Natalie Beaumont stepped into the Emerald Palms spa for her pedicure, she was completely ready to start fresh after having let the tinies in her condo get under her skin. She couldn’t believe how irritating 7 tiny insignificant people could be. She took off her summer hat and sunglasses, setting them in the check-in area.

 “Natalie Beaumont,” she said to the front counter hostess. 

 “Yes, good morning Mrs. Beaumont,” the hostess, a beautiful young woman, replied. “I see you’ve selected the Diamond package.” Natalie nodded her head. “It’s a good package, Mrs. Beaumont, a fine choice for sure,” said the hostess, “but is there any chance you would be interested in the Emerald package?”

 “Emerald package?” asked Natalie. “I only saw three choices online when I booked the appointment, isn’t Diamond the highest?”

 “It was the highest,” the clerk clarified. “This package is new, and isn’t on the website yet, we’ve only had it for a three month period because it’s still in a trial run, pending final approval by the governor. Can I tell you about it?”

 Natalie raised her eyebrows, intrigued, “Absolutely, you can.”

“Great!”, the young hostess pulled out some paperwork that explained what was entailed and how the program worked. “Basically, it’s a way for the state to put tiny people to work in society. They would be the ones cleaning your feet, removing dead skin and old polish, then applying new polish.”

“You have tinies working for regular sized people?” Natalie asked.

“I know, it’s so cool, right?” the hostess smiled.”

Natalie shook her head, “Um, I don’t like tinies… I find them…eh, annoying. And isn’t that illegal because it’s dangerous or something?”

“I understand, Mrs. Beaumont,” the hostess replied, “but annoying as they may be, they do fantastic work, the best! They can get all the little details that we regular size people miss or find difficult to do. It will have been the best pedicure you’ve ever gotten! And of course, there is a certain amount of danger, but that’s why it’s in a trial run. We’re working hard to make sure every one, even tinies, can contribute to society.”

“Hmm,” said Natalie, folding her arms and pausing, “I guess,” she finally sighed, “what the hell, I’ll give it a try.”

“Yay!” the hostess replied, “You won’t regret it, let’s get you all set up!”

When the session began, a combination of both regular sized people and tinies tended to her.

To start with, Natalie had received a deep tissue massage from a regular sized man that she found very handsome. Natalie laid on the table with only a towel covering her as the masseur used heating stones to relax her muscles. His big strong hands ran along her muscles and gradually worked out her knots. Natalie had always tried to come off very prim and proper, but even she couldn’t help but let out a few soft moans as he worked his magic. 

When the massage time was up it was time for her body treatment. He left the room just as another regular sized woman named Denise came in to gently rub a salt scrub all over Natalie’s body, front and back. It felt great, but Denise lacked the charm that the man had. She took Natalie to the shower so she could get ready for her seaweed wrap. Natalie showered off the salt scrub from her body and it felt amazing. She had never felt so relaxed and her skin felt great. Leading her back to the ergonomic table, the woman applied the seaweed to her body and covered Natalie in a warm towel. As the masseuse massaged her head, all of Natalie’s frustrations with Aubreigh and the tinies were literally melting away.

“Do you have any children?” Natalie asked the masseuse

Denise nodded, “Mmm hmm, three; a boy and two girls. My boy is 9 and my girls are 12.”

“Oh, twins?” Asked Natalie.

“Yes, ma’am,” she chuckled, “and they are a handful.

“I bet,” Natalie smiled. “I have twins myself, just wait until they get into their teens. It only gets worse...”

“You have children?” asked Denise.

“You sound surprised,” Natalie responded.

“You’re just in great shape, is all,” Denise said as she pressed her fingers firmly into Natalie’s scalp.

“Oh!” Natalie excitedly smiled, “Why thank you, and yes, I have three; an 18 year old girl and 16 year old twins.” 

“I can see why you picked the Emerald package.” Denise asked, astonished. “Well girl, you must have done something right.”

Natalie pursed her lips a little, “Yeah, you aren’t kidding, my oldest is driving me insane.” Natalie paused a moment to articulate her thought. “I can’t get her to focus on her college. She doesn’t want to study something that’s going to benefit her. She’s too preoccupied with her social sciences, specifically “Tinies Studies”.

