Things at work were really becoming awkward.  I spent most of my time in my office and if anyone came in I wouldn’t stand up.  Oddly enough all of my clothes fit me well and my shoes were only slightly loose.  That night, Karen called me.  “You can’t just sit around waiting for it to happen.  You must see a doctor!”

“Not yet.  I want to see if it happens again.”  I said walking around my living room.  I had the Incredible Shrinking Man in the VCR.

“What if the next time makes you really small?”  when she said this her voice faltered.  I knew she was holding her tongue.  I know what she wants.

“It won’t.”

“You can’t say that!  What if  you’re driving?  What if your in the store?”  she asked.

“What if I’m on the bowl?”  I laughed.

“Eww, that’s gross!  Rob, I’m very worried about you.  Please, please, please see a doctor!”

“Okay.”  I said thumbing my insurance card.  “Do you think my HMO will cover this?”

“You are too much!”  she said and hung up the phone.

The next day Karen drove me to my doctor’s office. 

The receptionist asked “What are you seeing the doctor for today?”

I looked up at Karen and smiled.  “Regular checkup.”

I sat on the exam table and Karen on a chair in the corner.

“Maybe they’ll name this new condition after you?” she said thumbing through a magazine she took from the waiting room.

“They never name it after the person, always the doctor who discovers it.”  I said swinging my legs.  “Are you sure you want to be in here?”  I asked her.

“Do you want me in here?”  she said getting up and walking over to me, her high heels clicking on the cold tile floor.

“Of course I do.  Karen, over the past couple of weeks you’ve become very special to me.   You’re more than a girlfriend.”  I said reaching out and taking her hands in mine.

“Don’t.”  she said.

“Why not?”

“Your in a doctors office thinking that this may be the some big problem and your getting emotional.”

“Yeah but…”

“Rob, I really like you.  I mean I really like you.”  She said squeezing my hands to emphasize the second really.  “but I don’t want you saying anything you don’t mean.  I couldn’t take it if I found out you didn’t mean it after all.  Why don’t we wait until we’re out of here to finish this conversation?”  she said just as the doctor walked in.

“Hello there.  Okay Rob!  You’re here for a checkup.”  He said taking my chart from the holder on the door.  “Hop up on the scale.”

I jumped off the exam table and hopped up on the scale.  The doctor adjusted those little weights.

“One fifty-five.”  He said reaching for the measurement bar.  “And five foot…four.”  He wrote on my chart.  Karen let out a little squeak.

“I have my shoes on.”  I said to her.

“Do you want to take them off?” asked the doctor.

“No.  I need all I can get.”  I said.

“Fine by me.”  He said.  “Get off the scale and drop ‘em.” 

I walked back over to the exam table, loosened my belt and dropped my pants.  The doctor did what a doctor does in those situations.

“cough.”

I coughed.  Karen giggled.

“Do you mind?”  I scolded.

“Sorry.”

“Cough again.”

I coughed again and a snort came from the corner.

The doctor completed all the usual tests and even took blood.  “Well Rob, we’ve just about done it all.  Is there anything else I can do for you?”   he asked looking at me over his bifocals.

“Doc, this is going to sound strange.  How tall was I at my last exam?”  I said.  I heard Karen walk over as he flipped through the paperwork.

“Hmmm, let’s see.   You haven’t had a checkup in a long time.  Your last height measurement was in 1989.  You were five-eight.”  He said and neatly placed the papers back in my folder.

“Doc?”

“Yes?”

“You didn’t notice anything strange?  Any changes?”  Karen asked.

“Should I have?  Why don’t we wait to see what the blood test reveals?  Have a good day.”  He said and walked out the door.

“What a quack!”  I yelled.

I paid my  ten-dollar co-pay and ran out the door.

“I’m not going back there!”  I said getting in the passenger side.

“You have to see someone else.”  Karen said starting the car. 

“Who?  Do you know anyone who specializes in shrinking?”  I asked.

“I don’t but I know someone who might.”  She said and sped off.

The next day Karen dragged me to a place where a friend of hers worked.

“the Human Growth Foundation?  No way!”  I screeched to a halt in front of their huge glass doors.

“Oh come on Rob!  How bad can it be?”  she said and Christy came walking out to greet us.

“Hi guys!” she said.  Christy was wearing a pair of jeans, a tight sweater and platform boots.

“Hi Christy!”  Karen said hugging her.

“Hi Rob.”  Christy bent over to talk to me like a little kid.

“Hi Christy.”  I mumbled

“Karen told me what was happening to you.  Don’t worry your secret is safe with me.”  She said winking.

I looked up at Karen “You told her?!”

“I had to otherwise you would need to be a kid with growth deficiency syndrome to get in here.”

“Let’s go inside.”  Christy said holding the door.  “I told the doctor all about your problem.” She smiled.

“What is she doing here?’  I whispered to Karen.

“She volunteers here.”

Christy led us past a reception desk and down a corridor of offices.  She opened a door to a doctor Armstrong’s office.

“Doctor Armstrong will be with you in just a sec.”  Christy said and closed the door.

“The Human Growth Foundation?  Christy works at the Human Growth Foundation?”  I gasped.

