

            "Percy look, they're glowing grey somehow," said Jenny, and then the Wanderers

            of Wahroonga were gone.

            "We'll be years older if we see them again," said Percy, "but they've done something

            wonderful for both of us."
            "Let's try using it together," said Jenny, "Do you think that it could take us back to

            Jentil Manor?"

            "We could try touching hands with the jewel in between our palms."

            "Like this," said Jenny, "Yes I can feel that it will work. Percy, you think us back to

            Jentil Manor."

            "Alright stand by. I'm going to teleport us back."

            They both glowed a green colour, and then they were standing on the roof of Jentil           Manor.

            "Smart stone," said Percy, "It moved us up a bit so we wouldn't bump our heads on

            the roof. We were standing up when we left the park."
            "Now we can be together often," said Jenny.

*          *          *          *

The real Percy Dale awoke. It was morning. He felt robbed by reality, but he was not to

know of his future with an adult Jenny Winters. To the young Percy Dale, reality and the dream world had stolen from each other. The reality of his being awake in his room that morning had stolen the experiences (with Jenny and the Wanderers) away from him; and the irony was that the time spent unwittingly on those dreams themselves had robbed him of the reality, that he had intended to pursue in the form of a night prowl. He also felt disappointed that the dream had not allowed him to indulge his giantess vore fantasy.

The concepts of dreams and reality are not two separate and distinct entities. They are capable of overlapping, interaction with each other; and a thought or experience in either one of their worlds can stimulate a thought or experience in the other.

As a teenager, Percy helped the local church people to set up a small Saturday evening restaurant at the church, using its coffee room under the different name of Bite Delight. For some months the restaurant was a successful venue for Christian musicians to entertain diners; and provided a chance for guest speakers to preach the word of God to an audience who might be unlikely to attend the Sunday church services. The serenity of this atmosphere was soon disrupted by a gang of teenage vandals, who did everything they could to destroy the work of the church.

There was one delightful night when they failed to put in an appearance. It seemed that they had found other pastures to pervert on this one Saturday night of reprieve, after so many awful experiences. Percy, who usually stayed indoors in the restaurant in order to avoid being bullied by the vandals, decided to talk to the people who were congregating under the moonlight in the gardens of the church. If the vandals returned that night, to keep up their weekly record of destructive achievements, he could always head for the door, as soon as he saw them coming; but for the moment he would be happy. As he approached a group of teenage boys and girls, he saw one more reason to perhaps be happier: a beautiful girl, whose incredible full shapely lips and greater height all unwittingly played up to the giantess vore fantasy which had grown much stronger in his mind with the onset of adolescence. She had a  haughty confident look, which made her far more arousing than any of the other ladies who had been in his hopes and dreams in the past. The irony was that it would also most likely make her unwilling to match their friendliness and interest in him.

The girl was very pretty, and almost as tall as Jenny would probably have grown to be by that stage in his teenage life.

Ingrid Castlecove's haughty dignified penetrating beauty had an arousing glamour, which made him instantly wish that she was already in love with him and willing and able to shrink and eat him. He attempted to meet the impression she gave him with an artificially confident dignity of his own, as they exchanged their full names. (Days later, he would use the surname to find the only Castlecove of Wahroonga in the telephone book).

He reached to stroke her hair uninvited, hoping to convey a sense of bravery, but this fell to pieces, when he could think of no appropriate words with which to accompany the gesture.

"You're a little short to be attempting something so bold, aren't you?" she said with a carefree attempt to tease him.

"I like big tall girls," he said with a truth that nearly contradicted the falsity of his feigned show of confidence.

Her greater height (already six feet) would make her the most amazing giantess of all, if he was reduced to tiny size. She was already taller than him.

"I like sweets," she said, contemptuously dipping her hand into his open pocket, which she had noticed to be full of lollies.

"Have some," he offered, wondering if it had the slightest chance of impressing her.

"I intend to," she said, removing a huge handful that almost entirely exhausted his supplies. Ingrid used her free hand to put one of them into her mouth, and then transferred the rest of them to her own pocket.

The sight of her mouth receiving the lolly drove him wild, and the last thing he could do was tell her why, lest he be surely laughed out of her life.

It had been easy for girls to do things like that to him in those days. The teenage Percy had to let her take his lollies with a ninety-nine per cent certainty that it would not make the slightest improvement on his chances of attracting her.

"I don't suppose those sweets would be worth a sweet kiss," he suggested.

"They might be worth it, but you aren't," she mocked.

She took out another of his lollies, and kissed it.

"There!" she said, and ate the lolly.

What little remained of his forced confidence was blown to bits, as she saw him burst into tears. She seemed to enjoy this and smiled cruelly at him before laughing in a way that made her seem as beautiful as she was unkind. She would have flattered herself with the thought that he had run into the church, because he could not face up to any more of her taunting. The truth was that his tearful eyes had seen the approach of the vandals.

*          *          *          *

Later that evening in Percy's teenage years, the church people closed the restaurant and went to Wahroonga's all night service station to buy some cold drinks for themselves. Percy enjoyed his drink and then walked home. As he passed the church, he saw that the vandals were smoking cigarettes in the church gardens, and allowing their cigarette lighters to burn the leaves a little before putting out their miniature fires with the church hose.

"I hear you made a pass at my girlfriend tonight," said the tallest of them, blocking Percy's path. He was an inch taller than Ingrid had been.

"Who is your girlfriend?" asked Percy.

"She pointed you out to us when you took off, just as we arrived," said the boy, "She is Ingrid Castlecove."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I did not know that she had a boyfriend. I guess you're very lucky that she likes you," said Percy.

"And you would be lucky not to get pounded, if you didn't come to this restaurant ever again."

"I work here with the church," said Percy, "and the police won't like what you have done to our leaves."

"I've had enough of you!" said the boy, jarring Percy's shoulder with a sharp hook punch. Percy tried to parry the next one, but the boy knocked his arm away.

"Don't fight back," said the bully.

He could only have thanked the Lord for the courage to say what he mouthed next, as well as the fact that it worked.

"Just one more of those, and I'll walk next door into the rectory, and get you all thrown off this property by an angry woken minister at a late time in the night," said Percy.

The next punch partly winded him.

"Alright," he choked, as he walked towards the rectory.

They actually let him go.

He reached the minister's veranda and pretended to press the bell, to see if they would leave the area.

"The next time we see you on the street you're dead," said the boy, and the group walked away from the church.

"If you plan to assault me again, you had better make sure that you kill me," called Percy, amazed that he had not already awoken the minister, "Otherwise I'll be reporting you and whatever you do to me, to the local police!"

He waited for them to go, and then stole home himself. He had no intention of waking the minister. For to do so would inevitably lead to his grandparents learning of the incident. As well as suffering a lot of worry and concern for his safety, they might well tell him not to risk it, by never going to the restaurant again.

A year later, he had been wearing his finest suit for an early evening walk to the station, and happened to see Ingrid walking through Wahroonga Park with another girl, both wearing the uniforms of a school he knew well. They were probably in his year, but at a girls’ school instead of his boys school.