“That’s all about tiny people’s rights, correct?” asked the masseuse. “Well, that’s a noble cause, I suppose. What’s wrong with that, is there not any money in it?”

“Practically nothing…,” sighed Natalie. “What kind of a job is her knowledge of the tinies political history going to get her? Unless she wants a job teaching it, I guess. But she can be so much more than that...”

“What do you want her to be?” Denise asked.

“Anything!” said Natalie, “She is so smart, so could be a lawyer, or even a politician. She’s got a good heart, so she’d be good at being a doctor too. I just don’t know what to do about her…”

The two women continued to talk about their children and things they had in common. After 20 minutes, the seaweed was removed and Natalie rinsed off again. She wrapped herself in a fluffy white towel and Denise took her to the next area for her face treatment and manicure and pedicure.

Natalie set her feet in a foot bath to soak while Denise applied a mud compound to Natalie’s face. Meanwhile, a crew of tiny people worked hard on Natalie’s fingernails, filing back her cuticles and applying fresh polish. It was awkward for them to properly maneuver the brushes that weren’t really designed for them, but the paint lines were crisp and sharp with no paint getting on any part of her skin.

Still, their little movements tickled Natalie.

"It’s hard to keep my hands still,” Natalie complained. Her hair was in a towel and she had mud covering her entire face. Except for her eyes, which had two freshly cut, watery cucumbers on them.

“Just try your best,” said Denise, “the better you keep still the better job they can do.”

Little people ran between Natalie’s fingers and scrubbed the webbing clean. Her giant tanned fingers flexed ever so slightly, but the tinies were very good at working around movement like that. Other tinies were still hurriedly painting her nails with a non-toxic clear coat. That had been a lesson they learned the hard way when they first were given extremely toxic chemicals that made them sick and pass out.

“At least they’re useful for something, I guess,” Natalie sighed. “I mean, this is what my daughter wants to fight for them to do, right?”

“This is new for us,” Denise agreed, “but I’ve actually enjoyed working with them. They make my job and my life a lot easier. Plus I get free mani-pedis whenever I want.”

As they finished with the giant nails, Denise cleaned the mud from Natalie’s face and washed her skin. Denise sat the chair up and Natalie closely inspected her nails.

“Wow, this is amazing,” Natalie smiled. “Your right, just look at the level of detail, it’s incredible.”

“It’s amazing isn’t it?” asked Denise. “Now set your feet up on this platform so they can do your pedi for you.”

Natalie had her feet soaking for the better part of 20 minutes. When she pulled them out, she set them down before the tiny pedicure crew. The tiny one inch tall crew crawled all around her tanned feet, scraping and peeling the soft dead skin from the massive appendage.

“I have to go get my next client started in the next room, Mrs. Beaumont, but I’ll be back in about 30 minutes to finish you up,” said Denise. 

Natalie looked down at the tiny people at her feet and smiled, “Take your time, Denise.”

Denise then addressed the crew of tinies at her client’s feet, “Take good care of Mrs. Beaumont now, little ones, I’ll be asking her for a review of her experience!” Then she left the room and left the tinies to do their jobs.

Natalie spent the next few minutes watching in amazement as the tinies toiled at her feet. Natalie inspected her fingers again. She couldn’t find one single thing wrong with them.

“Wow, you guys are amazing, you know that?” Natalie smiled as she watched them working tirelessly on her feet. “It’s a good thing you’re good at this.” They didn’t know what she meant by that, but they ignored her as she closed her eyes and set her head back on the headrest. The tinies were used to people like this;  people bigger than them being condescending and saying all kinds of rude things. Some people were intentionally mean. However, most people didn’t realize that they were saying things that were offensive or hurtful to the tinies.

“Make sure you get all the dirt from under my nails,” Natalie said without even so much as looking at them. They didn’t say a word in response, they simply did as they were told. Natalie’s foot flexed upwards as she stretched her feet and spread her toes. The people on top of her foot tumbled and fell between her toes, getting stuck. Natalie giggled, “Be careful down there!” She looked on as a few of the little people were struggling to get free from between her toes, but she never once considered helping them; it never even crossed her mind. She quietly laughed a little to herself and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling coming from down below.

If only she could train the twins to do this, she thought.