“I already told you she volunteers here.”

“She must be stealing the hormones!  She looks bigger than the last time I saw her!”

“Don’t be mean.  Christy takes care of the little kids who have problems.”  Karen said crossing her legs.

Just then the door opened and in walked Dr. Armstrong.

“I’m Doctor Michelle Armstrong,”  she said shaking my hand.  “Very nice to meet you Rob.”

“Hi Doc.” I said, a little surprised.  Dr. Armstrong was a young, attractive brunette.  She stood at least five-six without the shiny red pumps she wore to match her red skirt.  She had very nice legs indeed.  Her white lab coat covered the rest.

“Hello Doctor.  My name is Karen.”  Karen shook the doctors hand.  “Rob is not exactly thrilled to be here.”

“I understand.”  She said sitting behind her desk.  “Christy told me what was happening.  My question is how long ago did you notice it?”  she said writing on a pad.

“Just about two weeks ago.” I said.

“What caused you to notice it?”  she asked.

“Well, Karen was the first to notice.”  I said and gave a readers digest of the events up to this point.  Dr. Armstrong took notes periodically and looked at me sympathetically the rest of the time.

“I think we should begin with an examination.”  The doctor said getting up. 

Karen giggled.

When we walked out of her office Dr. Armstrong called to Christy.  “Meet us in exam two and bring a blood kit.”

The exam room was just like any other doctor’s office except everything was shorter.

“Rob, everything is little because we treat children with growth disorders.  We try to make them feel as comfortable as possible during their sometimes painful processes.”  She said motioning for me to take a seat on the low table. 

Dr. Armstrong sat herself on a low stool and Karen sat on a normal chair in the corner.  Christy came in wheeling a cart with equipment on it.  She left the cart near the door and came over to stand next to the table.  Although the exam table was short enough for my legs to bend with my feet on the floor, I felt no comfort.  With the doctor sitting sidesaddle on the stool and Christy standing next to me, her crotch at my face height, I felt shorter than ever.

Doctor Armstrong checked my eyes, nose and throat.  She completed all the exams the quack did except she made me remove my shoes and socks when measuring my height.  The three of them stood around me as she adjusted the metal arm.

“Five-two and three quarters.”  She said.  Karen and Christy smiled.

“Well Rob, that’s all we can do until something happens.”  She said placing my chart under one arm.

“You’re not going to run any other tests?  A cat scan or MRI?”  I asked slipping on my shoes.

“I’m afraid not.  We’re not a hospital Rob, just a medical treatment center.  All patients with genuine medical problems go to the hospital.”  She said looking down at me.

“You’re saying I don’t have a genuine medical problem?”  I said trying to sound big in front of the three towering women before me.

“Well, I don’t have any documentation of you shrinking yet and until I do I’ve got to concentrate on my regular patients.

“Thanks Doctor.”  I said and walked out.

“I want to see you again in a week.”  Dr. Armstrong called out as I left the exam room.

“That was a waste of time!”  I said walking out into the parking lot.

“Rob.  Honey, please!”  Karen called after me.  I had practically ran out of the building and she caught up to me at the car.

“Stop acting this way!”  She said standing in front of me as I leaned, back against the car.

“Acting what way?”  I said looking up into her clear blue eyes.

“Like Scott Carey!”

“What?  Scott Carey?  Not even close!”  I said folding my arms.

“Rob, think about it.  You’re all pissed because nobody can do anything for you!”  she yelled. 

I couldn’t look up at her anymore, so I stared at the ground.  Karen squatted, bringing her beautiful face into view.

“Rob, a month ago you would have been thrilled at the idea of shrinking.”

“Karen, that’s fantasy!   This is real life!  Nobody shrinks in real life!”  I yelled.

“You are.”  She said, her voice calm.

“That’s right!  I am and nobody can help me!”

“Are you forgetting about someone?”  she said standing.  I followed her eyes up until she reached her full height.

“What do you mean, am I forgetting someone?  Another doctor?  Who?”

“Me.”  She said folding her arms across her small breasts.  “The only other person who is looking forward to holding you in her hand more than you are!”

“Karen, it’s easy for you to say.  Your life isn’t going to change!”

“No?  I was hoping it would.  I was hoping to live out all of the fantasies I’ve had since I first hit puberty.  I was hoping the one person I’ve confided those fantasies to would feel the same way.”  She said walking away from me.   “I thought that if I couldn’t help you stop shrinking, I could help you in other ways.”

“How?  How are you going to help me?” 

“By taking care of you!  I’ve wanted to take care of you since the first moment the very idea that your shrinking came into my head.”

I smiled.  I couldn’t help it her nipples were getting hard in the cool of the evening.  I thought about being stuffed in her bra.  I thought about being stuffed in her panties.  I thought about sleeping in a dollhouse next to her bed.  Everything I thought of was part of my fantasies ever since I could remember and here was a woman willing to share them with me.

“Karen, your right.”

“What?”  she said walking back to me.

“I said, your right!  I am acting like Scott Carey!  I should be happy.” I said walking towards her, my arms open.  She met me halfway and hugged me tight.  “Boy!  I can’t wait to tell the boys on the Shrine Board about this!”