"You look well-dressed tonight Percy!" Ingrid called.

He didn't know whether the compliment was an attempt to make up, an invitation to talk, or a passing act of politeness. He did not know whether Ingrid was still in love with his unknown assailant or not, and he did not have whatever it took to walk over and find out. His planned train trip for that evening had no particular destination, but his legs just could not diverge into the park. The only thing he did know was that he had recently observed (from a safe distance) some teenagers being arrested for under age consumption of alcohol on a public railway station. He was too far away to see who they were. Maybe Ingrid's partner had found his way into the care of the law. Percy did not know, and some awful fear that the worst could happen to him all over again, prevented him from walking into that park to find out. There he was, lonely.

Something about the entire nonesuch Ingrid affair stood out from the other girls he wished he could have been shrunken and eaten by. He had to tell her of his fantasy, even though he knew she’d tease him all the more. Yet she had seemed friendly this time, without any of the mocking that had been there the previous year. As a matter of fact, she had actually complimented him, initiating discussion in a positive way. He couldn’t expect anyone, least of all someone who teased his apparently ordinairy courtship attempts, to care about his fantasy in the least, but he just knew that he wanted more than anything else in the world, more than ever before in his life, to invent a means of shrinking himself.

He thought back to all that he had learned from James Hamilton. Since then he had added much more high school science knowledge of electronics. There had to be a way. He borrowed every science book he could find from the libraries, both at school and at the local library. He took out all of his electronic kits, tools, equipment and so on, which largely came from birthday and Christmas presents going back several years.

He knew that he had to solve another problem too. Reducing himself was one thing, but how could a shrunken Percy hope to get to the only place where he would be sure to find Ingrid: her school?

It took him three months of building on all his previous failed attempts since age 12, but he finally perfected a machine that would both reduce him in size and teleport him to another location, which he could find by setting coordinates on a viewer. The controls were built down low, so that he could reach them at tiny size. He also built a homing ring which he wore unnoticeably on his finger. Turning it would enable him to send a homing recall signal to the machine. When Ingrid had seen him and scorned his tiny size, he could return to his machine and restore his size. At least he would have the pleasure of looking up to her as a giantess, the largest giantess and the most beautiful and the most mischievous and haughty.

Percy waited for a day when he got home from school early, and then sent himself into the outer gardens of Ingrid’s school at tiny size. He waited in concealment, until he saw Ingrid approaching. She looked so big now, that he had to look up and up to see her. Her dark hair was in a long ponytail. Her lower lip now looked as deep as his tiny face. Her neck would have been about two or three times his height. Even her legs looked like giants themselves to him. He had no idea what he would do, but he was aroused incredibly. 

He let her see him. There were no other girls around at the moment. This was no dream, no imagined fantasy. He had finally managed to shrink himself, and Ingrid was really looking down at him. If nothing else, she could not dismiss his shrinking itself as an impossible fantasy. He stood still as she walked over and leaned down, enclosed him in her fingers and stood up. The feel of her hand was pleasant and stimulating too.

“I don’t know where you came from, but I’m a lot bigger than you are,” she said with the same mocking haughty attitude that he knew so well, “I think we’ll find a private place to talk.”

She went and sat on the lawn at the highest point of the school gardens, close to the street. At last it was just him and her. He had come to the one place that even her boyfriend was not allowed to enter: an all girls school, and at tiny size too.

“So what are you, little one?” she asked.

“How do you mean?” asked Percy.

“I mean what sort of little folk are you a member of? I’ve never met any of your kind before.”

Percy was over the moon. She was talking to him without any recognition. She had hated and scorned the Percy she knew, and at best given him a brief passing compliment on that evening a few months ago. Yet she saw his shrunken self as a different person, someone she had never met, and apparently someone she WAS interested in. He might at least be able to hope for a giant kiss from her.

“I’m just a little boy,” he said.

“Well I’m a big girl,” said Ingrid, “And if I like the taste of you, I’m going to take you home secretly and have you for a special treat in my bedroom late tonight.”

She had said, ‘have you for a special treat.’ Those words did not guarantee an intention of Ingrid’s to eat him, but the phrase ‘if I like the taste of you’ increased the likelihood to around 90 per cent. She might have merely been thinking of licking him for half the night, which would be awe inspiring in itself, but he had to know if he had guessed right.

“Do you mean…?” he asked.

“You know I do,” she teased, arousing him beyond belief, “If you pass the tongue test, you’re going to be eaten whole. You’ll still be getting over the gulping and swallowing, when you’re almost down to my stomach.”

Percy remembered the way she had first helped herself to his lollies with mocking amusement. Now she was doing the same thing to a tiny boy, not knowing it was the owner of those very lollies. How he hoped that he did taste appealing to her tongue, which was clearer than ever to him now that she was holding him close to her face while talking to his tiny self. He could see glimpses of the most magnificent taste organ in history, as she continued speaking.

“Can we find out how I taste quickly then?” he asked.

“I imagine you’re even keener than me to find out,” she said, “Though I doubt you’re hoping for the same test result that I am.”

She would lose that bet, he thought. In any event, the test would give him at least one chance to be touched by her huge tongue.

“What will you do with me if I don’t taste nice?” he asked.

“You’d make a cute pet,” she said, “But let’s not think of that. It only takes a lick to find out, doesn’t it?”

With those wonderful words, Ingrid’s tongue took a respite from speaking and came out of her mouth slowly in front of him. She was deliberately doing it in slow motion, to draw out the suspense of the taste test. He was able to look at a protrusion which was longer and wider than his entire body. It had two sides, but no apparent separation in the middle, just a slight dip where the two sides met. The moist fleshy sparkling appearance of her tongue was the most beautiful thrilling sight he had ever laid eyes on. In mere seconds he would actually feel the touch of it.

She moved him closer and slid her tongue over him. It felt every bit as nice as he’d hoped and more so, particularly as its soft moist taste buds ran over his facial cheeks. Then her tongue retreated back into her mouth. He looked at her eyes and lips for any clue as to her assessment of him.

“What’s the verdict?” he asked.

“I’ll keep you guessing for a while,” she said.

Ingrid put him into her shirt pocket, under her jumper, got up and started walking to the station. She caught a train to Wahroonga, while he lifted himself a little and peeked out between the fibres of her woollen jumper at the scenery outside, and at Ingrid’s long lovely hands resting in her lap.

She alighted at Wahroonga, walked into the park, and sat down in an isolated part and took him from her pocket. She lifted him above her head, tilted it back, and opened her mouth wide and let him look in. He heard soft laughter and looked in at her laughing tongue. It was amazing.

Ingrid lowered him into her mouth a little, so that just his face touched her tongue, and then took him out.

“I did say supper, remember?” she said, “But at least you know I liked you. You’re the most delicious piece of meat I’ve ever tasted in my life. I’m going to gobble you all up at supper time and there’s nothing you can do about it. You can think about that for the next few hours.”

“I will,” he said politely, and then hoped he hadn’t given away his keenness to face the fate that she had planned for him.

“I’m glad to see that you’re nervous enough to point out the obvious,” she laughed, and put him back in her pocket.