Natalie inched her toes forward and brought them down on the little people, feeling them squirm under her toes. It was even better than having the twins under them, and she reveled in it. Natalie briefly imagined having that brat, Ben, under her toes. She thought he was much too cocky for his size, and he definitely needed to learn his place, like these people at her feet. 

Natalie looked down at them and couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. There were literally some still squirming between her toes, others were wiggling under them, all trying to free themselves. Natalie sighed a deep relaxing breath, for the first time in a long time, she found the tiny people useful to her.

Down below, the little people yelled up to the giant woman, pleading with her to move her feet. Perhaps she didn’t realize what she had done, they hoped. The silenced screams of their fellow coworkers had pierced their ears, and even now the muffled cries of the oppressed tinies sent chills down their spines. Natalie heard them, but she let their cries for help go on for just a moment longer. However, feeling somewhat benevolent, Natalie lifted her feet up and exposed her soles to the formerly trapped workers under her toes. “Hmm, what’s that?” she asked. “Oh my goodness! Were some you stuck under my feet? I’ll have to be so much more careful where I step, won’t I?”

Rather than run away, they immediately tended to her soles, rubbing and massaging them with oils as best as their little bodies could. “Oh this is just too good to be true,” Natalie mumbled to herself. She wiggled and spread her toes apart, allowing the trapped workers that were still trapped between them to freely fall out. They hit the ground and got back up like nothing happened, joining their fellow workers in oiling the giant client’s feet. Natalie was genuinely curious now.

“Tell me,” she called down to the little workers, “why are you so…, so....” Natalie couldn’t think of the word, “obedient?” That wasn’t the right word either, but worked for her intents and purposes. No one said a word to the woman they were serving, but instead, kept working hard at the task at hand. “Come on, no one’s going to tell me? I’m thinking about leaving a generous tip, you know. I might even consider hiring you out for room service.” Still no one dared to even speak to the giantess that addressed them.

Natalie was getting a little irritated, here she was supposed to be relaxing and forgetting her frustration with Aubreigh and her tiny friends, but instead, these little bugs were ignoring her, which didn’t make her very happy. Natalie lifted her foot and poked one young Asian woman with her toes. “You there,” she called, “what is your name?”

The tiny woman didn’t look Natalie in the eyes, she stared at the giant woman’s toes and stammered as she spoke her name, “K-Kel-Kelly, ma’am.”

“Well, Kelly,” Natalie sneered, “why is everyone here so bashful? I asked a simple question and nobody will answer me.”

“Well ma’am,” said Kelly, still not looking Natalie in the eyes, “we’re not supposed to complain at all, unless it’s a life and death situation like what just happened.”

“Oh, that?” quipped Natalie, “That wasn’t life and death, that was simply an oversight on my part.” Natalie poked her fleshy toe into the tiny Asian woman and smiled, “Besides, my feet are nice and soft, hardly anything to get worked up about.”

“No offense, ma’am,” Kelly said, pushing back against Natalie’s toe, “but something like that might be no big deal to you, but for us, that can easily kill us or seriously hurt us.”

“Well that’s not very fair, is it?” Natalie said with subtle sarcasm. “It’s too bad that I’m so big,” Natalie smiled, “and that you are so tiny,” Natalie said, frowning down at the tiny Asian girl. Kelly shook her head in disgust as the giant client taunted her. “Now,” continued Natalie, “explain to me, I just wanted to know what made you people so dutiful and obedient. I mean, you almost died, apparently, according to you. So why not just run away when you get the chance or refuse to service me? You said you get disciplined? What’s that about?”

Looking up at Natalie’s gigantic face, Kelly made eye contact with her huge eyes. “We lose out on our tips, or we get docked pay in other ways, sometimes we could lose our government benefits or lose our job,” Kelly explained.

“Why don’t you just quit and find a different job?” asked Natalie.

“It’s very difficult for a tiny to get a well paying job that isn’t demoralizing or dangerous,” Kelly said. “And it’s impossible to get government funding for housing if you don’t have a job, so they place you in various jobs that will benefit society and civilization, and you really don’t have much say over the matter. I mean, you can put in a request for a different job, but that job is usually going to be just as bad.”

“How does a tiny get a ‘well paying’ job?” asked Natalie.

“School, you need school to get an office job or something useful that isn’t just menial tasks like this,” Kelly said, gesturing broadly at the pedicure spa room.

