“Good afternoon, Mrs. Hale!  I’m sorry if I kept you waiting.  The prototype is a little heavy, but the proof of concept is finally waiting in the showroom for you.”

Gabriella Hale made her way into the showroom to see exactly how powerful this new unit was going to be.  If it could really do everything it promised, Slete and Hale Conditioning would blow past every air conditioner provider in the country, possibly even internationally.  The company had always been successful, but it was clear that the company wasn’t seeing the levels of growth that it used to.  The death of the company’s founders, James Slete and Walter Hale, hit the company particularly hard.  If this new design could put her company on top, then Mrs. Hale had to do anything it took to get the patents.

From the way it was described, apparently this unit used a combination of an experimental refrigerant, a special alloy along the condenser and evaporator, and a unique dehumidifying saline solution to create a unit that could bring a home or office to the desired heat and humidity twice as fast as competitors with less overall power consumption.  She brought a team of engineers with her to the demonstration to test these claims, as well as a few lawyers so she could file the patents on the spot if needed.

When Mrs. Hale entered the showroom, a few adjustments were being made on the unit to get it hooked up.  Several technicians were arguing about how the evaporator fins were set, and several more about how the power system was implemented.  There were even a few calls to cancel the entire presentation altogether.

Mrs. Hale wasn’t having any of this.  She had already been waiting for hours by this point, and for all the lofty promises she had been given, they had nothing to show for it.  She stormed over to the head of R&D and let him know in no short terms that his entire team would be let go if he couldn’t at least show something for all the money and time they had dumped into this project.

Reluctantly, he ran over to the other technicians and another shouting match started.  After a few more minutes, they finally got everything set at least well enough to start the air conditioner.  They came to regret this decision, as problems started popping up immediately.  Their last minute adjustments didn’t leave time for a final inspection, so only a few minutes, the fan dropped into the unit and hit the dehumidifier, causing the saline solution to spill onto the power cables.  The condenser coil’s alloy had also not been adequately tested with this particular refrigerant.  The metal began to dissolve from the inside.  To make matters worse, since the refrigerant expanded as it became a gas, the weakened metal caused the evaporator to explode.  

A few people were splattered with the refrigerant, including Mrs. Hale herself, who got it in her mouth and nose.  Falling to the floor gasping for breath, she could do nothing as everybody else evacuated.  That’s when the slurry of saline solution finally reached her.  The salty soup carried electrical current from the power cables to the fallen woman, electrocuting her.

The only things she could do as she lay paralyzed unable to move was stare at her wedding ring.  She remembered how sweet and loving her husband Theodore had always been.  She remembered all the nights she stood on her tippy toes, kissing her gentle giant.  She always called him her big Teddy bear, since he always felt so warm and safe with her 6’2” spouse.  He was always so kind and considerate.  He hadn't even made a fuss when she insisted on keeping her last name instead of his, since he knew how much her company and her connection with her father meant to her.

She remembered how Teddy had wanted her to stay a little longer this morning to eat some of the delicious breakfast he always prepared for her.  She remembered how she hadn’t even hugged him goodbye because she was in a hurry, all to get to this awful presentation.  She wished deep in her heart that she was with Teddy right now.  That she was running her fingers through his curly brown locks.  That she could feel his tender embrace surround her.  That she could just have a chance to say goodbye and tell him she loved him.

Her eyes shut as she felt her consciousness fade.

…

Mrs. Hale woke with a start.  She felt a shock to her chest almost as severe as the one she got from the air conditioning unit.  Sitting up and looking around, she was shocked to find she was sleeping on a bed, but one bigger than any bed she had ever been in before.  The sides stretched for a yard to her left and right, and the foot of the bed much further.  Looking around, she was surrounded by medical equipment that towered around her like buildings.  But the thing that surprised her the most was the doctor that stood above her like a living monument, and to his left, standing about a head taller, was her husband.

“GABBYYYYY!”

“Stop!  Control yourself Mr. Hale!  We don’t know if her condition has stabilized yet!”

The doctor restrained Teddy from touching Gabriella.  She just sat there dumbfounded.  She had no idea how, but she had shrunken to an absolutely miniscule size.  How short was she even?  She started to hyperventilate, spooked by the enormous world she had woken up in.  This only made Teddy more concerned, and the doctor had to call in a few nurses to drag him out of the room.

As Gabby was freaking out, she saw her clothing folded neatly on a side table nearby.  It was strange looking at the clothes she had been wearing just a short while ago, now that even her glasses would come up to her waist.  Sitting on top of the pile was her wedding ring.  Thinking back to her last moments before waking, she calmed down realizing she had been given a second chance at life.  As a crowd of medical staff forced Teddy out the door, Gabby called out to him.

“Teddy, it’s going to be alright!  Just stay tight while the doctors do whatever they need to do.  I want my big Teddy bear to be the first person I see when they let me have visitors!  Oh and Teddy …”

“I love you. Goodbye for now.”