Ingrid walked home and took him into her bedroom, unnoticed by her mother.

She let him watch her while she did her homework, and then placed him into a drawer.

“You can stay here, while I have dinner,” she said, “And think about the fact that I won’t enjoy it nearly as much as eating you.”

She closed the drawer and left him in darkness. He lay down on a folded item of clothing and waited for her return after dinner. He thought how pleasantly surprised he was. None of the girls who liked him in his earlier childhood years had had any real interest in eating him outside of his own dreams. Of all the people to be willing to do exactly what he wanted, it was the one girl who had openly disliked him at his full size. Ingrid was going to give him exactly what he’d always wanted, and was doing it with a forceful merciless amusement that made it all the more enjoyable and arousing. This was beyond his wildest hopes. He realised that being eaten in itself would have been thrilling enough, but Ingrid’s taunting enactment made it so much better. She was the one he had waited for all these years, since his six year old self had first dreamt of being eaten ten years ago. He admired what she was doing to him.

Ingrid opened the drawer and he saw that she had changed into a long night gown. She lifted him out of the drawer, put him on the pillow and climbed into bed beside him, with only the bright bedside table reading lamp illuminating them both.

“I’m going to sleep for a while. You can’t get away, so just make yourself comfortable,” she said.

“Could I climb onto your face?” he asked, “It … looks nice and soft.”

“If you like,” said Ingrid.

He climbed onto her chin, and said, “This is a bit hard, because of the bone,” shifted to her cheek, and said, “I might fall off here,” and then having intentionally established reasons for not being able to lie on the other parts of her face, he climbed onto her lower lip, which was roughly the width of his body’s length. 

“Are you comfortable now?” she sighed, moving the very lip he was resting on.

“This is just like a mattress to me,” he said, although it was not as deep as the width of his body.

Percy lay down and enjoyed the feel of her lower lip. It was like a permanent giant kiss, and he had tricked her into having no objection to it. Even her boyfriend would not have these experiences.

Ingrid dozed off and he soon felt her lips rising and falling as she breathed in her sleep. He enjoyed that for three hours, and then she stirred and awoke. Her hand lifted him off her lip and she sat up and yawned right in front of him, giving him another fine view of her mouth.

“Is that reading lamp bright enough for you, or do you want me to turn the bedroom light on?” she asked, “I want you to be able to see where you’re going.”

The audacity of the question was yet another of Ingrid’s thrilling taunts.

“It’s good enough for me,” he said.

“Thank you. I’m flattered,” she laughed, and he realised that she was making a pun on the thought of the experience of being eaten being good for him.

“You’ve really got an awesome sense of humour,” he said.

“Well you must have noticed that I’m beautiful,” she said.

“Yes, very,” said Percy.

“Maybe it will be good for you too,” she said, “But not as good as it will be for me.”

She had no idea. It would almost be worth telling her everything, or at least his identity, but he wanted to take no chances on anything changing her mind.

“I like your lips,” he said.

“I noticed,” she said, “You could have slept on my pillow.”

“You don’t mind?”

“If I did, I would have had no trouble stopping you… And I will have no trouble stopping you from ever going on a date with anyone. I’ll have the chance to go on and have a lengthy happy life, and you are going into my tummy … right now. Farewell, little boy.”

With those strangely stimulating ramifications still in his mind, he watched her tongue come out and lick him again and again. Being played with like a morsel of food by her beautiful mouth, without her having a care in the world was an experience that trivialised anything that had happened or not happened with Miss Newkin, Ilona, Ingrid Castlecove and the Wanderer Woman of Wahroonga.

“Well I’m ready to send you on your way,” she said at last, “But at the moment you’ll only taste of my own tongue water.”

She rubbed him on her bare shoulder a few times, and then reached for a cloth to wipe it. Then she opened her mouth wide in front of him. He looked inside in eager expectation. He could see into the top of a throat which would have no trouble gulping his tiny body down.

“Here comes the aeroplane,” she mused, and opened wide again and slid him onto her tongue.

He loved the combination of horizontal comfort and moist stimulation as he lay there for several minutes, until she suddenly angled her tongue. Within seconds he felt himself sliding into her throat. He could feel her throat all around him. This too was pleasant, but the blood was beginning to rush to his head.

Ingrid relieved his concern, by gulping several times, and he soon found himself in the dark tunnel of flesh that would curve its way down to her stomach. Then something occurred to him.

So intent on his fantasy was he, so pleasantly surprised at Ingrid’s willingness to fulfil it without even knowing it was he, that he had not even considered what would follow. Ingrid’s plan had been to digest him, which would have involved a lot of tingles, and then the absence of dating and other pleasures of life, just as she had detailed. 

Yet now his fantasy had been realised, and he could go on to enjoy those other things. Percy suddenly realised the obvious fact that his homing ring would be able to send him out of her stomach and back to his own home, without Ingrid even knowing. She would go the rest of her life thinking that she had eaten a mysterious tiny boy. Even if he met her again at his full size, she would not know him as the boy that she had eaten alive.

Yet he didn’t need to do it yet. He hadn’t reached the area of her stomach acids. He could enjoy just lying inside her for a while, celebrating the accomplishment of something that her boyfriend had no desire to emulate, nor any ability to prevent. He expected she would not even tell him about it. After some time, Percy twisted the ring and returned to the shrinking machine and then to full size.

He spent some days happily recalling the fact that he’d had the chance to be the cake and be eaten. He could go on, but with one drawback: it would not be with Ingrid. She still preferred the vandal to his full sized self, and he could not approach her at tiny size again without giving away the fact that she had not really eaten him. Ingrid had gratified his greatest urge, and he did not want to take away the fact that she might well (for all he knew) have gratified her own too. He would let her think she’d added him permanently to her stomach.

Years later, as a young adult adventurer, Percy could not help remembering Ingrid.

Ingrid had gobbled him alive, and that, combined with her unique size and beauty just magnified his infatuation with the memory of her as time went on. Eventually destiny dropped an opportunity into his lap. He learned that Ingrid had been kidnapped, and managed to free her from a location that he knew better than the kidnappers. Later they were talking back at Percy’s house, which he had inherited from his grandparents.

* * * *

Ingrid’s food had all gone stale since the kidnapping. 

“I don’t feel like going out tonight for food,” she said, “I don’t suppose you could give me something to eat.”

The irony of that request was not lost on the Sneaky Spy, though Ingrid would never know … or would she? Would he ever feel that he could tell her that he had tricked her into temporarily eating him?

* * * *

Percy went to his oven and brought out some chicken, which he served on three plates.

Percy was alone at home, thinking of Ingrid.

Nothing had been said of their teenage years and the way that Ingrid had treated Percy. She certainly made no mention of the way that she had treated the ‘little boy’ she had found. He wondered how often the experience was recalled in her thoughts. He hoped that she still had fond memories of it, albeit from her own POV, not the boy’s as far as she could know.

One thing was certain. Ingrid seemed to have lost all her mocking hostility to him. He had saved her life. So it could be gratitude. His height had been named as a reason to reject him on the night that they had first met.