“Is that what you want, Kelly,” asked the giant woman, “a better paying job?”

“Yes!” Kelly affirmed, “I long for the day when I’m free of this kind of work.”

Natalie smiled and wiggled her toes in Kelly’s face, “Oh? But you’re so good at this, working with feet! And I think it’s so important to learn your place in society.”

“No offense,” Kelly said, twisting her face in disgust at Natalie’s toes, “I don’t want to work with feet for the rest of my life.”

“But you’re Asian,” scoffed Natalie, “isn’t it sort of your place to be tending to my feet? And not only are you Asian, Kelly, but you're tiny! If you ask me, it sounds like a match made in heaven!”

“That’s incredibly racist and hurtful,” said Kelly angrily.

“It’s not racist if it’s true,” Natalie laughed. “And that sounds like a pretty good deal because when I was a little girl, Kelly, we used to squish tinies just for fun. But now, it’s actually illegal for me to kill you. Also, you get to live in society with us and have jobs! It’s amazing how much things have changed! Why change the way things are? I would just be grateful if I were you.”

“Believe me,” Kelly said with clenched teeth, “I am grateful for all the progress that society has made. But that’s why I’m working here, to pay for school.

Natalie pulled her foot back, “You’re in school? Like a real school? A college university?”

“Yes, Port St. Lucie University,” Kelly stated proudly, perhaps with even a bit of arrogance.

Natalie looked at Kelly in amazement. “Come here, little one,” she said reaching down, “come here, talk to me.” Natalie’s colossal fingers gripped Kelly and cupped her into her giant palm. Natalie lifted the tiny to her face and opened her hand to see Kelly cowering in her palm. That was a sight Natalie was familiar seeing. “So you’re in school, you say?” Natalie asked the tiny.

“Yes, ma’am,” the tiny Asian shrieked, “for engineering.”

“That’s what my daughter needs to go to school for, she just graduated high school. But instead, she wants to study social sciences and fight for ‘tiny rights’. She just doesn't understand that she won’t find sustainable work in that field,” Natalie shook her head and set her foot back down so the other workers could finish their work. Of course, Natalie inadvertently set her foot down of several workers that were unprepared for her foot to move back so quickly. “I need to have her talk to you, maybe you can talk some sense into her. She seems to value the opinions of you little people more than real people.”

“We’re real people too, Mrs. Beaumont, just like you,” said Kelly assertively to the humongous face before her.

Natalie scoffed, “Uh, I don’t think so. If you haven’t noticed, all of you are down there, and I’m up here. I literally have people under my feet, Kelly. So no, I’m afraid we’re not equal.” Natalie started laughing and Kelly realized that she could hear her coworkers screaming for Natalie to move her feet... again. Kelly became so angry that she almost started to curse and swear at Natalie, even if it meant a reprimand or disciplinary action. 

“Oh alright,” Natalie said with a big smile on her face, “you guys are so picky! So complain-ey!” Natalie laughed at her own joke and moved her feet so the little people could finish their jobs. “It might be illegal to kill you guys now, but it costs absolutely nothing to tease you a little bit!” Natalie turned her attention back to the tiny Asian woman in her hand. “Tell you what, let’s make a deal. I want to help you pay for school.”

Kelly’s heart sank into her stomach, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m going to hire you out for room service, okay? An in-room pedicure for my daughter, Aubreigh,” Natalie explained.

“Uh...oh, okay,” said a very confused Kelly.

“The problem is, Kelly, that she would never get a pedicure from a tiny. She would just think that was too unfair. So I need you to convince her that it’s okay, that you love doing it and you want to give her one.”

“I’m not really sure I can convince her if she doesn’t want to-” Kelly was interrupted by the giant woman.

“I’ll pay you $1,000 if you can do it,” Natalie said sharply. “That ought to help with student loans shouldn't it?”

“Y-yeah, a ton, but-” said Kelly nervously, “Okay, yeah, sure, I can do that. But why?”

“I need to have her see a tiny person in their correct place, and hopefully she sees the benefits of it. That might be enough to break the ice and soften her up a little bit. Then maybe I can have a conversation with her about her politics,” Natalie explained.

“So you’re just using me as a pawn to corrupt your daughter?” Kelly asked in disbelief.