At least she was treating him as a friend now, and keeping up contact.

Percy was strangely keener to know her thoughts about the boy she had eaten (the Percy that she had not recognised) than her thoughts about the man who had saved her. There had to be some way to find out. He began racking his brains for a way to raise the subject without giving away the fact that he had been that boy. How could he lead her into discussing it. If Percy really wanted to know how Ingrid felt about the fact that she had eaten a tiny boy, there was only one way to find out. He would have to give her the chance to eat another.

Percy shrank himself to tiny size in the machine one day, and teleported himself into Ingrid’s garden. He walked over to the back patio of the house, which had an all-glass sliding door leading into the back room, where he now knew Ingrid liked to sit and read. He looked in and saw her. He had to make his discovery by her look accidental, not contrived.

He looked and noticed an umbrella beside him, leaning against the patio pillar. He managed to knock it off balance, even at his size, as umbrella points do not create the greatest stability for the object that they support. He gave a sudden movement as Ingrid looked up. She walked over to the door as he backed away, turned and ran. This would make it convincing.

He heard her footsteps gaining on him in mere seconds, and then felt and saw her hand grasp him from behind and lift him up.

“I haven’t seen a fellow your size since I was a teenager,” she said, “But that was at school, which is in the same suburb as this house. Let’s see if you’re any good.”

There was no mocking this time, no taunting or teasing, just a matter-of-fact detached interest in his potential as a meal, as Ingrid’s tongue came out and tasted him. She licked her lips in front of him in several directions, carried him to the kitchen and dropped him into a bowl of salad that she’d prepared for her lunch. She had none of her teenage desire to make fun of his plight, nor to draw it out, merely the original appreciation for the taste of him without the slightest concern for his welfare. She believed him to be a different victim from both the boy whose lollies she had taken and the tiny boy whom she had eaten

“Help yourself while you can,” she said, “I’ll save you for last.”

“Thank you Miss Giant,” he said.

“You’re welcome. I’m happy to make conversation while you’re waiting for me to eat you as well.”

“Okay,” he said, and decided to find out what had intrigued him most, “Did you eat the other fellow my size too?”

“Yes. He was delicious.”

“Do you think of him much?”

“Often. He was the most enjoyable meal of my life, about to be equalled by you, I suppose,” she said, to his elation at being remembered all those years, “I’m glad you came here trespassing. I need something to cheer me up at the moment.”

“Are you going through something?” he asked, knowing full well that her husband’s activities had left her a lot of grief.

“Yes. I suppose it will sort itself out eventually.”

“I’m not trying to delay my fate, but you said we had time to chat. Would you like to talk it out with me? Maybe I can help.”

“Thank you. That would be nice,” said Ingrid, “The boy I dismissed with maximum ridicule when I was a teenager, when I had a preference for the kind of bad news that evolved into my homicidal ex-husband … well that boy has become the man who just saved me from being murdered by my ex-husband. I’m grateful, and there’s nothing to distract me from appreciating just how cute he is now. I know he still loves me. He dumped his girlfriend before we even got back from the rescue. He even loved me enough to risk his life to save me while he thought I was still married.”

“How did you meet?” asked Percy, keen to get her perspective on it without her being aware that she was telling it to Percy himself.

“I helped myself to some of his lollies,” she said, “Just like I’m helping myself to you. I always eat whatever I like, whenever I can, without sparing a thought for the feelings of the owner … or the feelings of the food in your case. If you do have any thoughts on my situation with my rescuer Percy, I’d welcome them, but my gratitude won’t cause me to spare you. I’ll eat you up soon and get on with my life, whether with Percy or someone else. For you, there’s only the rest of this luncheon and the ride across my tongue and down my throat to look forward to.”

“I guess I’ll be one of the INGRID-IENTS,” said Percy.

For the first time she smiled, only for a second.

“Percy’s a wonderful man, but if he resents my having rejected him, he won’t be likely to ask me out soon.”

Percy wouldn’t tell her to take the first step. He could see that, behind Ingrid’s confident exterior was a woman who wanted to be courted. She didn’t want Percy’s forgiveness. She simply wanted him to understand that she had done what she thought best as a teenager, and that she would like to do what she thought best now as an adult, which this time would work in Percy’s favour. As soon as he had left her stomach and restored his size, he could think how to approach her. Now all he had to do was say something reassuring to her as tiny man, without giving the game away, and then prepare to be eaten again, which he knew he would certainly enjoy.

“From what you’ve told me, he probably doesn’t know you like him that way,” said Percy, “He’d be thinking that you’re just grateful for the rescue, but he doesn’t want to get himself hurt by another rejection.”

“Of course, that’s it!” she said, lifting the second last piece of lettuce into her mouth, “I’ll say something to compliment him.”

He remembered the night that her teenaged self had complimented his dress sense the year after their initial unpleasant encounters. It was then that Percy understood that Ingrid had liked him back then. She had appreciated his good looks, but scorned his soft personality. Now that she had come to like it, she would love him even more than she had ever loved her ex-husband, he hoped.

“I hope it works,” he said as she cleaned her mouth with a glass of water, “I’m sure it will. You’re a lovely woman, Miss Giant.”

“Thank you, and call me Ingrid as you say goodbye. I think it’s time for you to go, and you’ve made me feel much better.”

Ingrid lifted him to her mouth and gave him a giant slow kiss.

“Oh Ingrid, thank YOU!” he said, having never forgotten how good the first gobbling felt, and having now been the recipient of a kiss from her amazing mouth too, “Goodbye darling, and here’s hoping that the quality of Percy is not drained.”

She now gave a delightful open mouthed laugh at his Shakespearian pun.

“That’s it. Away with you,” she said happily and licked the shrunken Sneaky Spy several times and then rubbed him on her neck and slid him into her mouth.

He enjoyed the gulping pressure of her adult mouth and slid down deep inside her, waited for a while and then teleported back to his machine and full size.

He soon heard a knock at the door, and went to see that it was Ingrid.

“Oh, don’t you look nice,” she said, “Could you stand some company?”

“I’d love it … if it’s you,” said Percy.

Returning the compliment would not give away his having been the tiny man who advised her, given that he was following her lead.

“Thank you,” said Ingrid.

“Would you like to sit in the garden?”

“I’d love to.”

They sat and talked for some time. Percy had no further doubts about her interest in him, and felt that an absence of words would spare them both from any awkward recollections of their teenage memories.

He eased his arm around her body slowly, and felt her move to do the same. Even sitting down her head was still a little higher than his. He lifted his finger and ran it over her lower lip. It was unlikely that this would lead her to guess that he had once lain on top of it at tiny size.

“Is this alright?” he asked.

“It’s lovely.”

Percy had two sudden realisations, both of which left him elated. One was that he could visit her at tiny size whenever he liked and be mistaken for yet another tiny man and eaten, role playing out any story that fitted in with her movements at the time. He could also enjoy her love and romance at his full size, without her ever knowing that she was participating in both experiences with the same man every time.

The second realisation was the fact that, on the night of their first meeting, she had said, ‘You’re a little short to be attempting something so bold’ the first time he had touched her … only her hair. Yet at his tiny size, he had been given the opportunity, and for that matter no choice but to touch her tongue, her throat, and the passage down to her tummy.

Percy put both arms around Ingrid and moved towards her. She responded positively, and their lips pressed against each other’s. As he felt her tongue making its move to his mouth, he was constantly aroused at the recollections of his time with his whole shrunken anonymous body inside her mouth. With memories like that in his mind, and the chance to renew them periodically, he would always be aroused beyond belief whenever he thought about Ingrid at all.

Now unofficially calling himself the Sneaky Spy, Percy had a number of adventures with Ingrid, and found himself protecting her on more than one occasion.

One night  Ingrid put her arm around Percy's shoulders, and silently kissed his cheek.

"You were marvellous in those adventures we’ve been having. Thank you  for letting me come with you."

“It’s nothing.”

“No really, you’re even sweeter than a jelly bean.”

He would never have a better opportunity to find out whether or not Ingrid would have eaten him the other morning, if she had known who he was. The question had stimulated him for days.

“That could be risky,” he said.

“Why?” asked Ingrid.

“Pretty girls eat jellybeans.”

“Are you worried that I might eat you?”

“Would you?”

 “Well you’re too big,” she said.

“But you ate my lollies that night we met, and now I’m glad you did. You see I was hoping that they’d win you over.”

“Like I said, you are so sweet, Percy.”

“But would you eat me if I was small enough, like a jelly bean?” he asked.

“You keep making it hard to decide,” said Ingrid.

“Really?”

He thought it unlikely that she would ever bring up the ‘two’ tiny ‘fellows’ she believed that she had eaten.

“Well if you were perhaps a little bigger than a jelly bean, but still small enough to swallow, you might be rather enjoyable to eat, don’t you think?”

“Would you really do that?”

“I guess I might. I think it would depend on whether you tasted nice or not.”

“You’re full of surprises, Ingrid. It does make you more interesting than any other woman I’ve known.”

"Well thank you. In the meantime, you’ve got me thinking. I'd like to eat something."

Later they were snuggled up in Ingrid’s bed, kissing and cuddling, but saving other activities for marriage. Ingrid suddenly put out her tongue in front of him. It looked spectacular, even from his full sized perspective. She licked his cheek, and then unbuttoned his shirt and licked his neck and shoulders.

“That’s really nice,” he said.

“So are you,” said Ingrid, “And you did ask me something back at those islands, which I’ve been meaning to answer.”

“Oh yes. You said you’d eat me if I tasted nice. So would I be in trouble if I was not much bigger than a jellybean?”

“Absolutely, but you are. I’ll just have to get my tiny boys elsewhere,” she said, in a tone that pretended to joke but in fact contained the absolute truth, as far as he knew.

Percy and Ingrid went to a party, and Percy enjoyed the sight of party food making its way into Ingrid’s mouth. He liked the way the girl's haunting green eyes sparkled out towards him, as she went to work on a mouthful of tasty food, and he liked to look at her shapely lips. Percy and Ingrid had never had a quarrel, and yet they had taken a lot of time to become extremely familiar with each other. Ingrid knew the times when it would be more helpful to be serious, and yet she was also perfectly capable of supplementing Percy's sense of humour with her own. She enjoyed a little mischief - or even a lot of it on occasions - and she never failed to coerce Percy into a conversation wherein the dialogue was as witty and intelligent as some of the Sneaky Spy's most memorable monologues.

"Percy, could we sit on the couch for a while? I think that my toes need a rest already."
"Will I still be able to stare at your eyes?"

"I was hoping that you might have a storehouse of sweet nothings to whisper in my ear."

"I thought of a few while we were dancing actually. Alright, let's sit down. Mind you, some of those sweet nothings have got a lot of something in them."
"Something from nothing, Percy?"

"You really are something," Percy said under his breath."
"Something?"

"Oh nothing."

They sat down.

"Oh yes, what are those sweet little nothings of yours?"

"Well seriously, just that I feel so..."

Percy's voice was now a whisper.

"....complete and happy when we're together."

"Thank you," said Ingrid.

"It's not just that.... Ingrid, I can't even see your ears while I keep kissing under your chin between sentences. Can you still hear the sweet nothings loud and clear?"

"Yes, but not too loud and too clear, please. We don't want everybody else in the room here with us to hear them as well."

She kissed his cheeks.

Percy looked again at her dress.

"You know that outfit makes you look absolutely regal."

"Percy, you have impeccable taste."

Percy wondered how he might convincingly be surprised by Ingrid after shrinking himself again. To go to her house again would be stretching coincidence. He waited until she gave him some advance notice of a place that she would be attending without him.

She said that she wanted to shop for his birthday present in the city and then take a walk through the Botanical Gardens.

“I love that nice pathway that goes towards Government House’s borderline fence,” she said, which gave him a way to identify a good place to which he might teleport and get ‘caught.’

He waited for her in the garden beside that path at the estimated time of her arrival. One thing was different. This time there were several people in the gardens, mainly housewives whose husbands were at work. She would not be able to stop and talk to him. He guessed that she would most likely put him into her shopping bag until she could find a solitary spot to announce his fate.

He saw Ingrid approaching and let her see him. She walked over, looked around, and then picked him up quickly and lifted him up above her head, tilted her head back, opened her mouth and popped him straight in.

“Not even a lick,” he thought, “She sure solved the problem of avoiding being noticed.”

She walked for a while with him in her mouth, and then gulped him down.

That night she came to his house, snuggled up into bed with him, and licked him suddenly.

“It’s funny,” she said, “I can’t think what you remind me of, but you taste like something else I’ve had lately.”

Ingrid was becoming suspicious. To hide his secret, he would have to prepare the ruse of his Sneaky Spy career.

“You’re very understanding too.”

“About most things,” said Ingrid, “But I still can’t get over how familiar you tasted when I licked you before this adventure started.”

“But you’d licked me before that,” said Percy.

“I suppose so,” said Ingrid.

She was undoubtedly getting closer to the truth.

“You don’t know what it might have been that you ate that I taste like?” he asked.

“Well maybe not, but I think it’s something I had when I was a teenager. I might find some more there at the school fete. Would you like to go there with me?”

She was thinking of searching the grounds for more little boys, where she’d caught him the first time, and eating them, and possibly even thinking of testing to see whether Percy would be around at the time she caught the little boy.

“I’d love to go,” thought Percy.

This would not be her opportunity to confirm any subconscious or open suspicions of Percy being the shrunken men she was eating. It would be his opportunity to allay her suspicions. He agreed to meet her at the fete after attending to some legal issues following on from the drug case.

On that day, he shrank himself and teleported into the same school garden where Ingrid had caught him as a teenager. He let her find him again. She picked him up proudly.

“I’ve enjoyed eating a few little fellows like you,” she said, licking him twice to taste him, “It’s not your lucky day, is it?”

“No,” said Percy.

“Well you can think on it until dinner time. It’s nothing personal. I just enjoy the taste of you, and there’s nothing else like it.”