“Corrupt her?” asked Natalie, bemused. “That is hardly the word I would use. I tend to think of it, more or less, as helping her to be realistic.”

“Some people who have “realistic” views of tiny people have been some of the biggest reasons it’s so hard to get reform,” Kelly retorted. “They can’t see past our size and refuse to think out of the box.”

Natalie ignored Kelly’s concern and upped the ante. “Now, here are some bonuses,” Natalie said devilishly. “If you can get one or more of her friends to help you, I’ll give you an extra $100 dollars for each one. We have five of her friends with us, so that could mean an extra $500 dollars for you.” Natalie smiled, knowing that Kelly could really use the money.

“Okay…” said Kelly, emotionally torn. She was internally struggling with if the money was worth throwing her morality out the window.

“And here’s the main part, Kelly,” Natalie said, drawing her hand closer. “If you can convince her to pick a different major, anything other than “Tiny Studies”, then I will pay for your entire semester.”

“What?!” Kelly asked in total astonishment. “Are you for real Mrs. Beaumont?” Kelly was in shock from the unexpected twist the conversation took.

“I am,” Natalie said stoically. “It is important to me. So you better not mess it up,” Natalie said threateningly.

“But, but what if I can’t do it?” asked Kelly. “What if she refuses? What if she is unwilling to switch her major, or even refuses to let me give her a pedicure?”

Natalie thought for a moment and smiled. “Well, then I’ll just have to use her time slot with you for myself. I’ll use you to touch up my toes one last time before I stomp the shit out of you.”

Kelly’s blood turned cold under the horrifying gaze of Natalie Beaumont. Natalie’s face was stern which filled Kelly with dread and horror as she wondered how she could get out of this situation. How could she turn down the titanic Mrs. Beaumont and not incur her wrath? And was that actually what she wanted to do? Did she really turn down a great opportunity? Regardless, Kelly definitely didn’t want to take a chance of being stomped by this colossal woman.

Natalie smiled and shook her head, “You poor girl, I’m only joking. But you should have seen your face, poor thing!” Natalie could barely suppress her amusement she derived from Kelly’s terrified response. Kelly sighed, almost in tears, but she still couldn’t tell how much of a joke it really was to the giant woman or not.

Kelly laughed nervously, her breaths were short and strained. She smiled, “Of course, Mrs. Beaumont.”

“Tomorrow night,” said Natalie. “Tomorrow night at 5 PM after we get back from the pool, that’s when I want you at our unit.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Kelly, still shaking but starting to calm down a bit.

“Now,” said Natalie, lowering Kelly down and dumping the tiny Asian on her foot, “you’ve got a different pair of feet to tend to right now.” Kelly rolled down the smooth top of Natalie’s bare foot before tumbling across her giant toes. Kelly tried to climb down and get back to work, but she got wedged between two of the giantess’s fleshy toes. She fell between them and couldn’t get unstuck. She looked up at the giant Mrs. Beaumont who was looking down at her in amusement. “Don’t look at me,” Natalie said dismissively, “cause I’m not helping you.” Natalie watched the tiny girl struggling, “And I certainly hope you can do better than this for my daughter, for goodness sake!”

The more Kelly struggled, the more she got stuck between the soft flesh of her giant client's toes. “Please, Mrs. Beaumont,” Kelly gasped, “I’m really stuck!” Natalie, however, ignored her and was busy checking the notifications on her phone. Instead, two co-workers who were nearby, stepped up to help Kelly out of her less than pleasant situation. As they were reaching for Kelly’s outstretched hand, Natalie’s voice boomed from above.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Natalie snapped angrily at the two coworkers. “Do not try and help her! She needs to figure this out on her own and do the work herself! She can’t just get free help anytime she wants it!”

One of the tiny men backed off and wisely went back to work. The other man, however, looked up at the colossal woman in disbelief. “But we’re a team, Mrs. Beaumont, it’s what we do!” he said as respectfully as he could.

“What’s your name?” Natalie asked with a huff.

“Gregg…,” the tiny man responded and swallowed hard.

“Stop talking Gregg!” Kelly shot at him.

“Well, Gregg,” Natalie hissed, “I think I’m just going to have to file a complaint on you for talking back to me!”

Gregg was getting emotional, he knew what a formal complaint could mean for him, “But that’s not fair…” he said, holding back tears. “I was just trying to help.”