Ingrid put him into her handbag and clasped it tight, and then walked up to the gate to meet Percy and walk down with him. Percy teleported back home with the ring, and then rode his new motor scooter to Pymble as fast as he could, something he’d never done before. He had to get to her before she looked in the bag again.

He parked just near the school, walked up to the gate, and met Ingrid. She suddenly licked his cheek.

“What was that for?” he asked.

“I thought you liked it,” said Ingrid.

“It’s a bit embarrassing in public,” said Percy, well aware that she was comparing the taste of him to the taste of the tiny man that she assumed was still in her handbag. He had to make sure that she did not open it at all.

“Well I’m sorry for being late,” he said, “Today everything you like is my treat.”

“Thank you,” she said.

That would keep her from opening her bag. He would offer to carry everything in his backpack too, leave the motor scooter there and let her think he needed a lift home, as she had not seen him park it. She didn’t even know he’d bought it specifically for the purpose of this ruse, though it would be useful for Sneaky Spy adventures, he felt sure.

After a romantic day with Ingrid, which included watching her licking cream from a jam and cream bun, he walked her to her car, and invited her to come over for dinner.

“I did have some of my own food in mind, but I love to spend every moment I can with you,” she said.

She drove him home, and he set her up in the dining room, noticing that she carried her handbag by her side the whole time, not wanting him to escape.

He ran upstairs, shrank and teleported directly into the bag just in time to see her lift it and look in at him.

“We’re at my boyfriend’s house, and I’m most likely going to stay the night. I can’t risk you escaping the bag while we’re asleep. So I’ll have to look for a suitable moment to eat you up quickly, when he’s not likely to walk back into the room. I’m sorry it’s so up in the air, but we’ll work something out.”

The politeness of the speech excited him in yet another way.

As soon as she’d closed the bag, he teleported back upstairs and then came down fully dressed once again (having removed most of his clothing except for his underpants, each time he had shrunken). They had dinner together and then he decided to engineer the opportunity for her to eat him in privacy.

He had to get her away from his bag this time, to make sure she didn’t discover his absence before he could teleport into it again. He invited her to dance with him and led her upstairs, holding hands, before she could think to pick up her bag. She would be worried about the little man’s escape.

“I’ll just get my bag,” she said.

“Nothing will happen to it,” he said.

“I know, I just think …. Maybe I should hang it up on the clothes hooks to stop its contents getting damaged,” she said.

That was still far enough away from their dancing destination.

He led her up to his bedroom after she hung up the bag. They danced arm in arm on the balcony and in the bedroom until she said that she needed to go and fetch a glass of water from downstairs.

He let her go, and raced into the laboratory room, which he always kept locked, and shrank himself and teleported into the bag.

He heard her briskly approaching and taking the bag into the kitchen.

“I’m sorry for the short notice, but it’s more than my last tiny man meal got,” she said, recalling the rapid gobbling in the Botanical Gardens, “I’ll have to eat you all up now. No more time to talk.”

“I understand,” he said.

“Thanks for being such a good sport,” she said, and opened her mouth and slipped him in.

She swallowed quickly this time, and he was just as quick in teleporting back to the laboratory and returning to the bedroom.

He soon heard her ascending the stairs and saw her with a glass of water.

“Thank goodness she really got one to authenticate HER journey,” he thought, “It gave me more time to hide mine.”

They snuggled into bed and she licked him again.

“I guess you just have that kind of a taste,” she said, having apparently disproved her suspicions.

“I can’t believe how devoted you’ve become to me,” said Ingrid the following night, “Come to think of it, I see now that you were always that devoted to me. I’m the one who’s become devoted. I guess my tastes in men have really changed.”

If she only knew how much he appreciated what he thought had been an unintentional pun on the phrase ‘tastes in men’.

“Do you think they’ll ever change again?”

“I don’t think so.”

He began to wonder about continuing the shrinking games though. She might not be so understanding about him having a secret locked room, even though he claimed it was for Sneaky Spy paraphernalia and scientific experiments. He dropped off to sleep without having come to any solution.

He awoke the following morning, before the sun had arisen, to find that he seemed to be alone in the dark bedroom. There was no familiar feel of Ingrid beside him. He called to her and got out of bed, wondering if she’d gone for water or was feeling sick.

He bumped into something hard but not a wall. He felt in front of him and felt bars. Somehow one of his enemies had imprisoned him, but he had no idea which one, let alone how it had been done. What must they have done to Ingrid, after all he had done to keep her safe from Colin Geoffries? Did the man have contacts on the outside of prison?

Suddenly he heard movement, and then a light was turned on.

To his surprise, Ingrid had turned on a light outside the prison cell, which wasn’t a prison cell at all, but a small cage, with Percy inside it, shrunken. The cage was resting on a table in his laboratory, and beside that was his shrinking and teleportation machine.

He checked his fingers. His ring was not there, which was no surprise, as he only put it on himself when he shrank. Ingrid would not have known about it.

“I began to join some dots,” she said, walking over and looking into the cage as she sat down on the carpet beside the table, her high head just below him, “For one thing, the appearances of shrunken boys or men in my life, who incidentally were always age compatible with you, have been concurrent with your presence in my life. The second thing was the fact that, on the one hand you gave me a key to your house, but on the other, you never gave me a key to this room. It was easy enough to take yours after I put some sleeping tablets into the dessert you were cooking last night. Now you know why I didn’t feel like the dessert. I don’t know how you’ve been setting the recall mechanism on this machine, but that’s what you must have been doing. I had no trouble working out how to reduce you with it though, and you certainly haven’t had any opportunity to set a recall mechanism this time.”

“Touché, Ingrid,” he said.

“The only question is: why did you keep doing it?”

“You liked eating me, every me.”

“Was that the only reason?”

“I liked it too. I loved it, Ingrid. It’s why I had to save you from Smiling Island. I never forgot how much I loved the pleasant surprise when you did it the first time.”

“Well I thought I might give you the chance to enjoy it once more,” said Ingrid, “But I think you can see that this means our engagement is off.”

“You outwitted me, fair and square.”

“You better believe I did. This is one trap the Sneaky Spy will never escape from.”

“From my favourite villainess.”

“Flattery will get you … about as far as my stomach.”

“I wouldn’t have had things turn out any other way that didn’t involve all that’s happened between us,” said Percy.

“Still sweet,” she said, and opened the cage and took him out and kissed him, “Those pills really knocked you out. You’ve been asleep until mid afternoon. I’ve had breakfast and lunch without you, but you certainly won’t be left out of dinner.”

“I had a hunch,” said Percy.

Ingrid smiled adorably, while Percy enjoyed the new thrill. This time there were no easy escapes, none at all if she had her way.

Ingrid carried him to the bedroom, where she showed him that his real bed was still there. She had found a dolls house bed and cage for him while he’d slept. She lay down on the bed and let him climb all over her upper body, something that he hadn’t even enjoyed when they were teenagers.

“Did you suspect that day at the school fair?” he asked.

“I had a vague idea, but of what I wasn’t sure. You just tasted so nice in both of your sizes. I forgot to mention that as my first clue. Now that I know what happened, it’s easy enough to guess how you pulled off that ruse at home the same night.”