Natalie raised her eyebrows in disbelief that the tiny man would dare talk back to her again. She frowned and lifted her foot up, knocking over some who were dutifully working hard on it. They scattered as Natalie aimed her colossal foot over Gregg and positioned her big toe right over his puny body. Kelly was struggling more than ever to get unwedged from Natalie’s neighboring toes, but with little success.

“Keep talking, puny man!” Natalie sneered. “Keep talking, and I’ll show you something REALLY unfair!” She pulled her foot back and set it back down. Kelly finally wedged herself free and tumbled out from between the giantess’s toes. Other workers flocked back to Natalie’s foot and immediately resumed working. “You tiny people think you just run the world now, don’t you?” Natalie said to the whimpering man. “You get a few human rights and you think you can just walk all over us normal people? Well let me tell you something, Gregg, and every other “tiny” down there; we regular people gave you your rights… and we can take them away. So you’d best just do as you are told. You play by our rules, and we’ll all get along.”

Natalie calmed down and smiled sweetly, “Is that understood, darling?” she asked. Gregg nodded his head. “It’s okay, you can speak,” she said.

“Y-yes…Mrs. Beaumont,” Gregg sputtered nervously.

“Good!” Natalie smiled even brighter and leaned back in her chair. “Now Gregg, before you get back to work, there is the matter of my complaint I want to discuss with you.” Natalie lazily gazed upon the tiny man as the others worked hard. Her feet were almost done, which was a near miracle given how much she had moved them on and around the tiny people.

“Yes, Mrs. Beaumont?” Gregg asked fearfully.

Natalie closed her eyes, smiled, and shook her head, “I don’t really want to fill out any complaint form, and I’m sure you don’t want a complaint filed against you either, do you Gregg?”

“No Mrs. Beaumont,” he said pleadingly. “I could lose my job… and my family-”

“Well, I’m sure we can work something out,” Natalie said, interrupting him. “After all, you didn’t mean to talk back to me, did you?” Gregg nodded his head in agreement. “It was just a simple mistake, wasn’t it?” Again, Gregg feverishly nodded his head. “Why don’t we figure out something you can do, and I’ll forget all about this complaint filing business.”

“Anything, Mrs. Beaumont!” he blurted out.

“It’s really no big deal, I guess,” Natalie said waving her hand dismissively. “I suppose I may have overreacted just a bit. So why don’t you just go ahead and kiss my toes. And you must apologize between each kiss.” Natalie smiled as she let out a soft giggle and opened her eyes, looking upon the confused tiny man. “Oh! I almost forgot!” Natalie pined, “You have to say something nice about me between each one!”

“M-Mrs. Beaumont?” Gregg stupidly asked.

“Gregg!” shouted Kelly from nearby, who had gotten back to work herself. “What’s wrong with you? Do not question her again!”

Immediately remembering his object lesson, Gregg scrambled over to her first toe, her big toe and kissed it fervently. He was about to offer his sincerest apologies but the giantess spoke to him first. 

“On all fours, tiny man,” she commanded.

Without hesitation, Gregg fell to all fours and kissed her big toe. “Please forgive me, I’m so sorry!” he pleaded as he crawled to her next toe. He crawled past his workmates who were busy working. They were all laughing and snickering at him. Regardless, he persevered and called out his first compliment. “Your toes are magnificent, so beautiful!” he called out to her. It was humiliating! Being dominated by the giant woman was one thing, but hearing his friends and coworkers laughing at him was soul crushing.

“Oh! I like that!” said Natalie excitedly. “Tell me more nice things about my toes!”

The tiny man quickly groveled before her second toe and generously kissed it. “Your toes smell amazing! I wish that I could smell them all the time!” Natalie almost laughed at his pathetic attempts of compliments, but deep down, a part of her really liked it. The other workers were still mocking and making fun of Gregg and his “compliments”. It really irritated Gregg because he knew any one of them would do the same thing if they were in his position. And, also deep down, the others knew that too. Gregg was an important reminder for them of their place in the world.

Gregg crawled obediently to Natalie’s gigantic third toe and passionately started kissing the soft flesh. Natalie bit her lips humorously and leaned down. She flicked her finger against Gregg’s little body and sent him tumbling back to her second toe. “No, no, no, little one,” she laughed. “You forgot the apology for my last toe, you have to apologize after EACH one of my toes!” Natalie pushed him into her soft digit. “It goes: kiss, apology, compliment, next toe, and in that order.”

Gregg forced his bruised body into crawling on all fours again, and he tearfully began kissing her second toe again. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Beaumont, I’m so sorry I talked back to you! And I’m so sorry I forgot to apologize! But your toes are worth every kiss and every apology I give. They are magnificent and feel amazing!”

“That’s so much better!” Natalie giggled as she watched Gregg painfully crawl back to her third toe for a second time.

Seeing him sob and tearfully crawl from toe to toe in pain made his coworkers more sympathetic toward him. The teasing and laughing had stopped and instead, they felt sorry for him. The longer this went on, the more they realized this could have easily been any one of them; punished for the smallest and most random infraction. Granted, most clients were not like Mrs. Beaumont, but they knew that she would not be the only regular person out there who delighted in toying with them like she was.

Gregg was all finished with one foot and was struggling to crawl to the other. Natalie looked on with approval as his tiny arms and legs slowly carried him toward his goal. Natalie’s flick had seriously injured him and made him nauseous. That eventually caught up with him when he stopped moving and vomited all over the floor.

“Ew, someone clean that up!” she called. “Come on, Gregg! Keep moving! You’re halfway finished! I’d hate to have to file the complaint when you’re this far along!”

Gregg continued crawling on shaky arms and knees. Muscling through kissing her soft plush big toe, apologizing once again, and coming up with a new complement. What started as something to mock and tease Gregg for, had become something that his workmates began to admire him for, even cheering him on. But their cheers did little to comfort him.

Kelly was neatly cutting around the cuticle of Natalie’s pinky toe on her other foot. She was angry. Her heart was in her stomach and her blood felt like it was on fire. Even on the worst days, they had never had a client so cruel and heartless as Natalie Beaumont. Kelly was infuriated that she’d agreed to help her “corrupt” her daughter. How could she help someone that would treat someone, such as Gregg, so poorly? Tinies had so little, and yet Natalie found it amusing to belittle them.

Gregg had just finished the fourth toe on her second foot when he collapsed. “Come on Gregg! You have to push through it! You have to muscle through the pain!” But Gregg didn’t move, he remained motionless on the ground before Natalie’s five gargantuan toes. Natalie shook her head disappointingly, “What a pity, I’m going to have to file that complaint with Emerald Palms after all. And you were so damn close too! What a shame!” Natalie raised her eyebrows, seeing if that would have motivated Gregg to finish her last little toe. But Gregg still didn’t move, he just painfully panted.

Kelly was so frustrated. She thought about maybe filing a complaint of her own with the local police. But even that felt so empty because she couldn’t do anything, about Natalie mistreating them so casually, at that moment when it mattered most. 

Gregg, on the other hand, finally forced himself to Natalie’s last pinky. He breathlessly kissed it, and hugged it, crying out painfully. He shouted his apology and sang his praises about her toes. What was music to Natalie Beaumont’s ears was a retching sound to the rest of them.

“Wonderful job, darling!” Natalie smiled, “I knew you had it in you! See? You just needed a little encouragement and you were able to pull yourself up and finish your job!” Gregg just laid under the bulge of flesh that was Natalie’s pinky toe. His breathes were labored, but he was just so happy his ordeal was over. “Now go clean yourself up.”

Gregg stood up, and walked unsteadily toward the employee shower rooms. He briefly made eye contact with Kelly but she quickly looked away. Kelly couldn’t help but feel as if this was partially her fault; if she hadn’t gotten stuck between the clients toes, then Gregg would have never tried to help her. Gregg and the others awkwardly avoided eye contact with each other as he walked away. He felt embarrassed in front of everyone, and everyone else just felt bad for him

Natalie leaned back and closed her eyes. “That was so much fun, you guys. It’s been years, literally years, since I’ve had a tiny kiss on my toes,” Natalie sighed. “I’d forgotten how good it felt.” She thought about maybe even teaching the twins to do that for her… or was that too far, she wondered.

Natalie spent the rest of her session just enjoying the sensation of little people tending to her feet beneath her. For Kelly, she spent the rest of the session feeling guilty and deciding what to do about her appointment with Aubreigh Beaumont tomorrow night.