Ingrid pressed her giant lips to him.

“That was lovely,” he said.

“I’m glad you think so, but you do realise that this time is your last, don’t you?”

“Yes. In a way it’s also a first. It’s the first time you’ll be eating me, knowing that it’s me. That’s a new thrill. In a way I’ve always wanted that, but known it could only be done once before the game was given away. Now that you’ve got me, we might as well do it.”

“We’ll see if you’re sounding so cooperative when I get you into the oven,” she said, “I won’t make it too hot for you, but it is traditional to cook a meal first, and you do have a fine dining table.”

Some of the old mockery was back. This was the first time he was enjoying it as much as he had when they had been teenagers.

There was just one thing, he thought, as Ingrid dozed off. He had enjoyed being eaten several times, but he had never enjoyed being married.

“I might as well try to get away,” he thought, “If it doesn’t work, she’ll eat me. If it does, I might get back to the machine, or instruct someone how to build another one and restore me.”

He noticed that her head was in the centre of the pillow. It was not resting on either side. He opened the end of the pillowslip and pulled several pieces of pillow foam out, tearing hard with his hands, until he had enough to cushion his fall. Then he dropped it all on the floor and jumped to land on the pile.

He looked to see that the balcony door was open, but there was no way he could cart all that foam over and drop it to the garden in a safely grouped pile to cushion his fall, and it wouldn’t work from that height anyway. Besides that, she would almost certainly awaken and capture him. He might as well go for the shrinking machine in the laboratory.

He ran over, slid under the door and ran along the hallway. He was just passing the door of the room before the laboratory, when he heard Ingrid stirring.

“So we’re trying for a comeback, are we?” he heard her call.

He ducked under the nearby door and into the spare room, heard Ingrid open the bedroom door and run along the hallway into the laboratory.

“When she doesn’t find me in the machine, she’ll guess the only place I could have gone,” he thought, “I’ve got to hide quick, and well!”

He noticed there was enough sunlight in the room to light his way, and darted towards an old television set which lay on the carpet with its back to him. It had a wooden board panel with holes at the back, just large enough for him to get into. He climbed up and into it, and peeked out of a smaller hole as Ingrid came into the room and turned the light on. She was towering beautifully. The suspense was the most arousing thing to date. This time they were both playing for keeps, and they both knew that they were playing for Percy Dale.

He watched her tall shapely powerful legs striding around the room, as she looked in various places. Finally her eyes came upon the television set. He ducked back and hid behind a valve or transistor or whatever was inside it. James Hamilton might have known by feel, but he could not see what was concealing him. Ingrid peeked in, but could not see him. She got up and left the room.

“I guess I’ll have to ride it out here until she’s left the house,” he thought, “I hope she doesn’t do anything to incapacitate the shrinking machine before she goes.”

He waited for some time and then heard Ingrid come back into the room … with a screwdriver visible in her hand. He ducked back behind the object which had concealed him before, and listened to her unscrewing the board from the back of the television set. As soon as it was removed, he saw her fingers reaching around. They knocked against him, knocking him into view.

“I seem to recall a few clever puns as your previous selves met their nonesuch fate,” said Ingrid, smiling proudly, “But you’re about to be a TV DINNER, Percy.”

Ingrid took him downstairs, put him in the oven and walked happily around the kitchen preparing herself for the meal to end all meals. Soon she came over, licked her finger and touched him with it.

“Warm enough, and just as delicious and cute looking as ever,” she said, “Are you ready for our final dinner date, Percy?”

“Sure am,” he said, “I couldn’t decide whether to face it or get my size back and get married. You sure helped me make up my mind.”

“Even if I believe that, it won’t do you any good,” she said, and put him on a plate and carried it to the dinner table.

She sat down, licked her lips several times, lifted Percy up, gave him an enormous kiss, and a generous view of her partly visible breasts.

“That dress is magnificent, and so are you,” he said, “I never stopped thinking of you or comparing every girl to you throughout those years between our two meetings.”

“That I know and believe,” she said.

“And I know from what you told my second shrunken self that you’ll always remember this meal,” he said.

“And the others … if I live to be 100,” she said, “But I can’t remember what I haven’t started. Thanks for everything, Percy. It’s been fun, and you’re a true romantic. Down you go.”

She put out her tongue this time, and slid him along it, into her mouth, and then held his leg as she drew her tongue in, so that it didn’t take him down her throat straight away. Instead, it slid under him as it retracted, while his position remained constant. He lay on her tongue recalling all their happy times together, and then saw her open her mouth and felt her tapping him on the back of the leg.

“She wants me to turn around,” he thought.

He rolled his body around, until he was facing the front of her mouth and saw that she was positioning a pocket mirror in front of her mouth. She wanted him to see the final movement that drew him into her throat.

“Thanks for the view,” he called, “You look better than ever.”

Ingrid absorbed the compliment, and then slowly angled her tongue upward, so that he began to slide, but not steep enough to obscure his view of the mirror. He slowly reached her throat, and stopped just inside the upper part of it. He recalled the powerful gulping with which she had easily despatched him in the past. This time he had an incentive to fight against that. He stretched his body out as much as he could, and pushed against Ingrid’s throat.

He was still incredibly aroused, despite the danger he was in. He heard a laugh coming up from her throat and realised she was about to gulp. Ingrid had a far more powerful advantage, and he was trapped inside her, no matter how things turned out. Yet he wanted to prolong the adventure for as long as he possibly could, knowing that once she had succeeded in despatching him to her stomach, she would go on with her life and hold him only in her memories.

Ingrid began to gulp, and he felt the incredible pressure. For her, it was merely a gesture which took a minimum of effort, he considered. She would be sitting at the table enjoying the process, while he fought with all his strength to keep her from gobbling him down any further.

Ingrid’s throat was wet. He realised that he was in fact still pressed against her tongue. Though not visible from the outside, the tongue starts somewhere down inside the throat. It was hard to gain any friction when pressing against it. Percy felt himself slipping further down.

Then he suddenly felt his legs get caught in some opening. It was not below him, where he had been gulped several times before, but beside him. Percy pushed with his hands, and his legs went into the opening. Then he lost his grip, and his upper body fell over, dangling into her throat. He reached up with his hands to pull himself into the opening, and then eased his whole body into it.

He was surrounded by a soft inner part of Ingrid’s upper body, which was moving constantly. He felt the air, and then deduced where he was.

“I’ve made it into her lungs,” he thought, “She can’t swallow me any more now. I can’t ever get out, but she can’t ever gulp me down to her stomach either.”

Ingrid must have known what he had done, but was powerless to get at him. The safest place for him had turned out to be within her own body.

“My turn to say touché,” he heard her say, “But at least I’ve stopped you recalling yourself to your machine.”

For the next few weeks, he lived in her lungs, occasionally crawling out to the opening while she was eating, to catch pieces of falling food while they were still fresh, long before they would otherwise have reached her stomach. They sustained him, and allowed him to lie in her lungs and think about her.

One day she started speaking again.

“I’m constantly aware that you’re in my lungs,” she said, “I can so often feel you there. It makes it hard to put the thought of gulping you down out of my head. I’ll make you a deal, and you can trust me on my word of honour about this. I’ve never lied to you, have I, regardless of how menacing my conquests of you have been. I’m going to lie down. If you come into my throat, I’ll let you climb towards my mouth, and then turn you loose in the garden. I’ll go inside for the rest of the day, and make no effort to hunt you down until the next day. If you can make it back to your machine before I find and catch you, I will marry you. If I catch you first, I will use your machine to make you just a little bit smaller, so that you can’t slow your fall in my throat. Then I will gulp you down so fast that you’ll never have a chance to escape to my lungs again. If you think that such a challenge would put an end to this stale mate, I’ll expect you to climb out soon.”

He thought for a few minutes and decided that it was worth it either way … especially since he had an advantage. He didn’t have to make it to his machine, but only to the ring. She didn’t know about it.

“Good to see you again,” said Ingrid, as he emerged from her mouth onto the pillow beside her head.

“You look lovely as ever,” said Percy.

Ingrid took him down to the garden and put him down on the grass. Then she lay down on her stomach with her face right in front of him, resting on her hands. She had brought him down in her right hand, but he noticed something which took his breath away. Ingrid had removed her engagement ring and replaced it with his homing signal ring. He remembered that he had last left it on his bedside table. She must have chosen to wear a piece of his jewellery when she found the ring, and had no knowledge of its power to rescue him from her mercy.

Now it would be so much harder and riskier to get at it. He had to get close to her, which involved the greatest risk of recapture, in order to do it.

Ingrid gave him a slow farewell kiss.

“Good luck. You’ll need it,” she said, and true to her word, she got up and went inside.

In the days ahead, Percy made a rope from fallen small garden vines, and tied it to a hook from a suitably shaped large twig. He managed to hook it around various structures in the wall far below his upstairs bedroom one day, and climbed each stage, until he reached the balcony. He slipped under the door and climbed up onto his bed and hid under the bed clothes and waited until Ingrid went to bed that night.

He had positioned himself on the far side, where the sheet and blanket were always tucked in, so that she would not notice him or roll onto him as she slipped into the bed. In the darkness, he heard her huge incredible body settling beside him, and then waited until he could estimate where her left hand would be.

He knew that she would be wearing the ring. It would have made things so much easier if she had been in the habit of removing it while she slept, but he knew from their last meeting, that she must have been wearing it while she had been lying down to allow him to take up her challenge. He must not let her know that he was anything other than a rumpled portion of sheet, as he felt about for the ring. To that end, he would always grab a bit of sheet, rumple it himself and use it like a glove, and touch her hand ever so softly, as he felt about for the ring.

It was awesome to consider that he was playing with a hand that could easily grip him inescapably, if she learned he was there. At last his hand came to rest on the ring. He could grip it just a little more strongly and without the sheet, because she would not feel it unless it moved, unlike the effects would have been of him touching his own skin against her actual fingers. Her hand seemed to be on its side at the moment. He ran each of his hands down either side of the ornament until he felt the circular ring itself.

He tensed up, anxious and considered the scale of the risk he now had to take. From what he could hear, she had fallen asleep during his search. Yet the moment he tugged on that ring, he would awaken her and alert her to his presence. He had to be able to activate the homing signal the moment he got the ring off her finger, and before she could grab him.

He tensed himself, prepared to act, and then stopped. It took him several attempts to summon up the determination to go ahead. He finally considered the alternative: hiding out indefinitely, if she didn’t find him first.

Percy wrenched the ring from her finger, felt her stirring and saw some light as she turned on the bedside table reading light. He put the ring around his neck, as it would not fit anywhere else, having not been reduced with him this time, as he saw the bedclothes pulled off. Ingrid sat up instantly, revealed in light in a beautiful nightgown. In that split second he saw her beautiful giant face gaping down at him with a mixture of realisation and resolve. He turned the ring, and the signal did its work.

“So that’s your-…” he heard her say, just before he was taken from the bedroom to reappear at the machine.

He knew that the remaining words of her sentence would have been “way of activating the recall mechanism.”

He heard her stepping out of bed and running to the door. She would be down the hallway and enter the laboratory in less than a minute. He felt for the controls in the darkness, as he heard Ingrid running down the hallway, and threw the full-sized ring away from the machine, which restored his full size just before she burst into the room. Percy dived for the ring and put it back on his finger.

“Don’t worry, darling,” he said, “I believe this means you’ll be able to start wearing another ring again anyway. If I let you stay, can I take your word that there’ll be no more spiking my food and drink with sleeping pills?”

“I promise,” she said.

He put out his arms for a hug, and she met him half way and they were soon kissing.

Several nights later, they were snuggling together in his bed.

“I really enjoyed the chase that night I hunted you down and caught you in the TV set,” she said.

“I can look back on that with some fondness too now,” he said, “What I really miss is being eaten over and over.”

“Tell me about it,” she said, “They were all you, but that only makes it better knowing I kept eating you, thinking it was a permanent conquest.”

“I can’t shrink myself anymore, now that you know. You’d have really gulped me down forever and had a happy life without me, if you’d won, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, but I’ll just have to settle for a happy life WITH you,” said Ingrid.

“That’ll have to be good enough for both of us,” said Percy.

Half an hour later, Ingrid spoke again.

“What if I gave my word again each time?” she said.

“You mean, to let me go after each ‘eating game’, so we could do it again,” said Percy.

At this stage, they had known and loved and outwitted each other for so long, that they had that rare ability of couples to finish each other’s thoughts and sentences.

“I admit the deal is loaded slightly in your favour. You’ll get all the gobbling thrills you like out of it, without ever having to pay the full price,” said Ingrid, “But I can pretend it’s forever each time, and then let you recall yourself. I’ll never shrink you without you wearing your ring. At least I’ll get to eat you over and over again.”

“Ingrid! I don’t know what to say.”

“I guess I owe you a concession, after all you’ve done for me, all you’ve been through for me. To think that you saved my life at least once, knowing what I didn’t at the time, that I had eaten YOU, when I was dating that creep. We could have some great hunts and chases in that large lovely set of gardens you have here? Will you trust me to always eat you only temporarily?”

“Oh Ingrid, I love you more than ever. What a marriage we’ll have!”

“I think so too, and Percy, I love you more than my ex-boyfriend. I always will.”

Later ercy lifted a large prawn towards Ingrid’s mouth.

“May I do the honours?” he asked.

Ingrid opened her mouth and practically sucked the prawn from his fingers.

She swallowed it and then gave a quiet laugh.

“I’ve just realised what occasions like this must have been like for you all those years between our teens and our reunion,” she said, “You couldn’t have gone to any party and watched any pretty girl eat anything, without dreaming of riding her tongue, and any other girl would have let you into her mouth without gulping you down, I’d expect.”

“That and your greater beauty are what make you so special. I never showed that machine or my shrunken self to anyone else. I only ever thought of riding tongue with you.”

“You are so sweet!” said Ingrid, “I could just … eat you all up!”